David Metsky
Well-known member
Let's just say this was the best snow I've ever skied, bar none. It was deep, steep, untracked, and went on as far as the eye could see. We had run after run, day after day of beautiful snow in an amazing setting, the island of Hokkaido Japan. The trip was arranged through a friend who runs Ultimate Groove telemark camps. This wasn't really an instructional trip, just a ski vacation with some folks to handle the logistics and guiding, especially for the avalanche terrain.
We met in the Chitose Airport in Sapporo and took a bus to the Niseko area, which has 4 ski resorts and some amazing snow. We stayed at a traditional Japanese hotel which meant wearing kimonos and sandals, 7 course meals of local cuisine, and onsen (outdoor hot baths) every morning and night. It was heaven. Day 1 we took the bus to the resort, took a few lifts to the top, and then traversed into the mist. The rest of the day is a blur of deep powder, blinding white outs, bamboo sticking through the snow, and burning thighs. We were all on tele gear and always were wearing our avy beacons. There are a series of out of bounds gates manned by ski patrol who would check your gear before letting you out. Once outside you were pretty much on your own.
We spent the next two days repeating this story. Day 2 we took it a bit easier since our legs were shot. Day 3 there were high winds that kept the top of the mountain on wind hold. We found some lower terrain that was epic (deep snow, untracked, perfectly spaced trees) and hit it over and over and over again. That was probably the best 2-3 hours of skiing of my life. On day 4 we went to a smaller ski area to use their lifts to get some backcountry access touring. We left the resort around 10:30 headed for a ridge on the side of Annupuri and then dropped down an incredible run to a gathering point. Instead of going directly to the backcountry onsen we elected to climb another ridge and take a second run. Pretty sweet. We dropped to the onsen, soaked the good soak, then climbed back over the ridge to the ski area (which had already closed for the day) and dropped down the groomed slopes to our hotel.
Day 5 was our rest day, taking the bus from Niseko to a national park near the center of the island. Our bus driver got a bit lost and our 5 hour trip took 7+, but a rest day is a rest day. At the new hotel we took advantage of local bus service to gain some elevation on Day 6 and hit some true backcountry. We climbed ridges and then dropped down the to main drainage that defined our routes for the next 3 days. I managed to crack my knee on the only rock showing on the entire island (always wear hardshell knee pads) but survived with only a minor boo boo. We found more incredible snow that couldn't be beat, and kept climbing and skiing all day. We always skied with partners in case an avy caught someone off guard but we chose terrain that wasn't at especially high risk.
Two more days of that, each night with onsen and a magnificent meal and some Bundy rum from Australia. We earned our turns and felt like it at the end of the day. Our last night a huge storm blew in, preventing our bus from making it up the hill to the hotel. The staff had to shuttle us down behind the snow removal payloader to the bus but we survived and all made our planes on time. I spent a few more days in Tokyo but that's beyond the scope of this trip report.
Go. If you have the chance, go. You won't be disappointed.
More pictures HERE. The video is HERE.
