Niseko, Rusutsu, Kiroro: Japan's ski resorts as doorways to powder
Most guides to Japan ski resorts arrive as a ranking. We use them differently on Hokkaido: the lifts take us up, a gate in the boundary lets us out, and the day is spent in the forest beyond, with a mountain professional in the lead. Through January and February we move from one resort to the next, following whichever slopes the snow and the wind have treated best.
Lifts up, gates out
A powder day on Hokkaido starts the way a resort day starts anywhere, in the lift line, surrounded by people who will spend the morning on groomed runs. Our group rides up with them. Somewhere near the top, it quietly stops being part of that crowd.
At Niseko, the backcountry is reached through gates in the ski area boundary. The rules that go with those gates belong to the resort, and we follow them to the letter; guided skiing here works within the system the resorts have built. Past the gate the lift noise drops away. Snow-loaded trees, deep powder, the first untracked line of the day.
A resort does one job for us, then. It gets six skiers high, quickly. Everything after that is guided ski touring outside the patrolled area, in the trees, on ridges and open slopes, and where we go depends on what fell overnight and where the wind has been at work. A resort holding perfect snow on Tuesday can be wind-affected by Thursday, while the next one along has been left alone.
That's why we never settle on a favorite, and why the zones we like are spread across several resorts. We've mapped them in our guide to off-piste skiing in Hokkaido. The eight-day trip puts the idea to work, and it opens under a volcano.
Three days under Yotei
For the first three days of the short trip, Mount Yotei, a 1,898-meter stratovolcano, is the fixed point everything else is measured against: where the snow has settled, which way the wind blew, which slope comes next. We're based in Niseko and ski around the mountain, with Annupuri, the peak above Niseko, among the ways up.
From the top of the lifts, skins go on and our leader sets the skin track, kick turn after kick turn up through the trees. A day adds up to around 800 meters of vertical on skins, through quiet forest, to runs that on a good day nobody has touched since the last storm. Why the snow here falls so light is a story of its own, told in what makes Hokkaido's snow so light.
Evenings belong to a traditional ryokan in Niseko and to the onsen at the end of the day. Getting six skiers into the bath after a powder day has never taken much persuading.
By the fourth morning the question is no longer how deep it is here. It's where the snow went next.
Rusutsu, Kiroro, and the case for moving on
The last four days of the eight-day trip stay in the same region and work from two more Hokkaido ski resorts, Rusutsu and Kiroro. The method doesn't change. Lifts for height, then guided backcountry ski touring beyond the boundary, with catskiing or heliskiing available as options for anyone who wants them. They're extras; the skin track stays the backbone of the week.
What changes is the weather each resort happens to be sitting in. Stay a week at one resort and you ski whatever it gets. Work from several, and each morning there's more than one place to look. When a storm favors one side, or the wind has stripped another, the group goes where the snow is better, and that single habit is the whole logic of a ski safari. It also means no two weeks run quite the same, which is why the program is always subject to snow and weather.
The longer trips go further, and they begin somewhere else entirely.
Niseko, Otaru, Furano
Over 11 days, the trip moves between three bases, Niseko, Otaru, then Furano, with nine or ten days on skis for €5,350 per person. Furano sits in another part of the island, under its own weather, and Otaru comes with its lanes of paper lanterns at dusk.
The 15-day trip keeps the same three bases and adds a surprise destination, with 13 or 14 days of skiing for €7,300 per person. It suits skiers who would rather let a storm cycle play out than race it to a flight home.
Whatever the length, the trips ask the same of you, and that's worth knowing before anyone looks at dates.
The level, the group, the dates
The trips are rated level 3 out of 5: good physical fitness, and advanced to expert skiing in the backcountry. Deep snow among trees is a fine place to ski and a poor place to learn; the first morning is the wrong time to find that out. If you've skied powder in the trees and come away wanting more, you'll fit right in.
Groups stay small: three groups of six at most, each with its own mountain professional, a qualified off-piste ski instructor or an IFMGA/UIAGM mountain guide, depending on the terrain. We run the trips in January and February.
The short trip is eight days and seven nights, six or seven of them on skis, from €3,950 per person. You fly into Sapporo's New Chitose Airport via Tokyo; we meet you there, and a minibus takes the group on to Niseko in about two and a half hours. For reading up on the island beforehand, the Hokkaido Tourism Organization and the Japan National Tourism Organization are good places to start.
Some questions come back every winter.
Rankings, guides, flights, prices
What are the best ski resorts in Japan?
We don't rank them. On Hokkaido the best resort on any given day is the one where the snow fell and the wind stayed off, which is why our trips move between Niseko, Rusutsu, and Kiroro. The 11- and 15-day versions add Otaru and Furano.
Can I ski the backcountry at Niseko without a guide?
We wouldn't. Access beyond the ski area is through gates, under the resort's rules, and past them the terrain is unpatrolled. On our trips there are three mountain professionals for up to three groups of six.
How do you get to the ski resorts in Hokkaido?
Fly into Sapporo's New Chitose Airport via Tokyo. We meet you at the airport, and on the eight-day trip a minibus takes the group on to Niseko in about two and a half hours.
What does a guided powder trip to Hokkaido cost?
The eight-day, seven-night trip, with six or seven days of skiing, starts at €3,950 per person. The 11-day trip is €5,350 per person and the 15-day trip €7,300 per person.
Dates and the full program for all three lengths are on our page about skiing in Japan. There are three groups of six at most, so it pays to ask early about January or February; we're happy to put a spot on hold while you settle the rest.
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