Niseko - One Mountain, Four Resorts: The Great Northern Adventure Part VI

On Thursday February 11th, I woke up early and caught the early bus from my lodge to Niseko Annupuri, one of the 4 Niseko resorts. These 4 resorts all sit on different faces of one mountain, connected above timberline at the peak. It was a gorgeous day, so the upper lifts at the peak were open, making all 4 resorts accessible.

I started my day with Alex, a snowboarder I met in the lodge. After taking a warm-up run, we trekked to the top and hiked the peak. I hopped in fairly early, and he ended up trekking over 40 minutes to the true peak on the other side.  The view was stellar, since Niseko stands as one of the tallest mountains adjacent to a valley.

I’m glad I parted ways with him because I was able to find some great lines in the backcountry in this area still full of boot-deep fresh powder. The ‘backcountry’ in Niseko area is a general term for unpatrolled sections of the mountain that you access through gates, which the resort opens up depending on weather and avalanche conditions. The great part of this terrain is it almost all filters directly back to the resort bases.

After taking a few different runs through these backcountry areas of Annupuri, I traversed above timberline Niseko Village, the resort to the right. Here I found arguably the best terrain of the day, in the Avalanche control zone. This gully had some fantastic lines, fresh powder, and challenging steeps. I lapped the gondola multiple times to take this run, and thanks to what I imagine is the many warning signs and the pull rope you need to take to access the terrain, I barely saw any other skiiers the whole time there. Of course, the one other person I met on the run just happened to see me after took a tumble from shorting a jump.

After a while I was getting a little tired from working down such difficult terrain, so I again traversed the top to the far resort Hanazono. This area had some fun tree sections with a gentle gradient, and some great long cruisers. This resort felt a lot like Peak 7 at Breck, perfect for beginners and some fun stuff hidden away for more advanced skiers. Here I met back up with Caleb from Tiene, and we both ended up migrating to the big resort, Niseko Grand Hirafu.

I had avoided Hirafu earlier due to the warnings of big crowds, but I think the Japanese have an odd concept of what they consider crowded, because I barely waited in any lines the whole day. The only line I saw was Annupuri’s gondola line, which I easily bypassed by taking 2 chairlifts that run adjacent. Hirafu did not feel crowded at all, even though it was Chinese New Year.

We found some more great tree skiing that afternoon on the right side of the resort, before stopping in for yet another filling and satisfying meal with a great view. After eating we once again hist the slopes, as the Niseko resorts have night skiing! To my surprise Hirafu had some of the best night skiing I have experienced, since they illuminated not only the beginner routes, but also some advanced, mogul covered trails. We kept going until I needed to catch a bus to Annupuri.

A massive thermometer, it was getting
cold near the end of the day.

After riding the bus between the bases, I hopped onto a nearly empty resort for a few more casual cruisers to end the night, before I skied to the hard left to take a cat trail back to Moiwa and the lodge. Thankfully, Phil, one of my roommates at the lodge, lent me his headlamp that morning, so I was able to navigate this cat trail back in the dark. It was a rather thrilling experience to ski with just a small light guiding me, riding through the switchbacks of this wayback until, sure enough, I arrived right at the base of the resort, in walking distance of the Lodge at half-past 7.

That evening I grabbed a good dinner at the lodge, and then walked down to another onsen in the area. Niseko Grand Hotel's onsen was rather interesting, since it was co-ed. Oddly enough even though the women were provided dress like bathing suits, the men were provided nothing. The outdoor bath itself was massive, and felt great at the end of such a long day of skiing.





PS I apologize for the shaky camera and poorly filmed footage, unfortunately due to how nice the weather was, much of my favorite footage was actually blown out. This was the material I managed to salvage, and unfortunately for most of the day the camera was angled a bit low.