Has anyone been skiing in Hokkaido. I will be alone and have a week there between a couple of jobs I have in Asia.

Does anyone have any tips or any ideas of resorts or places to go for a solo traveler.

Regards
Joe

no, sorry – it’s supposedly fantastic as I’m sure you’ve heard

We’ve done a couple fo trips to Niseko (Hirafu). The resorts aren’t on a European scale, but if it snows it’s amazing. If you google Niskeo United you should find all the info.

We also did a few back country days with a guide who drove us to other locations (including out of bounds area near Kiroro and Rasutsu). I wouldn’t fancy driving around to different resorts myself – navigation would be tricky without a satnav unless you’re fluent in Japanese traffic signs plus a lot of the roads don’t get cleared that well.

I have a couple of mates who work in the Far East.

They go to Niseko every year. I have nothing more to add other than I am very jealous…

Yes, went a couple of years ago and absolutely loved the place.

If you only go to Niseko though, then you’ll probably not see to magic (overpriced, full of westerners, tracked out in about half an hour).

The real magic is in the multiple smaller resorts, amazing food, onsens etc. Best advice would be to join an organised trip – Black Diamond Tours run some good stuff and we did an 11 day tour around Hokkaido. Guides handled everything so we’d wake up each morning, ready to hit the road after breakfast but not knowing where we were heading. Staying in Sapporo for example, there’s about a dozen options within an hour and they all have their own microclimates so you need to know the area to get he best out of it.

Oh, and this was all filmed in Hokkaido 😉

[video]https://vimeo.com/176425989[/video]

I’ve been alone a couple of times.

Hokkaido snow is incredible, however as others have noted you are better off staying out of Niseko. It has become over-run (like every other large ski resort, banff, whistler etc) with dick head aussies who think they are travis rice. This sucks.

You can get a bus from the Grand Hirafu welcome centre to other resorts if you choose to stay there.

– Rusutsu
– Moiwa
– Kiroro
– Asahidake

Are all excellent. In bounds terrain is more limited than EU/NA, but thats not what you go there for. Touring/BC is world class, less threatening terrain than canada etc.

I’ve stayed in hostels. Not a bad option if you want to meet people and cheaper than hotels. Do eat too much katsu curry and go to the onsen. Do try and make the effort with a few words of Japanese – this will go down well.

Disregard the poster who said driving is hard. Hokkaido is quite rural, and driving is easy easy easy. Operating petrol pumps will be baffling the first time. Car hire is costly. Ask locals for advice on resort/weather choice – winds can close lifts before you would think it might be an issue.

Just to be clear, the driving comment was in reference to being on your own. From memory all of the road signs were in Japanese, so unless you know where you’re going it’s awkward.

Black Diamond Tours is a good call – we used them and they were excellent. Like others have said out of bounds is where the riding is best.

I’d agree with some of the Niseko comments although I’d say they’re a bit harsh. The thing is if you only have one week and you’re on your own Niseko with a few organised trips will probably be the best option. Also worth noting your supposed to carry Avi gear if you want to ski/ride in the gated areas in Niseko.

Nothing to add, but I’m looking at this as a solo snowboarder.

[video]https://vimeo.com/38121690[/video]

Yes i spent a couple of weeks in Niseko, it is awesome but as has been mentioned it is full, and I mean full of screaming swearing cockwombles who happen to be aussies. I’m pretty relaxed and like australians a lot (sister in law is one) but you can have your fill of anyone pretty damn quick if they behave like that. God only knows what the super polite japanese think of them.

I’d either avoid the main resorts or check when aussie school holidays are and avoid those times.

Japan was an absolute hoot but it could also be intimidating travelling alone as we experienced – nothing was in English when we were there in 2008. Made eating out and travel highly amusing!

And yes it will get tracked out 30 minutes after lifts open.

Niseko Hirafu has been owned by Australian resort Mt Hotham for some years now. I first went all the way back in 97 and there were plenty of Aussie and kiwis then so bound to be worse now Mr Rice and the Red Bull kids have discovered it.

Go with a backcountry tour guide or better still had Sth to Yamagata prefecture and go to Zoa Onsen. You can thank me later.

As above have friends who have been regularly inc one Swiss guy who has a place in the Alps but lives in Singapore and says the powder is outstanding. Downside for me is that it was quicker from Singapore to get to Switzerland as transfer between Tokyo airpprts is 3 (?) hours. Trick is to get a flight direct to the correct Island, you can do this from HK for example whch is much closer anyway.

EDIT: yes it is full of drunk Aussies (girls are the worst) and many (most?) locals don’t speak English and you can’t read the signs either which can make train transfer interesting 😐

Enjoy and post some pics on the Ski/Snowboard thread

Interesting stuff guys; thanks for the information. Especially Gingerbllr.

Niseko was / is fun and a must-do I reckon if you’ve never been to Japan before but all the comments about it being full of Australians are true, you could easily mistake yourself for being in Oz. Not sure about it being tracked out that quick? I was there for 5 days and practically every turn was powder, it was snowing constantly though and we never saw the sun.

MUCH more interesting and way more Japanese was the subsequent week we spent in Nozawa Onsen in Nagano Prefecture (on Honshu). A tiny village set on a steep hill with natural hot springs everywhere, when it was dark and snowing and steam was rising all over the place it was magic. I only explored a fraction of the trees there but I’ve wanted to go back ever since.

I was in Tokyo for work in June and a Japanese guy I talked to in a bar told me that Jogakura in Aomori Prefecture is really good, I haven’t looked into that at all though.

Basically, everything you have heard about the snow in Japan is true.