At the beginning of February it was finally time for the big trip we had been planing since the beginning of the winter. I packed my Ferrino Outdoor gear into trusted Atomic travel Bag and so on a rainy Monday morning Žiga, Gašper and myself were on our way. Our journey would take us from Venice over Dubai and Tokyo to Japans great northern Island of Hokkaido. It was time to head to the land of the rising sun and see for ourselves if the powder was really so fluffy.
We started off from Venice over Dubai to Tokyo. Emirates was our Airline so you can imagine all was well. I prefer them as I usually fly with with Emirates to Jakarta for my Indonesian surf outings. Also sports equipment counts into your normal luggage restriction that is 32 Kilo so you do not need to pay extra for skis. They even put us down in a hotel for our 8 hour stopover in Dubai. Truly excellent service for a really good price. Emirates is what flying used to be in Europe in the old days.
Right after landing at Tokyo we already saw one of Japans most well known qualities. Painstaking obsession to detail and optimization. The immigration procedure was quick and effective. A stark contrast to what I was used to from Indonesia every year. Signs were everywhere and staff was making sure everything was optimal. Special staffers were taking the time needed to get trough the queue so they could optimize the process. The goal was a waiting time less then 10 minutes. We got questioners to see how satisfied the whole process had been. So after giving our Fingerprints and Mugshots to the friendly Robot machine next to the Immigration official, on a late Tuesday we were finally really in Japan.
Our connecting flight to Sapporo was leaving early in the morning so we had to kill some time at the national terminal. What we did not know, was that this one was supposedly closed over night. Yet somehow the Japonese security guards were far to friendly to throw us out. In fact us and a few stranded travelers had gathered in the lobby to wait out the night.
Then something happened that I had not seen anywhere before. They started to hand out blankets so we would not feel cold. Every 20 minutes a guard came by to check that all our stuff was still there while we lay there snoozing for the alarm clock to wake us up. We also had our first experience with something I grew very fond of… the world renowned Japanese vending machines. I could finally drink my favorite drink in the world ! POCARI SWEAT 24/7 :).
As we boarded the last leg our our incoming journey, the sun was rising and you could see Mount Fuji with its snow covered cone. The further we flew north the whiter it all was. Real winter. We could make out quite a few resorts. Japan after all has quite a lot of Skiing infrastructure. Mostly build in the 70-80s, skiing used to be quite a popular sport. But skiing there for almost a month I wondered. Where did the young skiers go. Could the same had happened as it did here in Slovenia after our independence at the turn of the century. Could skiing have, here also, became a luxury not all to many could afford ? As we landed in Sapporo on a icy runway with lots of snow to either side and little skiers on the plane, except rich Chinese… that question seemed to answer itself.
After landing and getting all our gear we quickly found out that Japan is a land of cash currency. But getting to a working ATM was quite another story. You see, in the past it seems that MasterCard and the Japanese had a few problems. That made getting money on a daily basis quite hard. Fortunately global capitalism is here to save you from your money vows. The store Chain 7eleven used this “problem” as an opportunity and made it`s own bank. So we soon learned that while buying your Pocari Sweat and the newest edition of the weekly Shonen jump, you could get some cash.. but not more then 150 EUR a day. Credit cards.. thou working, were rarely accepted except in hotels or the giant Akihabara electronics outlets.
The next thing we would learn is the Bahamut that is the Japanese Railway system. I have never ever seen anything man made or organised that works so much like a well oiled machine. Attendants everywhere make sure people get on the right trains on the right time. All the passengers behave civilized helping people with lots of luggage, giving seating to the elderly… hear that Slovenians! It was the complete opposite of the usual student carnage that is the Maribor-Ljubljana daily commute train in Slovenia.
Trains also leave multiple times a day even to the most rural areas and there is always a bus connection even to the most remote onsen. All on point, on time and affordable. The thing that struck me most was that no one was trying to rip you off with ticket prices. At first we thought that with all our skiing equipment it would be better to take the ski buses that go around Hokkaido but after our first train ride, we just stuck to the trains.
An hour later we arrived at Asahikawa. The second largest city of Hokkaido and home to the world renowned delicacy that is Asahikawa Ramen. It is said it is the best Ramen in the world… and I can tell you it is delicious 😛 Ramen after all has become one of my favorite foods since my trip to Japan. There is also a nice zoo with penguins and, since it is close to the Hokkaido powder belt, there are a lot of skiing areas close by. They even held a FISS Snowboarding world cup while we were there. But we would not stay in Asahikawa for long. At the trainstation a small bus took us to our first powder destination :
ASAHIDAKE ONSEN
A year earlier Michi, my buddy from Germany was in Japan. He and our friend Anna had toured Niseku and Risutsu but did not quite make it to the highest active volcano on Hakkaido, Mount Asahidake. Situated in a natural reserve this place is not of this world. The nature and the surrounding backcountry are unbelievable. The options shear endless. There is not much infrastructure here and the road to the only cable car is often closed… so is the cable car. But on a nice day just a few times a year … one can tour to the top of the active vulcano and descend into the crater… and that is exactly what we did on our first day.
The weather on Hokkaido in the winter is very harsh. Most of the time it is snowing and the position of Asahidake exposes it to very strong winds. At least in recent years the strength of these has been on the uptick. So our first day upon arrival it was, for Asahidake standards, kinda crowded. That meant one full cable car… so 80 riders, mostly thou Japanese and Aussies with a few Americans thrown into the mix. Most of them were only doing the Cable car run and the close slack country.
But after staying in the area for a week we had explored further into the magic misty hills of the “kamis” and “kodama” tree spirits. The further we went the more it seemed that we were not on the earthly realm anymore. Little rabbits and foxes were watching us. We even found a few bear footprints. On our first days descent into the gusty vulcanic crater we also found a pair of new black crow skis that, as we later learned belonged to some dude who got himself into an unfortunate accident a few months prior and had to be rescued by helicopter. The skis had undoubtedly been uncovered by the strong winds of the past three days.
Another thing we got pretty used to in Asahidake Onsen was the onsen a.k.a. the hot springs. Imagine that you ride and tour for 5-6 hours a day.. come back right before sundown to a perfect Japanese dinner and after that just go into a hot bath, soak it up and go to sleep. Next morning you are recharged and energized, no back pain, no bad thoughts no negativity.. you eat breakfast, take your gear and head to the cable car… welcome to Asahidake Onsens day-to-day… or as I like to call it Raquen. I have truly never been so close to tranquility.. not even at Danau Batur lake on Bali.
The days at this magic place ran far too quick also because of the place we were staying. A few months back I had contacted Makkoto of the Aspara Lodge in Niseku. Matic Gobec, a fellow Slovenian powder hunter friend of mine had given me the contact and Mako organised a special stay for us. In Asahidake Onsen there are not to many places to stay at. You have a good Youth International Hostel, two Hotels and a few private lodges. And one of these Lodges belongs to an elderly Japonsese couple. Build all by themselves it also has an onsen and looks like a dreamy place. With lots of music and good laughs, perfect company and excellent food for a very good price we quickly started loving this place and stayed for as long as we could. There we also met Steward and Betsy, two hardcore skiing industry professionals, who got engaged on top of mount Asahidake. Sometimes when I look back I am not sure that our hosts were human.. maybe they were “Yōkai” :). It was just to good to be true 😛
Niseku
After staying for a good week it was time to head further south. As we did not want to simply stay at Asahidake for 2 weeks we decided to go check out one of the more touristy destinations. As everyone who ever skied Japan, we also had to check out Niseku.
Niseku is the biggest ski resort in Hokkaido and also one of the biggest in the whole of Japan. It has relatively new infrastructure and is very reminiscent of what we in Europe see as a “proper” resort. Multiple little resorts connected together to form one big whole on the Mount Niseku, another Volcano with lots of tree runs.
Thou to get there we would first have to make it back to town. That`s when Steward and Betsy offered us a ride in there Subaru XV. I still do not know how we managed to cram all our stuff and five people into the car, but suffice to say .. one of the ski pairs was held on to by ductape… because as we all know ductape holds the world together. A few hours later we were in Niseku finally greeting Makkoto at the Aspara Lodge.
So how was Niseku? First of I need to say that it reminded me of Kuta on Bali. It is flooded by hippy Australians who, by now, also own a lot of the local establishments. So if you are looking for real Japanese food it will be a little harder just because of all the antics, connected to Aussies and evening drinks, made a lot if the Japanese establishments close there services to foreigners. Prices are also higher then the other places we have been and daily tickets are on a European level, that means twice the daily for Asahidake. It seemed like a Aussie invasion to be honest…
As we arrived we had a bit of bad luck with the weather and a warm front was coming trough. As Niseku is very close to the seaside that meant high humidity and melting snow. We checked the whole mountain and so we also learned that the powder areas are highly regulated. You have different zones that you can access trough gates and that also only if you get a course done on avalanche safety in Japanese. Also the red areas where you want to go, are mostly closed to anyone except if you happen to be a high profile film team. But regardless of that, the mountain is big and you can find lots of cool places even with the restrictions in place as these affect only the in boundaries ski area. You will have to hike but it will be well worth it. Also on your way touring you might find an abandoned onsen so bring your board-shorts :P. Another thing that Niseku is known for is its night skiing. When you fly to Hokkaido by night you will definitely see the artificially lit area bellow. And boy was that fun. We did awesome speed runs trying to beat our time.
After waiting for some powder to drop in Niseku for a few days the weather forecast was showing a massive storm that would hit not us but mount Asahidake. The decision was quick… pack our shit and head back north.
Return to Asahidake
Hastily we returned to the Onsen to be ready for the first drop over the night. If we had not made it back on that day it was questionable if we could reach the Asahidake Onsen for the next couple of days. the forecast was showing -17 and 50-80 cm of pow for every single of the next few knights and we had a good week of time left to hang around Hokkaido before hitting the mainland.
Boy did we hit the jackpot there. I have never seen snowfall like that. It just did not stop. That week was exactly what skiing is about for me. Being in nature, far “away from the pack” of the regular crowds with my friends. The snow was so light and so deep. It is hard to describe this while I write. It is a feeling that has to be experienced to be believed. And it will forever alter your definition of a good powder day.
We were even joined by two other Slovenian friends Urška and Luka. As it turned out Luka was doing servicing for the FISS Snowboard team of Canada in Asahidake at the World Cup and so we just meet up at the mountain to explore it together. So lots of Slovenians on the other side of the world together again 😛 Time passed far to quickly. The powder, the onsens the great company and the magical place seemed to make it all into a universe of it`s own. Check out a few picture from that week bellow:
Soon thou it was time to leave. The second phase of our all Japan tour was about to begin as we boarded our plane back to Tokyo to head to Hakuba, to see how it was in the Japanese Alps of the main Island Honshu.
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