We asked an enthusiastic guest named Thomas how he experienced our joint ski touring and freeride trip to Hokkaido. In the following article he tells us about his ski touring experiences on Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island.
Ready for some Japow inspiration? Above all, Tom raves about the unbelievably light, deep powder that feels like down feathers and is seriously addictive. Hokkaido offers ski tourers, splitboarders and freeriders countless opportunities for adventure, from steep couloirs to gentle slopes and runs through birch forests. So we let Tom inspire us and wanted to find out more about ski touring on Hokkaido. Over to him.
Spoiler alert: this article is mainly about the best ski touring routes and lifts, ski touring on volcanoes, and Japanese food and culture on Hokkaido.
We spend the whole day skiing the steep couloirs around Niseko. By the time we first glance at the clock, the day is already over. What happened today? How could time have flown by so fast? To our surprise we realise that we’ve barely met anyone all day and had the slopes to ourselves. So with a bit of local know-how, you can escape the crowds that flock to the slopes in winter – even on Hokkaido.
So what is Hokkaido actually known for?
For ski bums and powder hunters, Hokkaido in winter is paradise, with the deepest and fluffiest snow in the world. The area is very well developed and therefore ideal for ski touring trips, especially if you’re on the hunt for the “holy Japow”, the legendary Japanese powder snow. Among other things, the island offers countless touring and descent options – so many that you could spend months here without ever skiing the same line twice, and very often you’d be laying down “first tracks”.
At the end of the day we unwind, can of mate in hand, in the hot water of a nearby onsen, gazing at the surrounding slopes that make you dream of more runs. A little later it’s snowing again – a whole load of fat snowflakes that instantly add fresh volume to the existing snowpack. We couldn’t be happier, because for us this means there’ll be “powder” for breakfast again tomorrow!
But Hokkaido isn’t just for freeriding – you can also choose multi-day hut-to-hut tours. Exped Tribe, for example, is planning a multi-day ski tour in March in the future, the so-called “Japanese Haute Route”, modelled on the Haute Route in the Swiss Alps. The Japanese one, however, leads from volcano to volcano.
We can hardly wait to explore Hokkaido’s famous ski resorts such as Niseko, Rusutsu and Furano over the next few days. These hubs of Japanese skiing offer state-of-the-art lifts, friendly English-speaking service and guaranteed snow. We can get between the resorts without a hire car, as public transport links them reliably and on time.
For ski tours away from the resorts, i.e. climbing under your own steam, things look a little different: you need to be mobile, so sometimes you need your own vehicle. On our ski touring trip at the beginning of February we had two cars, which we used to transport all our gear and to get to the starting points of the tours. A very relaxed and comfortable option, not least because public transport in Japan isn’t exactly cheap.
When we wanted to get away from the touristy ski areas, there were plenty of alternatives offering exciting possibilities. One option is to use smaller ski areas ten to fifteen kilometres from your starting point as a base, especially when the weather is bad. From there you can explore nearby ski touring spots. On our trip, though, we ventured even further afield, all the way to the active volcanoes, of which Hokkaido has many. Every now and then some of them release a waft of sulphur, as we experienced on the way to Mt. Tokashi and to Hokkaido’s highest mountain, Mt. Asahidake. A special experience that you simply don’t get when ski touring back home in the Alps.
On the volcanoes, the snow cover and its consistency often look quite different from those in the forests: the slopes are often exposed to the wind and partly icy higher up, for example on Mt. Yotei and Mt. Shiribetsu, where we had to put on our ski crampons and even use our ice axes for short sections. The descent was correspondingly demanding and “icy”, but below the tree line it was back to normal, in perfectly fluffy snow that I especially enjoyed. So my clear recommendation: Niseko is a well-known destination for freeriding and ski touring, but I’d still recommend you go and explore the volcanoes to discover some remote and beautiful areas.
Ski touring on Hokkaido is like a Komubaki sushi roll (also known as seaweed): soft and fluffy on the inside, like the powder you’ll be skiing in Japan; tasty and savoury on the outside, like the locals and their culture.
Japan offers a varied mix of long volcano tours, short tree runs in dry powder, hut-to-hut tours and piste days as a bad-weather option. So you’re out on your skis, splitboard or snowboard every day and can really let loose in the mountains!
The changeable weather and wintry temperatures make ski touring an exciting adventure. With a competent partner and a mountain guide on site, you have plenty of insider knowledge to reach remote descents. The unique landscape and the incredible Hokkaido powder are a real treat and already have me dreaming of another visit to this fairy-tale land.
A big thank you to Tom for writing this article and for joining us as a guest and friend of Exped Tribe. Here’s to our next trip together!
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Hokkaido is famous for its incredible powder conditions. Some of the best ski touring areas on Hokkaido are:
The best time for ski touring on Hokkaido is from December to April. During this period there is usually enough snow and temperatures are cold enough for good snow quality.
Yes, we at Exped Tribe offer several ski touring trips to Hokkaido every year, with multiple ski tours led by mountain guides. You can find more information here: Ski touring trip to Japan
For a ski tour on Hokkaido you’ll need the following equipment:
To prepare as well as possible for a ski tour in Hokkaido’s mountains, you can:
