J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by andyhull

Video always flattens out the terrain to a degree, as the view is always looking down. Because we didn't have any deep snow we were always seeking out the places it had accumulated, ie the gullies and sheltered spots. There is plenty of areas which would be incredible in deep snow. Unfortunately with the fresh snow we had you were straight through to the crud/windblown underneath as soon as you got on the steeper bits.

Indeed, this will be a massive improvement. The long queue for the Penken even during off peak weeks, was a major negative for the resort.

Flight to North Island or bullet train to Hakuba, it's still another journey from Toyko.

That's what made this such a special trip, it was about so much besides the skiing.

We did the trip for just over £2,000 a person. That was for bed and breakfast at the Greenleaf Hotel.
http://www.thegreenleafhotel.com/en/

We flew BA, tickets bought in their sale, which secured around 40% off.
Addition baggage (skis/board) was £65 each way.

Ski hire was 29,000 yen (£183) for 7 days. All of us skiers hired, as fat skis are more suitable.

Food varied in price depending on where you went, but all was excellent. Lunch around 1,000 yen (£6) such as fried chicken on rice pictured above.

Beer in the hotel was 900 yen (£5.90).

The inbounds skiing is all pretty safe, as are the bits through the gates. There were a few cracks opening up, in the out of bounds area, you know you aren't in Europe when you see lush bamboo growing underneath! There's not much skiing above the tree line, so the tree skiing makes up a large proportion of the off piste.
There are a couple of off piste areas which are higher risk, to access these you need a numbered bib which you get only once you have attended a 20min Avalanche lecture.

Beyond that you're out of the ski area and will need a guide.

I didn't have any problem with jet lag in Japan, (they are 9 hours ahead of us). But it's been really hard since I've been back. This morning I didn't wake up until 5.30, a great improvement as I've been awake at 3am most days!

In Alpe D'Huez a few weeks ago, we watched from the lift a perfectly executed 340. Didn't end well...

If skiing in Japan isn't on your skiing bucket list it really should be!
Niseko is an amazing place, encompassing 4 resorts around the mountain. We stayed at the Greenleaf in Niseko Villiage, inbetween Annupuri and Hirafu (the largest of the resorts) with Hanazono beyond.
We had 15 in our group, 9 skiers and 6 snowboarders. Skills ranging from 4 weeks on snow to expert.
First task after arrival was to hire skis, as those available in the hotel were mostly beginner skis. I'd done plenty of research online before hand, so knew we needed to find Niseko Rhythm in Hirafu for the best range of skis and value for money, so we jumped on the free shuttle bus. We were all really impressed by Rhythm, the service, advice and attention to detail was first class. We even got a lift back to our hotel via their complimentary minibus. One piece of advice during this journey was to pay no attention to the weather forecasts, as the geography of the island made them very unreliable. This was confirmed by others during the week.

I started the week on a pair of Rossignol Soul 7s, exactly what I had in mind prior to the trip. I was impressed by the skis the rest were matched up with too, all good matches for the wide range of abilities in the group.

While the snow conditions were good, we didn't get the deep powder Niseko is so famous for.
The first day we were restricted to the local area as high winds closed the upper lifts, although a very small area, there were a couple of runs which gave access to the trees and some interesting off piste (including the 'gully' shown in above video), fairly short runs but great for building confidence, few of the group had any tree skiing experience.
We woke up to falling snow on the second day, the 1cm forecast had turned into a 20cm dump!
Again wind was preventing the upper lifts from opening, but the new snow transformed the local area giving us a special morning. After lunch the wind had dropped enough for the upper lifts to open and we dropped into the Hirafu area for the first time.
We then had three sunnier days exploring Hirafu, Hanazono and Annupuri.
More snow freshened things up for the last two days so we spent those in Annupuri which we felt had the best terrain in the ski area.
A bit disappointing that we didn't see any deep powder during our stay, but the skiing was amazing nevertheless. Add to that the food which was incredible, the people who were freindly and helpful, and terrain and the general buzz of the place, this was the best ski holiday I've been on.
We had an early morning flight back to Tokyo giving up an afternoon and evening to explore the city before flying back to the UK the following day. (Over 50cm of snow fell in Niseko while we were there!)