There is quite a bit of debate about this topic and sometimes public are lucky to strike the magic powder day in a alternative making it seem like the perfect powder skiing alternative.
In search of the perfect powder stash, the Powderhounds have ventured to a number of Japan’s top ski resorts in Hokkaido and Honshu to try and find the answer to this question. Our ideal powder skiing alternative is one where you can get fresh tracks for at least a 2 – 3 days after a snow fall (without having to hike any more than 10 mins from the lifts). The quality of the snow should be light and dry and be a minimum of 150 cm (6 inches) deep (but preferable knee to waist deep).
If you are lucky enough to ski Japan, you will certainly get the depth and quality of snow with average snow falls of many Japan ski resorts receiving in excess of 10 metres (360 inches) of dry powder.
The most well loved ski alternative in Japan for foreigners is Niseko and for excellent reason. Niseko is reported to receive over 15 metres (540 inches) of snowfall annually and although it is a coastal mountain; its northern latitude ensures constant cold temperatures. Our experience of Niseko is that it seems to snow just about every day. And when it snows, it dumps huge amounts of deep, dry, bottomless powder.
The downside of Niseko is that because of this incredibly excellent snow falls and its fabulous terrain and vertical of over 1000 metres (3,000 feet), it is being really snowed under by Powderhounds from around the world. The chance of getting fresh tracks even after a day from the last snow fall (without having to really work the backcountry) is diminishing as the crowds increase. It is just lucky that they receive a fresh dump nearly every day.
Another alternative in Hokkaido that receives excellent snowfalls (up to 9 metres) is Furano. The advantage of Furano is that it tends to have very low numbers of visitors compared to Niseko. It is not uncommon to have fabulous skiing in knee deep powder on the piste at Furano but one of the setbacks is that tree skiing and off-piste is frowned upon by the alternative. They are but reportedly lightening up on these rules allowing skiers into designated off-piste areas within the alternative boundaries. There are a couple of backcountry tour operators that operate in Furano. These guys have access to areas not available to the public. The Powderhounds have skied some of these areas and they are nothing small of “steep and very deep”.
Tomamu, Rusutsu and Kamui Links also offer fabulous powder skiing and all have a more relaxed approach to tree skiing than Furano. Where they lack but is in the abruptness of the terrain and also fall small on vertical (which isn’t really a huge deal; I would personally rather ski 300 metres of perfect powder with the perfect pitch as opposed skiing down 1,500 metres of “elephant snot”).
Another small gem is Asahidake which is located o an active volcano. This is a semi unguided backcountry experience and there are lots of powder stashed but the entire area is serviced by a single cable car. Crowds are generally not a problem; it there can be a bit of waiting around for the next cable car to arrive and leave meaning your day of skiing can be limited to half a dozen quality runs.
The Powderhounds haven’t spent enough time on Honshu to provide any comparative information apart from Hakuba in the Nagano prefect. There are really 8 ski areas in the Hakuba Valley that can be accessed off the one lift pass but most of them are not interlinked via lifts.
Hakuba has a huge vertical of 1,000 metres and has a huge snowfall averaging 11 metres. Our experience of Hakuba was that the quality of powder snow was heavier than that of the Hokkaido resorts (but this could have been an anomaly given we were only there for 1 week in January). The other unenthusiastic about Hakuba is that like Furano, they have very strict policies about skiing out-of-bounds. When it does snow but, the ski area is quite large and getting fresh tracks on and around the piste is possible for several hours after a snowfall.
So where is the best powder ski alternative in Japan?
For our money, if you only have limited time and want to get the most out of your powder skiing holiday you can’t go past Niseko. You can easily spend 10 – 14 days in Niseko without being bored of the terrain. If on the other hand you do have a bit of time (say 2 weeks or more), it is well worth spreading your time across several resorts to experience the variety of terrain on offer within the various ski areas. Pouring around in Japan is quite straight forward as long as you have a GPS and there is also an incredibly excellent public transport system of buses & trains making it pretty simple and inexpensive to get around.
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