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Making tracks
Here’s a story in five parts – the
many sides to the snow of Niseko.
words by JIM DARBY
I’M EITHER LAZY or cunning. Maybe
both ... you decide. Here’s how it works
in the snow. Got some good mates and
they know the mountain better than me.
Weather’s in, vis is poor, so I hang back.
Is that a crime? Must you always be the
alpha skier?
I’m getting stump-spotting and pathfinding services through the forests and
my companions get first tracks. Fair
trade? I reckon, but I have to confess the
snow is in such abundance, there’s fresh
tracks for everyone, first or last.
Niseko. It has its own colour, a bleak
light and a palette of weak white fading
to grey; I was there for nearly two weeks
and during that time it stopped snowing
for about two hours. You have to love that
kind of weather; there’s no half way – if
you don’t, you’re going to hate it.
An Austrian gave me his take on the
snow at Niseko: “the snowflakes are
different here, they’re three dimensional
and they have salt in them.”
Strawberry Fields forever.
picture: DAN POWER/NISEKO HANAZONO RESORT
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Making tracks
Another option when the weather and
snowpack permits are the back bowls that
lead back to the Annupuri and Niseko
Village side of the mountain. Some of this
was just travelling, to get over the windpacked snow up high for example, but we
had some delicious turns lower down.
It does slide out here and the visibility can
fade to nothing; give the mountain the
appropriate respect and make safety your
priority. Don’t get lazy about that bit.
Base camp
I arrived at the Green Leaf Hotel around
midnight, fresh from an Australian
summer, to swing open the curtains in my
room and look out on a Japanese forest;
snow falling quietly and patiently. Warm
and sheltered on the inside, cool as we
came for on the outside.
Apart from the skiing, I was also here to
test drive two properties – the Green Leaf
Hotel and the Niseko Hilton, both of them
in the Niseko Village area.
<
“But,” his girlfriend said “they’re still white.”
I’ll tell you what they haven’t got:
moisture. They’re light, they’re dry and the
way it keeps on coming makes this the
magic pudding of mountains.
Some days, the weather brought some
wind, and for this, it doesn’t hurt to have a
car so you can switch from one base area
to another: parking is free and ample
(Australia take note).
One time the wind blew us around to the
Hanazono side where we skied the trees
and when, eventually, the upper mountain
opened, we’d get as high as we could,
riding the 1, 2 and 3 Hanazono chairs and
then finally the Ace No. 4 single chair to
leave the resort boundary at Gate 4.
First came a long traverse (yep, lazybones
went last) and then came the Christmas
stocking. First present was the area they
call The Meadows which is just that – open
fields of snow as you descend into the first
of the trees. The pitch is perfect, the snow
was dry and the turns easy to take.
Then comes the plunge into the area they
call Jacksons – it’s steeper and deeper
and leads into a forest that you track
through to make your way back to the
Hanazono base. Choose the right path
and you barely have to skate. It was about
a 75-minute turnaround all up; we took it
three or four times and that’s plenty
enough to build an appetite for the
noodles down in Hanazono.
<
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Out and about in Jackson’s
with the Hanazono Powder
Guides
pictures: NISEKO
HANAZONO RESORT
Mt Niseko Annupuri is a vast mountain; an
inverted ice cream cone with numerous
accommodation centres scattered around
its huge base. Most beds, cafes, shops
and bars are in the central zone known as
Hirafu; out to its east is the burgeoning
Hanazono area and off to the west the
area now known as Niseko Village, also
known as Higashiyama, where you’ll find
the Niseko Hilton and the Green Leaf.
Niseko Village is off the main drag slightly,
which isn’t a problem if you’re able to ski
around the mountain and want to visit
other parts of it. After the lifts shut, if you
want to head to one of the Hirafu
restaurants or bars, a shuttle service
makes the connection.
For me, the process of skiing, onsen and
eating pretty well saw me out, so getting
to Hirafu wasn’t really an issue; it could be
for younger (less lazy?) visitors, but in
many ways, you have everything you need
at your base.
The Green Leaf sits in a calm isolation at
the foot of the run they call Banzai – so
access to the mountain is pretty
straightforward. A recent renovation to the
reception area is inspired, with the murals
of Sapporo artist Emi Shiratori bringing
you into the building and the lobby lounge,
Tomioka White, is warm and relaxed.
The rooms have also been upgraded and
are well-appointed, even if some
Australians might find the bathrooms on the
small side. The layout means rooms can be
interconnected for family accommodation.
Over the way a little is the Hilton, a
monolith of a building with 506 guest
rooms, a lobby so vast you could build
another hotel inside it, and the Niseko
Gondola a few steps beyond the ski valet
service.
The height you gain in the Hilton gives
sensational views from the rooms – some
out over the snow-covered Hokkaido
farmlands, some out to the impressive Mt
Yotei. The rooms are very good, big
enough with a good fit-out.
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Another plus at the Hilton is the ski valet
service – walk in off the mountain, hand
your skis or board to one valet, relax on
the bench as you remove your boots and
then hand them to the next valet and you’ll
get back your basket with this morning’s
slippers waiting for you. Reverse the
process on the way out and you’re up and
skiing.
Onsens. If your image of Japan is one of
tranquillity and serenity, nowhere is this
better realised than in the onsen and two of
the best of them belong in Niseko Village –
at the Hilton and at the Green Leaf.
They both have their shower area and a hot
pool indoor, but the highlight is to move
outside to soak in water around about
41°C surrounded by snow. At the Hilton,
the pool goes from here to eternity, the
onsen’s water spilling into a larger pool
with carp doing laps and a view to Mt Yotei
in the distance. The Green Leaf’s outdoor
pool is cupped at the edges by a
combination of rocks, snow and timber
fencing that makes you want to call the
landscaper straight away.
If there’s a better means of getting clean,
relaxed and restored after a day on the
mountain, I haven’t found it.
Food. Breakfast is buffet bliss – you
haven’t had breakfast until you’ve had had
scrambled eggs and seaweed. Want
something fresh-cooked? The chefs are
there for you; starched and straight with
whisks in hand and pans ready to fire. It’s
as good at the Green Leaf’s Goshiki
restaurant as it is the Hilton’s Melt Bar
and Grill.
The Goshiki also runs a buffet for lunch
and dinner; sensational value if you’re
hungry and the food is very good. The
“international fusion” description isn’t far
from the mark, but if you just wanted to
focus on the Japanese soups, sushi,
sashimi, noodles and more, you still
wouldn’t be stuck for variety.
Over at the Hilton, I also tried the Rera
Sushi bar – if you like seafood, and I was
fresh from a Tasmanian summer catching
and eating the same – the Rera is a rare
treat. My sushi chef, who not long ago was
working at Whistler, was to the knife what
the Kassbohrer Pisten Bully is to the piste;
a poet. I had prawns and crab and urchin
and every kind of fish from the waters off
Hokkaido.
On the mountain, not far below the Niseko
Gondola top station, you can charge lunch
at the Lookout Cafe back to your room and
it has a satisfying selection of soups,
curries, noodle dishes and burgers. The
interior has been tricked up recently and it
looks good, with its cool wooden batons.
For more, go to: www.hilton.com/NisekoVillage and www.thegreenleafhotel.com
Knowing the ropes
The Mizuno no Sawa Avalanche Control
Area Education Program
There’s an intriguing tension between the
authorities and the adventurers in most
areas and this one’s no different. The
mountains inspire adventure, so you want
to push the boundaries and you probably
want to push your capabilities. But those
charged with mountain safety want to
keep you safe and that sometimes
involves containing you.
And here’s the catch: whatever your
experience and expertise, do you know all
the dangers the mountains have in store
for you? How far can your capabilities
actually carry you? If Donald Rumsfeld
was a ski patroller, this would be the
abyss you’d fall in, from the known
unknowns – avalanches, unmarked
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<
Niseko local Kaz Furugori taking
her turns in Mizuno no Sawa.
< Avalanche school at Niseko Village
(along with an excellent application
of straight skis).
stumps and the like – to the unknown
unknowns – when will the slide actually
slide; what about asteroids? and so on.
(Pity the poor snowboarders if Rumsfeld
ever took up ski patrolling, but that’s
another conversation entirely.)
Recognising this tension – and probably
responding to a commercial demand for
off-piste opportunities – the Niseko
Village patrollers have created a
program for people who want to ski the
previously-forbidden Mizuno no Sawa
“special control area.”
First step is to roll up at ski patrol
headquarters, which is in a disused
gondola top station above the
ironically-named Speedy Wonder rope
tow. HQ is itself a treat – some offices
have been fabricated in the building for
the patrol and some tents have been
pitched to capture a bit of warmth for
The boards
You want some width under foot on
this mountain. I tapped into the
fleet at Inski and my favourite was
Ullr’s Chariot by the boutique US
brand, Skilogik, I had it in a 178cm
with a 145/101/131 shape tip-totail. While you want the width for
the fresh, there’s some tricky
traversing and some fun piste
skiing around here – this ski had
the spring and versatility to handle
all of that; it would give a good ride
at home or away.
Go to: www.inski.com.au
the avalanche school classroom.
It costs ¥2000 (about $A20) to register;
you fill out the paperwork and that
includes contact information and
personal details such as blood group,
which hopefully won’t be required. The
course is run in Japanese with English
subtitles on a PowerPoint presentation. It
goes through the basics of snow pack,
snow safety, potential hazards and the
local rules to ride.
Once you’re through the course, you get
your personal card, which is good for the
season. But as soon as you get it, you
give it back – whenever you want to ski
Mizuno no Sawa, you hand in the card at
ski patrol reception and they give you a
numbered bib in exchange.
On goes the bib and off you go to the
area’s entry gate, a few minutes’ skate
above patrol HQ. There a patroller
checks you have a buddy – we collected
some strays for our runs and this made
them all the more interesting – and all of
a sudden, you’re free to ride.
The skiing was sensational, a heli-ski
quality experience. We had boot- to
thigh-deep powder through evenly
pitched trees at the top and a variety of
ridge runs and faces on bowls to tidy up
the trek, running back to the base of the
Niseko Gondola. It’s about a 45 minute
turnaround, depending on your fitness.
When you’re done, hand back the bib,
you get your card back and you’re on
your way. If you don’t hand back the
bib, when they close the area, the
search commences and there will be
consequences...
Go to: www.niseko-village.com.au
Getting there
Flying out of Sydney, JAL remains the best option; from take-off in Sydney, it took 16
hours to get in the door of my accommodation in Niseko.
From Melbourne, it’s slightly more problematic; I’d rather go to the dentist than make
an international transfer in Sydney, but the JAL connections are so smooth after
Sydney, I cleaned my teeth and did it.
For skiers, a major bonus with JAL is that in economy they allow two 23kg bags, so
you can carry up to 46kg – there are restrictions on dimensions; check their website
for more.
An alternative is to fly Cathay Pacific direct to Hong Kong from Melbourne or Sydney,
have a stopover there and then fly direct from Hong Kong to Sapporo, avoiding Tokyo
altogether. Also keep an eye out for Jetstar reinstating Cairns-Sapporo flights; they’ll
launch with some specials if they do it, but the luggage costs could kill off the savings.
Ground transfers from Sapporo airport to Niseko are varied and plentiful; I used the
Hokkaido Resort Liner and it worked really well – just be careful to check your
transfer will deliver you direct to your accommodation if that’s what you’re after.