Fresh tracks at Niseko, with Mt. Yōtei providing a dramatic backdrop.
NISEKO AND BEYOND
RECOMMENDED BY Tommy Moe
“A lot of people call Japan ‘Japow,’” Olympic gold medalist Tommy Moe offered. “I did a cool trip over there a few years ago to do a photo shoot with Spyder Clothing. We flew into Tokyo, and then on to Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. From there, we drove to Niseko. Between my skiing at the resorts at Niseko and nearby at Asahidake, I’d have to say that ‘Japow’ is pretty accurate!”
Niseko is in the southwest of Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island. It’s only a few miles inland from the island’s west coast; on rare clear days, the Sea of Japan is in view, and ever-so-faintly, the Russian coastline. Like the word “Aspen,” Niseko can mean different things to different people. For some, it references the town; for others, it speaks to Niseko Annupuri, the most eastern peak of the Niseko Volcanic Group. (It’s contained in the Niseko-Shakotan-Otaru Kaigan Quasi-National Park.) For the skiing/snowboarding community, the term means the region’s five ski resorts and a seemingly endless supply of powder. Four resorts at Niseko—Niseko Annupuri, Niseko Village, Grand Hirafu, and Hanazono—are interconnected (and co-marketed) under the rubric Niseko United; you can ski/board all four areas—a total of almost 2,200 acres and sixty-one runs—under one pass. Niseko Moiwa is a smaller resort on the western side of the mountain.
Skiing/boarding at Niseko is not about reaching vertiginous heights. Niseko Annupuri tops out at less than 4,300 feet, though its vertical approaches a considerable three thousand feet. Here—and throughout Hokkaido, for that matter—it’s about the snow. Winds that sweep across Siberia pick up moisture from the Sea of Japan, and that moisture is deposited as delicate powder on Niseko and other Hokkaido hillsides. (At Niseko, snowfall averages nearly six hundred inches a year.) Those Siberian winds are cold, and cold temperatures mean absurdly light powder. “We skied at Niseko for three days,” Tommy continued, “and if you got off the groomed runs, there was powder, sometimes bottomless powder. I had the sense that Japanese skiers don’t go off-piste very much. During my visit, they opened up the backcountry. The way the snow piled up there was unbelievable.”
The four areas at Niseko are not known for their incredible steeps. Instead, more advanced powderhounds head for the trees. At Hanazano, it’s the tight trees in Blueberry Fields and the more widely spaced trees in Strawberry Fields; at Hirafu, the Miharashi Trees. If the backcountry behind Hanazono is open, even more glades (and bowls and gullies) await, and when conditions permit, huge powder fields are a twenty-minute hike from the top lift. “Skiing through the trees was an exotic experience,” Tommy recalled, “as the snow really clung to the birch trees. At one point we were going through these open forests and the snow hung on the branches in all of these different formations. They resembled snakes. Off in the distance you could see volcanoes, including Mount Yōtei, which looks a lot like Mount Fuji. At the end of the day, we dropped into the onsen [hot springs] at our hotel. The water was close to 110 degrees. You get a little sweat going as you soak your bones.”
Onsen are widespread around Niseko, thanks to the volcanic activity in the region. Braving the waters is an essential part of the Japanese ski experience—whether you espouse the health benefits many associate with the mineral waters or not. There are a few points of onsen etiquette you might want to take note of:
• Baths are generally single sex; blue curtains indicate the men’s bath, red the ladies’.
• Bathers are expected to bathe naked (it’s believed that nakedness breaks down societal barriers and enhances the overall sharing experience of the baths).
• Bathers should take off their shoes before entering the changing room, and leave their clothes in a basket provided.
• Bathers can wear a small modesty towel between the changing room and the wash room.
• Bathers should wash thoroughly before entering the bath.
From Niseko, Tommy and the photography crew headed northeast to Asahidake, a mountain in the Ishikari Range near the center of the island. It’s Hokkaido’s tallest mountain, with an elevation of 7,616 feet. Asahidake’s elevation helps create snow that makes powderhounds who are already giddy with Hokkaido’s possibilities almost punchdrunk. Here’s how the website Powderhounds describes the experience:
Asahidake has an abundance of powder with an average of about 14 metres of snow per season, but no one really bothers to put too much emphasis on measuring the amount of snow because there’s so much of the white stuff. Asahidake is pretty much the crème de la crème of the powder that Hokkaido skiing is renowned for. This is the highest mountain in Hokkaido so the snow is kept super cold. And unlike Niseko, Asahidake is not near the ocean, so the powder isn’t just dry; it’s often sublime!
“Asahidake is really more like a sightseeing area serviced by a cable car than a ski area,” Tommy said, “though the cable cars take skiers/boarders up in the winter. The day I was there, there were only four other people riding up. The snow was waist-deep—sometimes even chest-deep—and we had the whole place to ourselves. We sessioned a lot of the terrain under the tram, and had all fresh tracks. Then we hiked up from the top of the tram, as the photographers were hoping to get shots of some deep-powder turns. We went about twenty minutes, and then set up for the shot. I began down, but I couldn’t make any turns. It was so deep, all I could do was go straight. It was a truly amazing experience.”
TOMMY MOE knew that skiing would be part of his future since his grade school days when his father let him play hooky to ski powder. What he didn’t know was that he would become a World Cup contender and take home the gold in the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where he won the downhill by.04 of a second, followed by a silver in the Super-G. Today, Tommy is a partner and founder of Tordrillo Mountain Lodge. He finds the greatest reward in sharing the property and newly discovered terrain with skiers and snowboarders seeking the trip of a lifetime, whether it’s a week of powder skiing in the winter, whitewater rafting the Tal and Coal Creek, or paddle boarding under the summer midnight sun. Tommy has been skiing and rafting the Alaska wilderness for over twenty-five years; he has intimate knowledge of the mountains and rivers, and is a certified WFR since 2000. He resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with his wife, Megan Gerety, and their two young daughters, Taylor and Taryn.
Getting There: Visitors to Niseko fly into Sapporo, which is served by many carriers, including All Nippon Airways (800-235-9262; www.ana.co.jp) and American Airlines (800-433-7300; www.aa.com).
Season: Niseko is generally open early December through early May.
Lift Tickets: Day tickets at Niseko (www.niseko.ne.jp) are 5,900 yen, during the high season; multi-day passes are available. Day tickets at Asahidake (www.wakasaresort.com) cost 4,000 yen.
Level of Difficulty: Niseko’s terrain is classified as 30 percent beginner; 40 percent intermediate; 30 percent advanced. Ideally, you’ll have some powder experience. Terrain at Asahidake is almost all off-piste, and better suited toward more advanced skiers/riders.
Accommodations: Niseko has a number of lodging options. Some information is available at www.niseko.ne.jp, though the Powderhounds (www.powderhounds.com) website is a bit easier to interpret. Lodging is more limited at Asahidake; Powderhounds also highlights options here.
