It’s impossible to say why this strange behaviour is so much fun, but it’s a feeling that seems to be shared by all riders, from the average holidaymaker through to the world’s best. “I need to feed my addiction and get the good powder,” said Terje Haakonsen recently. “I’m always looking for lines with natural stuff: windlips, gaps etc.” Often, it’s the simplest things that are insanely good, and just jamming a fast, hard turn into the bottomless stuff can be orgasmic – an explosion of snow that invokes the feeling of skidding your bike as a kid and kicking up dust, with the yippee-ki-yay hoot of Han Solo shooting his way through a recently-exploded Tie Fighter. The cold blast as you ride through a curtain of snow feels incredible, sticking to your hair, beanie and goggles like a medal of honour.