Ski tours on Hokkaido: experience untouched Japan on skis

We asked an enthusiastic guest called Thomas how he felt about our joint ski touring and freeriding trip to Hokkaido. In the following article, he tells us about his ski touring experiences on Hokkaido, the second largest island in Japan.

Ready for some Japow inspiration? Above all, Tom raves about the incredibly loose, deep powder snow that feels like down feathers and is addictive. On Hokkaido, there are countless opportunities for ski touring, splitboarding and freeriding adventures, from steep gullies to gentle slopes through birch forests. So we’ve been inspired by Tom and want to find out more about ski touring on Hokkaido. Now we pass the word on.

Spoiler Alert: This article is mainly about the best ski touring routes and lifts, ski touring on volcanoes and Japanese cuisine and culture on Hokkaido.

Image: Tom on a sunrise deep-snow descent in the Japanese backcountry

Key Takeaways from our ski touring trip

• Hokkaido, the second largest island in Japan, offers a multitude of ski touring opportunities with incredibly loose, deep powder snow.
• The ski tours on Hokkaido range from steep gullies to gentle slopes through the forest.
• In addition to ski tours, Hokkaido also has a fascinating culture, volcanoes and culinary delights to discover.

The substance that makes ski tourers addicted, also known as “Japow”

We spend the whole day skiing down the steep gullies around Niseko. When we look at the clock, the day is over in a flash. What has happened to today? How can time have gone so quickly? We are surprised to realize that we have rarely met anyone all day and that we had the slopes to ourselves. With a little local know-how, it is possible to escape the crowds that flock to the slopes in the winter season in Hokkaido.

What is Hokkaido actually known for?

Among ski bums and deep snow hunters, Hokkaido is considered a paradise for the deepest and fluffiest snow in the world during the winter season. The area is very well developed and is therefore suitable for ski touring trips, especially if you are looking for the “holy Japow”, the legendary Japanese powder snow. On the island, you have countless touring and downhill options, so you never have to choose the same downhill route for months on end and it will often be “first tracks”.

At the end of the day, we relax in the hot water of a nearby onsen, each holding a can of mate with a view of the nearby mountain slopes, dreaming of further descents. A little later it’s snowing again, a load of thick snowflakes that immediately lay and build on the previous layer of snow. We couldn’t be happier right now because this means we’ll have powder again for breakfast tomorrow!

But Hokkaido is not just about freeriding, there are also multi-day tours from hut to hut. Exped Tribe, for example, is planning a multi-day ski tour in March, the so-called “Japanese Haute Route”, similar to the Haute Route in the Swiss Alps, but in Japan, which stretches from volcano to volcano.

Image: Mt. Yotei in the distance and sun: that’s how it should be on a ski vacation!

Lift ascent or skinning uphill on your own?

We can hardly wait to explore Hokkaido’s famous ski resorts such as Niseko, Rusutsu and Furano in the following days. These centers of Japanese skiing offer state-of-the-art lift facilities, courteous and English-speaking service and guaranteed snow. We can also move between the ski resorts without our own rental car, as public transport connects the resorts reliably and punctually.

However, for ski tours away from the ski centers, i.e. approaches under your own steam, the situation is somewhat different: you have to be mobile and therefore sometimes need your own vehicle. On our ski touring trip at the beginning of February, we had two cars that we used to transport all our equipment and to get to the ski tour starts. A very comfortable and convenient alternative, also because public transportation in Japan is not exactly cheap.

Ski tours on active volcanoes

When we wanted to get away from the tourist ski resorts, there were numerous alternatives that offered exciting possibilities. One option is to use smaller ski resorts every ten to fifteen kilometers from the starting point as a base, especially if the weather is bad. From there, you can then explore the nearby ski touring resorts. On our trip, however, we also went further afield, to the active volcanoes, of which there are many on Hokkaido. Every now and then, some of them emit a load of sulphur smell, as we experienced on the way to Mt. Tokashi and Hokkaido’s highest mountain, Mt. Asahidake. A special experience that you rarely get to experience when ski touring in the Alps.

On the volcanoes, the snow conditions and its consistency are often very different from those in the forests: the slopes are often exposed to the wind and sometimes icy in the upper areas, for example on Mt. Yotei and Mt. Shiribetsu, where we had to put on crampons as a group and were still allowed to use the ice axe for short passages. The descent was correspondingly challenging and “icy”, but from the tree line onwards it was again as usual in perfectly fluffy snow, which I particularly enjoyed. Therefore, my clear recommendation: Niseko is a well-known destination for freeriding and ski touring, but I still recommend that you explore the volcanoes in order to discover some remote and beautiful areas.

Image: Snowboarders hike back to the lift in a late afternoon snowstorm

Image: Japanese cuisine: the basics of delicious food on Hokkaido

One Komubaki sushi for me, please!

Ski touring on Hokkaido is like a Komubaki Shusi Roll (also known as seaweed): Soft and fluffy on the inside like the powder snow you’ll be skiing in Japan. Delicious and hearty on the outside, like the culture of the locals and their culture.

Japan offers a varied mix of long volcano tours, short forest descents in dry powder, hut tours and piste days as a bad weather option. This means you can ski, splitboard or snowboard every day and really let off steam on the mountain!

The changeable weather and wintry temperatures make ski touring an exciting adventure. With a competent local partner and mountain guide, you have enough access to 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 fairytale land.

Useful information and addresses: Hokkaido, Japan

• If you want to travel to Hokkaido, Japan, the best way is to book a flight from Tokyo to Sapporo.
• For Austrian, German and Swiss citizens, it is possible to enter Japan without a visa for up to 90 days.
• There are numerous accommodation options in the ski resorts, but these are correspondingly expensive. An alternative is to rent a car and book cheaper accommodation a little further away from the ski resorts. If you want to go on a ski touring trip with Exped Tribe, we take care of the entire booking of rental cars, drivers and accommodation at the appropriate destinations. Easy, right?
• In Japan, fast food and snacks are available everywhere. If you want hot food, it can also be found very cheaply in grocery stores. Otherwise, we take care of fine sushi and noodle restaurants.
• English is still not widely understood in Japan, even in the larger cities like Sapporo. Ski lifts are an exception, as mentioned above, as these are also aimed at tourists.
• The mobile phone network is very well developed and WLAN is often freely available. This means you can also tell your friends at home how cool your trip to Japan is.

A big thank you to Tom for writing the article and for participating as a guest and friend of Exped Tribe. See you on another trip together!

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