February 2008 - Hokkaido, Japan
In February 2009 the Warren Smith Ski Academy will be joining forces with Inghams to create the perfect powder skiing package in Japan. The course will be a 5 day powder ski course for intermediates and advanced skiers in the resorts of Niseko and Furano. This will typically be a 10 day holiday for our clients, taking in some of the cultural aspects of Japan and also some free days to ski. The course will cost £399 per person and cover powder ski specific training and guiding with the all essential video analysis.Warren and I visited Japan in February 2008 to do some research on the area in preparation for the course next year. We didn’t really know much about skiing in Japan, except that the powder was deep and that Sushi would be available on the menu at most restaurants. These two pieces of information were good enough to convince us to go to Japan alone!
05/02/08 We flew from London Heathrow on Japanese Airlines (JAL) to Osaka Kansai which was an 11 hour flight. Aparently the flights are always half full, so we had plenty of space to sprawl out and sleep. I was also surprised at the quality of in-flight meal. Warren actually asked for seconds! Once we arrived in Osaka in Japan we hopped on a short 1 ½ hour flight to Chitose Sapporo. The final stage of the journey was a 1 ½ hour transfer bus to Niseko where we would spend our first few days. The journey was long, but luckily very comfortable. It was certainly worth it for what we were about to experience.
07/02/08 Niseko
We woke up with fuzzy heads but happy to greet the new day. It was slightly overcast outside but the temperature was cold and dry and the snow powder light and as the day went on, the sky began to clear. After a morning with our Japanese guide, Tomako, we headed off to some off piste areas quite near the resort. The silver birch trees were closely spaced but not too close to get some nice turns in. The silver white of the bark looked crisp against the blue sky, and made for a perfect backdrop for the images we were to shoot.
Niseko is made up of 3 main areas Niseko Village (formerly Niseko Higashiyama), Hirafu and Annupuri. We stayed at the Niseko Prince Hotel in Higashiyama which has now been taken over by the Hilton group and will be transformed into only the second ski in, ski out Hilton hotels in the world, the first being Whistler. There is also an impressive view of the dormant volcano Mt Yōtei.
Niseko has almost 50km of piste and unlike many of the other resorts in Japan, has an abundance of accessible and permissible access to some beautiful off piste terrain. The top lies at 1,309m, the base being at 300m, with an elevation of 300m. With an average of 40ft of snow in a season, there are no rocks and plenty of days of powder! It is practically guaranteed each day! There are 38 lifts and 59 pistes, so the on piste is plentiful also.
Apparently this was a bad winter. With a 40ft base, it was still however, the best snow we had ever skied, so we didn’t complain!
08/02/08 Furano
The next day we started on our journey to the resort of Furano which was approximately 4 hours away by car. About half way we pulled over at the Iwamizawa service station, a little like the Little Chef on the outside, a little like a vending machine on the inside. Everything was written in Japanese, only pictures to give a hint of what you were ordering to eat. We popped the money in the machine and selected a picture that looked like noodle soup. Out popped a ticket and we sat down and waited patiently. The ladies behind the counter giggled at our bemusement. They tried to say the odd word in English as we tried to say the odd word in Japanese which got them giggling at the same time as running around frantically preparing this and that in the none too busy diner.
There was a little shop in the corridor towards the exit with a whole wall of colourful vending machines. I was tickled by the hot coffee in a coke style can. There wasn’t a drink you couldn’t order in a tin. On the opposite wall was a weight machine, a stamp machine and a ‘Heart Start’ machine, I guess just in case you were to pass out and your heart stopped after drinking the hot coffee from a tin.
The journey continued. We arrived at Furano and checked into the New Furano Prince Hotel which had the most efficient elevators I have ever come across. The rooms were comfortable, but the furniture could have been out of an accountant's office. The rooms and the hotel were extremely clean though, and the fantastic toilets are another story! Each are heated to the temperature you require. They have a shower or bidet option, and just in case you are not able to control the noises 'down there', there is a button you can choose for a lengthy toilet flush noise.
Moving on. We didn’t get a chance to ski that day, but we did get the chance to sample the local culture in the evening. We visited the Robata Restaurant which consisted of a tiny bar in the front where perhaps 20 people could sit round the bar with little ornamental bits and bobs dotted around all over the place.
We had the private room in the back booked which fitted 12 people around the table sitting on the floor. Shoes had to be taken off on entry which I thought very hygienic until the waitress, obviously part of the family who run the restaurant, put down our tray of Sake while sighing, then take out a tissue from her pocket, blow her nose in it and then continue to dab the sweat off her head with it. I wasn’t very impressed, however quite amused by her nonchalance and obvious lack of care.
However, the food was delectable. With a deliciously grilled selection of fish and vegetables, my palette was watering. Unfortunately the helpings were not so great, and I was a little put off by the Cod Sperm! I allowed myself a sneak round the corner into the kitchen to take a couple of quick and non-distracting pictures. The chef looked round at me with a big smile with a cigarette hanging out of his mounth, happy to be in the picture. He grabbed who I guess must have been his wife into the picture with him, until the nose blowing mother came into the kitchen none to happy at the scene before here. I took off without glancing in her less than happy direction.
09/02/08 Saturday was to be our day of filming on the mountain. We had heard of the strict rules of the off piste skiing in Furano, and were adamant not to get into trouble with the locals, especially as we wanted to take our clients here next year. We headed up with local guides Nobu and Osamuka. They took us around the pistes for a while before we started to get itchy feet. Eventually we took off on our own. We were looking at an area at the top of the resort that looked like it had numerous special lines coming down through the trees. There were snowboarders lapping the area tempting us to chance it. At the top of the lift we bumped into the snowboarders who turned out to be locals. We followed them under the barrier and over the side of the hill. It was a short 10 minute hike and then we set off. We got a couple of good runs in and filmed some nice lines. So we headed up for another. This time, on the run out, we knew we had been busted. The mountain security were there waiting for us, and they confiscated our passes. Apparently we could have been arrested! They were pretty decent though, and when we asked them if we could do one more run, they escorted us to the lift and made sure the lift operator let us up for one more run.
That night we were to eat at the Furano Hiroba where we would be entertained by a Japanese cultural performance. A local family dressed up in traditional Japanese clothing and sang an array of traditional style songs and did some flower arranging and artistic Japanese writing. With a room full of Aussies behind, there were almost embarrassing moments where I thought they may start cracking jokes about the performance. However, the male of the Japanese family casually asked a couple of the young Aussies to come on stage and sing with him and his family, to the delight of the crowd.
10/02/08 Asahidake
The next day I had been looking forward to. We were to ski the Asahidake live volcano. It was only 1½ hour drive from Furano, so we were up there by 9am. There is one cable car up the volcano which stops at 1600m, the top of the volcano being at 2290m; the highest mountain in Hokkaido. There were hot steam vents just above where we hiked up to, before traversing across to find some nice untracked lines. Even on the traverse we were walking past patches of bare snow and steam where there were vents. It was quite spectacular.
It was a special place and was very pretty with the silver birch higher up and then sinking into the thick winter pine trees on the descent down. We lapped the cable car a few times, moving further and further along the ridge we were skiing each time. The photos were taken against the deep blue backdrop of the sky with the clean white bark of the Silver Birch standing timeless. It was very picturesque.
We dropped into visit the Takasao Sake Brewery on our way home. We sampled a few different kinds, including the left over's from the making of Sake, which is a thick sweet porridge like rice substance left over from the process. Not personally to my liking. Although I have definitely acquired a taste for Sake!
That night we stayed at the Loisir Hotel in Asahikawa, where we visited the Asahikawa Winter Festival. All over the main streets there were very detailed ice sculptures and then by the river we saw the most fantastic sight. A life sized castle and numerous animals and figures made out of snow and ice. We were actually able to walk around the snow building. Pretty cold and impressive stuff!12/02/08 Furano
We were supposed to be heading back to Niseko today. However having seen the weather forecast, we couldn’t resist seeing the resort covered in fresh snow. We had also arranged a meeting with the General Manager of the Resort. He would obviously have heard of our 'crime' of off piste skiing outside of his resorts boundaries, so we weren’t too sure how he would take us. The meeting got off to a good start with us explaining what we want to do with the Freeride Camps, how we usually work with other resorts in other countries and how we would work with him to make it safe and reputable. We proceeded to show him the good press and media exposure we had from the UK. He was impressed. So much so, that he agreed to approach the government himself, to put forward exclusive permission for backcountry skiing for the Warren Smith Ski Academy. This was better than we could ever have hoped for.
That day we followed the correct channels and went to the police to apply for permission to ride off piste. We filled in the documents which even went as far as to ask you to fill in every piece of emergency food you have. Once up the mountain, the patrol escorted us right up the final lift and then opened the barrier to the areas off piste. It was like opening the doors to heaven. There was not one track in sight, and with at least 60cm of fresh powder, we were delighted! The patrol kept his eye on us for a while and made sure he stayed there long enough for anyone not to follow us.
Warren and I looked at each other in disbelief. This was truly the best! We joyfully bounced about in the lightest powder I had ever experienced, quite often not being able to see where we were going as it was so deep and gasping for breath on each turn. It was a good feeling to be skiing with the confidence that it was the safest off piste terrain we had ever skied. Again we were skiing through Silver Birch trees. It was still overcast and snowing, but with all that powder puffing up in the air all around us, there was no way you could tell what the weather was like in the photos. We got what we came for.
There was line after line to choose from. Eventually when we didn’t have any more height, we started to traverse through the forest by a stream. Without a person in sight or any evidence of anyone ever being there, it was a truly special day. We arrived back at the resort with smiles on our faces and happy to hang up the skis for the day.
13/02/08 The next day we got up nice and early and got on a bus to Niseko. We had to change at Sapporo Airport, but the system in place on the buses is extremely efficient and the ride more than comfortable. The journey took 7 hours in total because it was a public bus and stopped everywhere, however it was a sightseeing trip in itself and I took advantage of every photo opportunity.
14/02/08 Niseko
We were told by several people who ran reputable businesses in Niseko that it snowed practically every night in Niseko. Of course we thought that they were only saying this because they wanted to increase the business in Niseko. However, from what we experienced, it did. The snow was fantastic and it was still snowing. As there is an abundance of tree skiing in Niseko, the falling snow didn’t get in the way of getting good images, as the trees gave nice contrast within the photographic view. We did a lot of filming too which looked impressive as Warren bounced off the banks of snow built up at the base of the trees into a pillow of powder and bounce back out of that and then off the next bank; and so it continued. I almost became a little frustrated that I kept having to look back to scope the line and position myself for the next image. I wanted to blast it through the powder too!! Sometimes being a photographer has its down sides. However I have to tell myself I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have a purpose!
15/02/08 We headed up on the workers lift on the following morning to get fresh tracks. It was still snowing! Once at the top, we traversed over to the next ski area named Hirafu, which is the centre and main town of Niseko. It was insane!! So much powder! There was no work involved in finding a line; every piece of the mountain was the line. We got a few runs in before the hoards of powder hungry Aussies hit the slopes. We were surprised at the amount of Australians in Hirafu. Everyone I spoke to was from Sydney. It was a playground that day. We headed up into the trees again, and saw many people doing the same thing, yet, because the snow was so deep, you didn’t notice the tracks by any previous person. It was heaven.
The Japanese are keen on their night skiing. The whole ski area is lit up with pretty lights leading down the line of the pistes into the resort. Warren and I decided to try out the night skiing in Hirafu again as we had had such a good day there. There is a free shuttle bus which drives you around as the top lift is not open at night to connect the different resorts. The bus ride was no longer than 20 minutes.
Once there, we were blown away by the fact that not only one or two pistes were open, but pretty much the whole ski area was open and floodlit. The night time off piste and tree skiing was spectacular. The silhouette and shadows created by the nearby lights on the pistes created an almost space like montage. The darkness seemed to create an almost tranquil mountain with feeling of being on another planet. It was extraordinary. By 9pm when the lifts were closing the weakness of hunger set in. I melted into the bus seat on the way back to the hotel! I was finished!
16/02/08 Cat Skiing
Talk about getting the most out of the trip. Not only did we finish skiing at 9pm the night before, but we were about to start again at 6.30am. We were going to sample the Cat skiing that is readily available at the resort. For 10,000yen (approximately £40), you can get yourself up on the Cat for around three trips before the lifts open. It had continued snowing, so there was still even more fresh powder. Unfortunately it was a white out and wasn’t the weather for filming or photography. Who says this is unfortunate though, it meant that I could rip it up in the powder. I was certainly happy! I had some new Freeride Skis from Volkl, the Kiku, which I got to really put to the test, and it was a fine day!
It did brighten up as the day went on however, so back to work. But once again, what a day it turned out to be.
17/02/08 Last Day
We were supposed to be flying back to Europe and were absolutely gutted when we woke up and saw our first day of sunshine and deep blue sky. We were almost tempted to cancel our flights. Then we got a telephone call that put smiles on our faces. Our itinerary was wrong and we weren’t flying out until the next day. Despite important business and things we couldn’t miss back in Verbier, as we had no choice, we had to take advantage.
What we experienced was the heat of the sun affecting the snow, and making it heavier like European powder. The snow was no way as good as it had been, and with this we were happy. We had done the best we could.The next day we took the transfer bus to Chitose in Sapporo and flew to Osaka where we spent the night at an airport hotel, which was about 5 minutes walk from the gate. We ate well, slept well and went to sleep with a real feeling of satisfaction.
The flight back was beautiful and the view out of the window was spectacular. We were also bumped up to business class and were the only 2 people in the business class cabin, so Scott our air host was our man the whole flight. We ate and drank loads, watched some great movies and left the powder behind. Roll on February 2009. Come and join us!
Words & Pictures - Melody Sky
Site Design & Photography:
www.melodysky.com
