International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) 2020 Japan Trip, Niseko or Hakuba

[Other Aaron]

I'm in charge of planning a trip to Japan this coming Winter, and need some advice on what resort to go to. I've narrowed things down to either Hakuba Valley or Niseko and am looking for some insider info to make my decision.

Niseko
Pros

• On pass (Ikon, I'm skiing at Crystal this year)
• Legendary Powder
• Largest elevation Gain
• resorts are all close by

Cons

• Only one mountain
• rest of the area is pretty flat
• have to go all the way to hokkaido

Hakuba
Pros

• Greater Variety of terrain
• Onsen Paradise
• Generally mountainous region
• Easier access to/from Tokyo

Cons

• Not on pass
  • 1 week pass comes out to 200ish dollars, so pretty affordable in the scope of things. If I feel like It I could go for the epic and make it up by going to whistler for 2 long weekend (I live in seattle)
• Lower elvation
• Resorts are more spread out

Any additional information or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Likewise for info on good deals, accommodation, or travel.
I also plan to spend some days on Tokyo and Kyoto.

On another note, I'll be going with friends I made this past season at a UCPA camp in Chamonix. If you are under 40 (alright, you can be older) and want to ski France and get instruction all the way to extreme expert at a reasonable price, check them out https://www.ucpa.co.uk/#switch

 

[sbooker]

Pugski is a wonderful site and has been incredibly helpful to me whilst planning trips to North America.
For oodles of reliable info about skiing in Japan there is no better forum than the Aussie ski forum.
https://www.ski.com.au/xf/

 

[James]

@jimtransition works at Niseko.

 

[Eleeski]

Niseko Village is the steepest slope - I'd like to stay slopeside there on the next visit.
Niseko Moiwa had the best snow for us and least crowds but it's not on Ikon or connected.
Hirafu is the Ikon tourist Niseko with things like hotels, nightlife and restaurants with access to good lifts - but we didn't get powder there.
Niseko United is only connected at the top (when it's open) with base areas separated by quite long drives.
Rutsutsu was a separate mountain not too far away, not on the Ikon and was our best day with great powder and a big fun hill.
Kokusai was off by itself and a fun resort.

Not insider info, just tourists. We enjoyed our trip in January with incredible snow. Powder on 4 out of 6 days, two were epic days.

My son living in Osaka says the hills and snow around Nagano are better (Nozawa Onsen). That might be our next trip.

Eric

 

[Jim McDonald]

vertical: Niseko has less than Happo-one in Hakuba, and less than several others, see: https://www.snowjapan.com/japan-ski-resorts/search
powder: legendary? maybe, but these days in-bounds is completely skied out by 1030 (then again, so is Hakuba)
variety: more among the seven separate areas of Hakuba, but the Niseko United all-mountain pass beats any single Hakuba resort for variety on a given day
travel: Niseko isn't any more difficult or time-consuming to get to; it farther from Tokyo in distance, not really in travel time
onsen: that's a wash (pun intended) Niseko has more ski-in/out onsen lodging than Hakuba, which has more onsen but spread out over a wider area
I fully agree with @sbooker that Aussie ski forum has a wealth of useful info. so does skiJapan.com

 

[Other Aaron]

My son living in Osaka says the hills and snow around Nagano are better (Nozawa Onsen). That might be our next trip.

Did he say how long the snow sticks around for?

 

[Eleeski]

We are used to Squaw where the snow doesn't stick around at all. I don't remember specifics but we made it to lunch with powder stashes at Niseko and he was griping. Not too much because we got fantastic snow but he did claim Nozawa Onsen was better.

He enjoyed torturing us with videos of him enjoying the powder in the trees. Fortunately, Squaw had an incredible year so we could handle it. If Japan has a good year while we struggle, he could be really mean to us.

Eric

 

[Jim McDonald]

I'm confused, Lee. Are you comparing Nozawa to Squaw or to Niseko?
Japanese resorts get almost all of their snow by February-end but snowpack stays good well into April/early May.
AFAIK, March is typically a big month for snow at Squaw and other Sierra mountains, with dumps in April common.

 

[Eleeski]

Oops, I thought the question was how long does the powder last. Both Niseko and Nozawa last longer than Squaw for powder. Kirk knew Nozawa better than Niseko so he found more powder at Nozawa. But Niseko powder lasted nicely for our visit (Rusutsu was my favorite - close to Niseko).

My son's work schedule ended his snow ski season relatively early so he missed spring skiing there.

Squaw is still open thanks in part to spring storms.

Winter Japow was fantastic. Squaw spring is hard to beat. I would definitely travel for the winter snow in Japan but going to Japan for spring skiing would be more to visit my son than chase spring snow.

Not sure I cleared anything up...

Eric

 

[Jim McDonald]

Powder doesn't reliably last past end-Feb in most Japan resorts (tho you can get lucky with late-season storms, and there is non-resort powder skiing, often well into April).
You've got the right idea, Lee. Japan in Jan-Feb, N.America in March (that's the way I like to do it).