Field Notes: Field Notes: Dispatches From Teton Bros Team Abroad- Takashi Fukuchi

福地 

Takashi Fukuchi

While Takashi and Nori both hail from Japan and have a deep passion for skiing, mountains, and the outdoors, the pair didn’t meet until an outdoor retailer event brought them together in Salt Lake City, Utah, approximately 5,900 miles (9,495 kilometers) from Japan. Takashi wasn’t familiar with the brand but was immediately impressed with the quality of the technical mountain gear. Before long, Nori and Takashi were skiing together. “It was exciting to meet the founder of a technical apparel brand.” At the time, Altra was making some of the best trail running shoes on the market, and their shoes had an attachment for gaiters, but the Altra didn’t carry any gaiters themselves. So, Takashi asked Nori if TB could produce a line of gaiters to accompany Altra trail running shoes. “I made about 300 pieces, and we sold them out in 2 or 3 days. Nori was surprised and asked us to work together to develop something for mountain running.” So, Takashi and Nori went to work and developed TB’s Mountain Running line.

While Takashi and Nori didn’t’ cross paths until later in their careers, their passions intertwine in the mountains. Takashi’s father was an avid skier and ensured his son was on skis when he was just five years old. Takashi describes the moment he fell in love with the mountains, “When I was five, my father took me to the top of a mountain, and I saw 360 degrees of clouds beneath me. It was so beautiful, yet so scary.” Today, Takashi’s passion for skiing extends beyond downhill and alpine skiing to telemarketing, backcountry skiing, and ski mountaineering. “I enjoy climbing mountains as well, not just going down; going up is also fun for me.” Takashi’s recent mountain exploits include a ski mountaineering trip to Denali. In the summer, Takashi fills his days hitting the trail. Since beginning his work with Altra Footwear, he’s fallen in love with mountain running and regularly races 50k and 100k. Our conversation found Takashi a week out from his latest race.