Week 1 - Somewhere on Hokkaido

Somewhere cold and away from the hordes – or was it? It took a full day to get from Tokyo to my destination on Hokkaido using planes, trains and automobiles (just had to use that term at least once). Having done some travelling by all means of transport in Japan previously, the experience was not a difficult one.

The Mountain

I met up with 7 friends and we stayed in a large pension with great onsens and good drying facilities. A warming 10-minute stroll each morning took us to the one and only lift and once the weekend was over, we pretty well had the resort to ourselves. Of course more Australians turned up during the week so the only Japanese we saw were the lodge and mountain staff. The food was traditional and very good and served in good-sized helpings.

Outside our lodge Next door

As for the skiing, well, we were lucky enough to have clear days for the first couple of days, so we made a conscious effort to explore and memorize as much of the terrain as possible as the top of the resort was above tree line and visibility or lack there off would severely limit our options. A funny thing about this place was that you always had to climb no matter where you went. You would climb to get on piste, climb to get off piste and even one of the pistes had a serious climb in the middle of the run.

Lot's of trekking ... ... to pick the eyes out of it

The best off piste conditions were accessed by a 20-minute climb and traverse from the top of the lift. From here we had a choice of reasonably long and steep chutes and ridge lines. The other alternative, with only the usual climb towards one of the piste runs took us into a small bowl. Although not steep down the middle it was enjoyable in knee deep fresh. Dropping in from the right side of the bowl off a ridge line provided a few steep turns.

Paul in the upper glades

Unfortunately the last half of the resort was very flat and was usually covered in a tuck.

Richard & Sally riding the ridge

As the week went on the weather turned colder and the wind increased. By day 5 the wind chill had dropped to –60C and the air temp below –20C. The snow became so cold that our skis didn’t want to glide over the flatter sections. The last day had –40C wind chill and winds strong enough to shut the lift by lunchtime. A group of Australians on tour who arrived on the evening of our last day were in for an unpleasant shock when the lift remained closed for the next two days.

The food was great Typical Dinner Animal, mineral or vegetable? Typical breakfast

I would estimate that over a metre of snow fell while we where in this resort – probably closer to 1.5 metres and we had fresh tracks each day.

Rob finds it keeps getting deeper Rob on the same slope - different angle

Would I return? Probably yes, but not in the immediate future.

More trains, buses and automobiles got us all to Niseko on the same day.

Is boarder-dude Chris about to transform to skis?