Ski logs

This is a blog article about our skiing part of the JAPOW trip we did from 10^th to 26^th January 2025, me and my children Camilla and Daniel. This trip was my 60th birthday present from Camilla and Daniel, and I am very grateful for it. It was a great trip and the very first time for use to ski in Japan. A truly unforgettable experience.

I will maybe write more later about the trip in general, this is just some notes about the skiing part.

I logged the ski track using the “Ski tracks” app for Android. From this app you can export your track as a GPX file and then generate a map using for example the gpx.studio.

We had 10 days of skiing summarised in the table below. We mostly skied in the Niseko United region, did day trips to Kiroro and Rusutsu and did two totally backcountry expeditions. Our base was the Niseko Grand Hotel, which is one of the oldest hotels in the region and has an excellent Onsen. We had a rental car that allowed us to get around freely.

1	2025-01-14 Tuesday	Hirafu and Hanazono
2	2025-01-15 Wednesday	Annupuri
3	2025-01-16 Thursday	Hirafu and Hanazono
4	2025-01-17 Friday	Hirafu and Hanazono
5	2025-01-18 Saturday	backcountry to Maemekunnai-dake
6	2025-01-19 Sunday	Kiroro
7	2025-01-20 Monday	Niseko Hirafu gate 3 twice
8	2025-01-21 Tuesday	backcountry tour to Chise Nupuri peak
9	2025-01-22 Wednesday	trip to Rusutsu
10	2025-01-23 Thursday	last skiing day at Niseko

2025-01-14 Tuesday, Hirafu and Hanazono

First day skiing at Niseko. Wakeup 6:46, then breakfast. We got a bit late start and arrived to Hirafu King Gondola parking place 8:51, when lifts had been running already since 8:30. We concluded that we need to start waking up earlier.

I forgot to start the tracker, so track map is missing the first hour.

We went all the way up, King gondola, King qaud chair #3, King lift #4. Skied down and got to the other ridge of Hirafu. It was snowing and visibility was not so good. We saw people walking up to peak from gate #3 but we did not dare to got there yet. We had hoped to hire a guide for that, but eventually were not able to get a guide, so on Thursday we went finally up without a guide. On first day we skied the lower sidecountry areas instead. There was a good base of soft snow and more coming all the time. Temperature about -11. Skiing was really good but visibility really bad.

Then after an hour we skied down to Hanazono, where we had luch at Hanazono Edge restaurant. The Edge restaurant has a good selection of different kinds of foods and it was well organized. There are also a good views, which you do not get at many places. In this restaurant you pick a queue to one of the many different counters serving different styles of foods. Then when it comes to your turn to order you can point to a picture menu to show which dish you want, and it will be served. Then you queue to the cashier to pay. It is a good idea to reserve a table in advance.

Then after lunch I turned the tracker on. We did once the Hanazono gondola. The by chairs back to Hirafu. Then quick visit to Niseko Village and back to Hirafu. We even did a little night skiing when daylight was gone around 15:30. Ended the skiing at 16:33 and drove back to hotel. Then to Onsen. After Onsen we decide to try to hotel’s own restaurant. We did not have a reservation, but managed to get one immediately as the restaurant was half empty. It was a pretty basic Japanese dinner buffet. Went to sleep early.

2025-01-15 Wednesday, Annupuri

Second day skiing. Now we set up alarm at 6:30 and decided to try the Annupuri as starting point as it was only a 10 min drive from out hotel instead of the 20 min to Hirafu. We got to Annupuri base at 8:30 when lifts were opening but the gondola was not open due to weather. We hoped it would eventually open later, but it did not. Neither did they open the highest Jumbo Pair lifts #3 or #4, which prevented us to access the other Niseko United areas, which we would have wanted to reach. It was a big mistake to choose Annupuri as the starting point this day, as we could not reach any of the other areas from there. Then we saw people skiing untouched powder coming down from the Village gondola and maybe all the way from Hirafu. The very first run from top of Jumbo #2 through Gate 7 was nice, but already on the first run it was pretty tracked and not worth a 2^nd run.

We decided to skin up from the highest open lift #2 and got to the godola top station. There the lift operators instructed us not to go any higher, so we skied down and had a lunch. After lunch we took the lifts again as up as possible and skinned up the west side. The wind was really hard and visibility poor. Higher up wind was also packing the snow, so we decided to stop at 950 m elevation and ski down. There was some pretty good knee deep powder.

Dinner at Kobito Japanese restaurant, which was within short walking distance from our hotel.

We attempted to get a backcountry guide, but found out that all guides were already reserved well until end of February. We should have reserved a guide already early December, or even earlier.

2025-01-16 Thursday, Hirafu and Hanazono

3rd day skiing. It had snowed entire night and more was to come, so we decided to play it safe and drive to Hirafu Ace Gondola base as early as possible. Ace gondola was brand new for this season and had replaced old Ace chairs #1 and #2. Now only Ace chairs #3 and #4 are the only old lifts left on the “Ace” sequence of lifts. And these are really old ones, the #4 even lacking a safety bar.

We did fist few runs under the highest chair lift Ace #4. There was waist deep powder, which was good for a few runs, until it got pretty tracked. Visibility pretty bad as it was snowing constantly. Then we skied down to Ace gondola top station and from there down the “Super” forest route. There was lot of deep powder there but it was also steep and challenging. Then all the way up to Ace #4. Finally we decided to dare to go up from Hirafu Gate 3. As we could not get any guide we decided to try on our own. Visibility at the top was poor and we could not see much where we were going. We needed to constantly consult a top map on cell phone to figure out where we were going. But above tree line there was waist deep light powder everywhere. The trickiest part was to find a good route through the forest below tree line. Finally we found the trail from where you had to skin or hike up to the Hanazono area. We then did the Hanazono gondola once, only to realize that it does not provide access back to Hirafu.

It was late and we were hungry, so when we got back down to Hanazono base, we had a late lunch at Edge restaurant. At the entrance of the Edge restaurant there are compressed air blowing guns to clean the snow from clothing, and on this day there were a really good idea, as we were covered by powder snow all over.

We did not realize that the chair lift connection back to Hirafu closes at 15:10, so we missed that. We had to take the shuttle bus back to Hirafu, which took 55 min. Back at Hirafu we went up on Ace gondola once more to test night skiing as it was already getting dark. Then we drove to Kutchan town and had a dinner at Family Restaurant Rocco at Kutchan town center. We did not have a reservation but we got a table anyway at 18:15. After dinner back to hotel and to Onsen.

2025-01-17 Friday, Hirafu and Hanazono

On Friday we decided to repeat Thursday. We got to the Hirafu Ace gondola lift line at 8:15 to wait for lift opening at 8:30. There were already some 100 people in the line by that time. Then up to Ace #4. We skied again under Ace #4 chair waist deep powder a few runs. Then climbed up from Hirafu Gate 3 to the top. On this day the visibility was even worse than yesterday. Something like 20 meters and at the top you could only see white, it was snowing hard and there was also a slight wind. We walked all the way to the small hut next to the peak marking pole. The hut was visible only within 20 meters from it. When skiing down above tree line you could not see much, so frequent consultation of the top map was nescessaryu to find your way in this terrain unknown to us. Below tree line it became easier to navigate. I did manage to do a strange fall during which I broke one of my poles.

We found out way to Hanazono base, and had lunch again at Edge restaurant from 12:30 to 13:30. Now we were able to take the chair lifts #1 and #2 in good time to get back on Hirafu side. We skied though the “Waterfall Gate” G9 though the forest back to King gondola base. Then King Gondola and King chairs #3 and #4 all the way up. King #3 is a nice hooded quad lift, whereas #4 is a nasty “pizza box” one seater without any safety bar. It literally feels like you are sitting on a pizza box hanging from a cable going 20 meters above the ground. Then we skied down to Ace gondola parking lot and it called it a day.  

As I had broken my other ski pole I needed to buy new ones. We found out that the Rhythm Summit Hirafu was the right place to buy them, so we drove there and I bought a pair of ”Black Diamond Traverse” poles. Got them for 17300 Yen, which is 110 Euros, tax free. You could get them a lot chearer in Finland.

Then back to hotel and Onsen. After Onsen we had dinner at Rookie’s Kitchen. We had reserved table on our way back to hotel. We had Shabu Shabu for three with Lamb.

2025-01-18 Saturday, backcountry to Maemekunnai-dake 

Camilla wanted to try on Saturday some real backcountry and she had found from HokkaidoWilds.org web page a route guide to Maemekunnai-dake South approach, that appeared safe enough without a guide: Maemekunnai-dake (South approach) | HokkaidoWilds.org

Wakeup 6:30, then breakfast and we started driving to the trailhead, which was the start of Route 268 that is not open during winter. The road starts at altitude of 326 m. We were at the trailhead at 9 am. Our objective was to skin along the snowed in route 268 road for 5 km past the defunct Niimi Onsen and then up to Maemekunnai-dake and then ski it down back to car. The guide advised that it would take 3 hours up and 1 hour down. On that day it snowed heavily and there was no previous track on the road that was snowed in. It has very heavy to skin up the road as the snow was knee deep with skis on. There was about one meter of snow covering the road. It took us over five hours to get at an altitude of 738 m. Then it was already 15:30 and it would get dark at 17:00. We had also made a slight navigational error when skinning though the forest after leaving the road. We should have gone towards N-NW instead of N-NE as we had done and the Maemekunnai peak was still at least one hour away. So we decided to turn back. We did get to ski a short distance thought the forest, where snow was VERY deep, but the hill unfortunately a bit too flat for snow that deep. Then slow cross-country style skiing down the road. We did stop at the Niimi Onsen ruins to have a quick late lunch. We got back to car just when the sun had gone down and the last of the daylight illuminated the mountains. The scenery was amazing and we were totally alone.

Then back to hotel and Onsen. Then dinner at Taj Mahal Indian restaurant near our hotel.

2025-01-19 Sunday, Kiroro

For Sunday we decided to go see Kiroro.

Wakeup 6:30, then breakfast and we started driving to Kiroro, which was 61 km away, a 1:15 drive over the mountain range. I bought ski passes online during the drive, while Daniel was driving. Arrived to Kiroro at 9:54. The upper parking lot was then full, so we had to park to the lower one and walk up to the mountain center. It was a bit sunny first but then it became cloudy. We went up on the Kiroro gondola, then skied down the runs around the Asari chair lift and the “tree run” areas. At Kiroro there wasn’t that much snow. The forest skiing areas were totally trashed, and the runs were icy and lacking proper snow. I did not even start the tracker at the beginning so the first two hours are missing from the track map. As we got bored of the official runs, we decided to skin up to the top of Asari peak and ski some backcounty. Unfortunately then the visibility became really bad and again we had to navigate using compass. We followed the trail going up towards east, and then turning to south along the top ridge. Then we skied down the bowl and forest towards west. The snow was a bit packed above tree line. Below tree line powder about knee deep. It was pretty nice until we got to the gully of a bigger stream. The banks on both side were really steep and it was somewhat nasty ski down. We should have taken a route on either ridge above the gully. We eventually got to the Asari course 1A, then took the Yoichi #2 lift up to ski down to Kiroro base where we had late lunch.

After lunch we went to the other side and took the Nagamine #1 and #2 lifts up. Skied Nagamine 2A red course twice as it was nice and had good snow. The back 2-B course looked bad and was severely lacking snow. Then back down to base and skied the Center Express. At 16:00 it was getting dark and lifts closing, so we called it a day. Then drove back to Kutchan over the mountains.

It was good to see what Kiroro was like, but I wouldn’t go there again, Niseko is much better.

When reaching Kutchan we fueled up the car as range had dropped to 100 km. We filled 40 liters which showed 500 km range again. Dinner at J’s Corner grill at Kutchan, which served hamburgers Japanese style. Only cash, which was about the only restaurant which did not accept credit cards. After dinner back to hotel and to onsen. Then to sleep.

2025-01-20 Monday, Niseko Hirafu gate 3 twice

As usual wakeup 6:30, then breakfast and started driving out from hotel at 7:45.

Decided to stay at Niseko and drove to Hirafu base, and parked the car to a good place 8:10. We were in the Ace Gondola queue at 8:15 and there were already some 100 people in the queue already. It looked like it would be a semi sunny day with some random clouds around 1000 meters.

We went all the way again and on this day it was sunny and you could even see Mount Yotei. There was about 10-20 cm fresh powder, so we skied the Ace #4 chair a few runs until it got trashed. Then grom gate #3 we climbed up all the way to the hut, whicxh wou could now see from far away. Now at the top the views were amazing and you could finally see the routes going down. One the first run down to Hanzono we got to ski knee deep powder all the way down and found a pretty good route throught the forest to the trail. Then lunch at Hanazono Edge. Back to Hirafu side, and back to top using King sequence of lifts. Up  from Gate #3, but we stopped at the beginning of the east ridge. Now we skied down the backcountry route that leads to Hanazono Quad chair #3. Now the top gates were already closed as they close very early at 13:30. Then some skiing in Hirafu. Daniel had blisters in his feet due to the expedition we did on Saturday so he had a break at Ace restaurant. Me and Camilla skied down and took the Gondola up. Camilla joined Daniel while I did once more Ace #3 and #4. Then me and Camilla skied down, Daniel took the Gondola down.

We drove back to hotel and went to Onsen. After that we tried to find a restaurant but as we did not have a reservation to anywhere we had to try a few before we found a place that had a free table for us. We ended up having dinner at Suttsu Sakana Isshin, which was a sushi restaurant. The sushi was really good there.

2025-01-21 Tuesday, backcountry tour to Chise Nupuri peak

It was going to be a sunny day, but there was no fresh snow anywhere. Daniel needed an easy day due to blister in his feet. We decided to try a bit of backcountry again. From https://hokkaidowilds.org/ we found an interesting route almost next to our hotel. Chisenupuri (チセヌプリ, 1134m) is the classic backcountry peak in the Niseko Range. The summit affords grand views east and west along the range, as well as north to the Japan Aea at Iwanai.

Chisenupuri South Face Ski Touring

Wakeup 6:30, then breakfast and we headed to the Niseko Chisenupuri Ski Area parking lot, which was only 7 minute drive from our hotel. We put on skins and started skiing up the trail towards the Chise Nupuri peak. Daniel gave up about 100 meter before reaching peak, but me and Camilla skinned all the way up and took some photos. Then skins off and skied down the south face, and through the forest back down the parking lot. The snow was wind packed and really hard crust at the top, in forest little softer. Sun was shining from blue sky and temperature was around zero, slight wind at top. Good visibility and from peak you could see all mountains 100 km away. We were finished really early.

Then to lunch. We tried to get to JiiJi but it was closed. Then ended up to Rookie’s Kitchen. After lunch back to hotel, and to onsen. It was first time we were at onsen during daylight.

For dinner we went to Okonomiyaki Ju, at 20:00. We managed to reserve a table in advance. The restaurant was run apparently by a family of three generations of women. They serve Okonomiyaki, which is a savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients (mixed, or as toppings) cooked on a teppan (flat griddle).

2025-01-22 Wednesday, trip to Rusutsu

We also wanted to see what the Rusutsu area was like, it was one hour drive from our hotel. We had an early start and were at Rusutsu East Center station at 9 am. We had bought ski passes online and picked up them from a Pick-up machine using the QR-code. Then East #2 gondola up. It was cloudy and there was no fresh snow. We skied down the East Tignes run to warm up. Then gondola up again and down the “Super East” black run through the forest. It would have been nice if there would have been untracked deep powder, but now it was trashed and hard, not so nice any more. We continued to explore the Mount Isola side. The read runs were pretty ok to ski, the black runs were out of snow, and the forests were not worth the trouble as the snow there was trashed, icy and hard.  But it did look like the forests down the Mount Isola could be really nice to ski right after a big dump. This wasn’t just the best day to be there. It was cloudy and Mount Isola peak was covered by a cloud. On a clear day you would see Mount Yotei, but not today.

There were lots of ski school groups. All the students had a uniform like outfit, bright orange jacket, green pants, and a number west. The instructors had a student manifest on their arms. Very organized. Then it was time for lunch. We first tried the restaurant at the basement of East Gondola station, but that looked unattractive. Then we decided to take the long gondola to the West side, where the actual resort is. We had a lunch there but it was more like a barren military canteen compared to Hirafu and Hanazono.

We skied the west side slopes, but they were pretty ordinary groomed slopes, a bit icy today on Hokkaido standards. Would have been nice with carving skis, but not the best choice for our backcountry skis intended for deep power. We then took the gondola back to East side and saw the ugly Westin Hotel tower. Apparently one night there can cost 1000 Euros. The hotel ratings are bad and it apparently is not worth the extravagant price.

Back on East side the Mount Isola peak was still covered by a thick cloud, so we did not want to go there. Instead we skied the East Vivaldi run a few times until it was getting dark and lifts closing. Rusutsu is more expensive than Niseko United and definitely not worth the price. Niseko is so much better.

One hour drive back to our hotel in Niseko, then to Onsen. After that we went driving again with the aim to get into the Jamii restaurant that serves Japanese Curry. It is a very small place and hard to get a table from there. We did get to eat at the countertop. The food was very good.

2025-01-23 Thursday, last skiing day at Niseko

Daniel’s feet were hurting, and he had to skip this last day of skiing at Niseko. So it was just me and Camilla. We started from Annupuri, took the gondola and chairs #3 and #4 all the way to top. Then from gate 2, we hiked up to the top. Sun was shining, sky was blue, amazing views from top. The SW face was wind beaten and did not look good. There had not been new snow for many days, temperature had been above freezing day before and the snow was hard on top. Avalanche status was at low risk. We decided to go forward along the ridge and ski down the Kozan no sawa back bowl. It turned out that even there the snow was hard packed and hard to ski. We skied along the wide gully, which was more like a very long giant half pipe down through the forest back to Annupuri base. Had a coffee break there.

Then gondola and chairs back to the top, down to Hirafu Ace chair #4 and to gate #3. We hicked up to the ridge, then skied the Fujiwara no Sawa face down to Hanazono #3 chair. The snow was pretty trashed, but not so bad after all. Then down to Ace gondola base to have lunch there. This restaurant serves really good food and has an amazing with towards Mount Yotei. Compared to the dismal bunkers in Kiroro and Rusutsu, this is a luxury place to eat.

After lunch gondolas and chairs back up so we could get to Annupuri. Camilla stopped there, but I did one more ascent to the top and skied down. Now the ten days of skiing at Hokkaido were completed.

Daniel was waiting us at the parking lot and we drove back to hotel and went to Onsen while it was still daylight.

We had managed to reserve a table at Kamimura. We had the Chef’s Degustation menu with wine pairing. It is 10 courses of exquisite luxury. This was the perfect way to finish the trip in Hokkaido.

Resort trail maps

Niseko United

Niseko rules

Kiroro

Rusutsu

Trip photos and videos