Checked luggage & traveling abroad with skis questions

[laine]

Hi Folks- Combining a few questions here since they're related to the same trip.

The trip: Ted and I are going to Japan over Christmas. We're flying direct from SFO to Tokyo on Dec 19. We spend 5 nights in Tokyo and then on Dec 25, we fly to Sapporo and take a shuttle bus to Niseko. Then on Dec 31, we shuttle bus from Niseko to Sapporo, then fly Sapporo --> Tokyo --> SFO, landing in SFO on Dec 31, earlier on the same day we left (yay time zones!).

Oh, and then on Jan 2, at around 1pm, I fly to direct from SFO to Calgary to do a CMH heli-trip. I will be bringing my boots, helmet, and ski clothing on this trip, but not skis or poles.

The questions:

Should we take skis with us? I have all-mountain (100 waist) and powder (116 waist) skis. Ted has all mountain skis (91 waist). Should we both bring? Should I just bring mine, since they're wider? Or should we both rent?

We've been thinking about the bags we're taking and we're not sure it makes sense to bring bootbags. We were debating packing our boots into our checked luggage, since we're not headed straight to skiing. Ted would check his boots on the way home as well, but I'm guessing I should carry mine given that I'm leaving for Canada two days after we get home? What do you think? Should we carry-on or check bootbags?

If we pack boots/helmet in our checked suitcases, we'll need to buy a large suitcase (larger than the carry-ons we have). I was looking online at options and saw this one: https://www.dakine.com/en-us/bags/travel-bags/luggage/split-roller-85l-bag/
Anyone have any other recommendations for larger checked luggage that would be good for carrying boots, helmet, ski clothes, and regular clothes? Luggage suggestions welcome!

On the flight from Tokyo to Sapporo, I assume we may just pull our boots out of the bags and carry them on with a boot strap.

Oh, and if anyone has been to Niseko, do people boot up in their lodging? Or is there a base lodge where people boot up?

I think that's all the questions for now. Thanks!

 

[jmeb]

Evo has their own branded bag I've been looking at for my similar upcoming adventures. Its reasonably priced (~$135), has Evos customer service to back it up, and should easily fit all your gear -- especially if you each take your own. Most airlines allow skis to count as checked baggage as long as you keep it under 50# total.

All will advise carrying on your boots. Whether that make sense to you or is a risk you can take is up to you.

As far as skis -- I think we'd need to hear more about the sort of terrain you expect to be skiing primarily to properly advise. My friends who are going a few weeks later are both just taking one ski and one pair of boots: both BD Helio 116s with touring bindings. But they may have entirely different objectives than you.

 

[Jim McDonald]

What are your flight times between Tokyo & Sapporo? You could be good for a half-day on arrival if you have a very early a.m. flight to Sapporo*.
If you're flying Sapporo-Tokyo** on 31st and on to SFO the same day, you can't realistically ski that day, so you max out at 5.5 days and more likely at five days skiing.
High quality rentals are readily available in Niseko at about USD 40/day, but that week will also see half the Australian population in town, many of whom will be renting from one of the several Aussie-run shops in town, so choices may be limited. Strong chance of powder that week, all of which you find will be skied out by 10a.m. unless you hire a guide/instructor. Online you may be able to reserve now. My choice would be to bring skis but you need to balance PITA factor vs "trip of a lifetime but we had only crappy rentals" possibility.

I carry boots on flights all the time, usually in a small boot bag but sometimes just strapped.

Depends on where you're staying, ski-in/out or somewhere off the slopes. Let me know and I'll advise.


*Note: you're actually flying to Shin Chitose airport (CTS), not Sapporo city which is about 30 mins away and you'll not see it, but the 3-hour bus ride is pretty scenic and don't pass up chicken-on-a-stick when you rest-stop at the Mushroom Kingdom.

**Note: There are two intl airports for Tokyo, Haneda (HND) in-town and Narita (NRT) in the far burbs; transfers between them require minimum one hour+ by bus/train and could take up to three hours in heavy traffic, so I hope you haven't been booked with a tight connection CTS-HND/NRT-SFO on 31st.

Happy to buy you guys a drink evening of 19th or 20th if you have time, but we'll be up in Hokkaido 21~24.

Hope that all helps. Have a great time!

 

[laine]

Evo has their own branded bag I've been looking at for my similar upcoming adventures. Its reasonably priced (~$135), has Evos customer service to back it up, and should easily fit all your gear -- especially if you each take your own. Most airlines allow skis to count as checked baggage as long as you keep it under 50# total.

@jmeb - Which bag? I didn't see their own branded bags on their site. You have the link?

All will advise carrying on your boots. Whether that make sense to you or is a risk you can take is up to you.

Yeah, I knew that's what folks might say, but since we'll be in Tokyo for 5 days before heading to skiing, I wasn't sure if there would be some differing opinions.

As far as skis -- I think we'd need to hear more about the sort of terrain you expect to be skiing primarily to properly advise. My friends who are going a few weeks later are both just taking one ski and one pair of boots: both BD Helio 116s with touring bindings. But they may have entirely different objectives than you.

We'll be skiing at the resorts. I might do an afternoon tour somewhere, but I don't hike/climb. I do side-piste, where I can get back to a lift.

What are your flight times between Tokyo & Sapporo? You could be good for a half-day on arrival if you have a very early a.m. flight to Sapporo*.
If you're flying Sapporo-Tokyo** on 31st and on to SFO the same day, you can't realistically ski that day, so you max out at 5.5 days and more likely at five days skiing.
High quality rentals are readily available in Niseko at about USD 40/day, but that week will also see half the Australian population in town, many of whom will be renting from one of the several Aussie-run shops in town, so choices may be limited. Strong chance of powder that week, all of which you find will be skied out by 10a.m. unless you hire a guide/instructor. Online you may be able to reserve now. My choice would be to bring skis but you need to balance PITA factor vs "trip of a lifetime but we had only crappy rentals" possibility.

I carry boots on flights all the time, usually in a small boot bag but sometimes just strapped.

Depends on where you're staying, ski-in/out or somewhere off the slopes. Let me know and I'll advise.

*Note: you're actually flying to Shin Chitose airport (CTS), not Sapporo city which is about 30 mins away and you'll not see it, but the 3-hour bus ride is pretty scenic and don't pass up chicken-on-a-stick when you rest-stop at the Mushroom Kingdom.

**Note: There are two intl airports for Tokyo, Haneda (HND) in-town and Narita (NRT) in the far burbs; transfers between them require minimum one hour+ by bus/train and could take up to three hours in heavy traffic, so I hope you haven't been booked with a tight connection CTS-HND/NRT-SFO on 31st.

Happy to buy you guys a drink evening of 19th or 20th if you have time, but we'll be up in Hokkaido 21~24.

Hope that all helps. Have a great time!

@Jim McDonald - flights are as follows:

Flight 1
Dec 19 - Wednesday
11:00 - San Francisco
15:20 +1day - Tokyo(Narita)

Flight 2
Dec 25 - Tuesday
12:00 - Tokyo(Haneda)
13:35 - Sapporo(New Chitose)

Flight 3
Dec 31 - Monday
13:05 - Sapporo(New Chitose)
14:55 - Tokyo(Narita)

Flight 4
Dec 31 - Monday
16:55 - Tokyo(Narita)
09:20 - San Francisco

We're staying in Hirafu Village, and I saw online there are a bunch of rental places and they don't seem to expensive compared with US prices. But I also heard there would be lots of Aussies and Kiwis there, so wasn't sure what the inventory would be like. And whether I should bring both pair of my skis or just my powder skis. Do you recommend a particular rental place? And/or a ski guide?

thanks!

 

[dbostedo]

One thing to think about regarding checked luggage is weight. It can be pricey if you go overweight - and putting ski boots into your checked bag could be heavy. I've never checked my boots in my regular luggage, but have fought to stay underweight on some trips.

Personally, I bought a couple of ultralight suitcases to combat that - my old roller was about 5 pounds heavier than my new one of the same size. It's these :

https://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Ultralite-Extreme-Softside-Spinner/dp/B01M621IBW

Except I have the 27" and the 19". The 21" is a bit too big for some carriers carry-on measurements, depending on how particular they are. And I take a small plane with the 19" one monthly.

I'm sure lots of brands would have an equivalent. I like the Dakine bag you posted, but I'd want to know how much it weighs.

 

[David]

If I were traveling that far I'd rent skis and poles and I'd carry my boots. But my feet are so wide I cannot rent when the airline loses them. I'd carry a small pack with some items for travel and everything else I'd check.

 

[Jim McDonald]

CTS 1335 means the first bus you can get will be the 1530, which will get you to the Hirafu Welcome Center at about 1920, so no skiing that day.
Have you booked bus transfers? ASAP, check out White Liner and Resort Liner to book. See this for massive info: http://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/
Can you be specific about lodging? Have you not booked yet ? (I'd get on that now, as in right this minute). If you're not ski-in/out you could be anything from a five-minute walk to a 10-minute shuttle ride to lifts; PITA factor increases exponentially with distance (those shuttles get very crowded). If you books through one of the Aussie agencies they'll usually meet you at the Welcome Center and shuttle you to your lodging.
Ski rentals: Rhythm Snowsports, Haroo, Innski all have excellent gear. BASE, the small day lodge at the base of the Hirafu quad, has a smaller collection of very good rentals and can be a good place to try, same with shop at Hirafu gondola base. Some hotels have small rental ops, not much choice.
Your homeward connection seems OK provided no blizzard delay at CTS, but note you will need to pick up and recheck bags at Narita unless you're booked through CTS-SFO, and you'll want to catch the first bus from Welcome Center to be (fairly) sure of making it to CTS for a 1300 flight.

 

[coskigirl]

The carrying of boots isn’t just about delayed luggage but lost luggage. Do you really want to have to buy new boots and go through the fitting process again if they never show up? What would you do in Japan if they didn’t show? Is renting viable? I have never checked boots when traveling domestically or to South America or Italy.

 

[Eleeski]

@laine You are crazy ambitious! Cool trips. Keep your favorite powder skis close!

@Jim McDonald You are making me nervous. I haven't booked our Niseko rooms yet. Still some variables. One possibility was a ways away but we are leaning towards renting a car. Is there parking at Niseko lifts? That opens some options if we can drive. Us Muricans hate public transportation and love parking lots. Might even pay to park if that's a better option.

The car will give us the option to ski Kokusai and Rusutsu. Will these be worth it? Or other hidden gems? Thanks for your help.

Eric

 

[jmeb]

@jmeb - Which bag? I didn't see their own branded bags on their site. You have the link?

https://www.evo.com/ski-bags/evo-roller-bag#image=129789/539863/evo-roller-ski-bag-military.jpg

 

[laine]

CTS 1335 means the first bus you can get will be the 1530, which will get you to the Hirafu Welcome Center at about 1920, so no skiing that day.
Have you booked bus transfers? ASAP, check out White Liner and Resort Liner to book. See this for massive info: http://www.niseko.ne.jp/en/
Can you be specific about lodging? Have you not booked yet ? (I'd get on that now, as in right this minute). If you're not ski-in/out you could be anything from a five-minute walk to a 10-minute shuttle ride to lifts; PITA factor increases exponentially with distance (those shuttles get very crowded). If you books through one of the Aussie agencies they'll usually meet you at the Welcome Center and shuttle you to your lodging.
Ski rentals: Rhythm Snowsports, Haroo, Innski all have excellent gear. BASE, the small day lodge at the base of the Hirafu quad, has a smaller collection of very good rentals and can be a good place to try, same with shop at Hirafu gondola base. Some hotels have small rental ops, not much choice.
Your homeward connection seems OK provided no blizzard delay at CTS, but note you will need to pick up and recheck bags at Narita unless you're booked through CTS-SFO, and you'll want to catch the first bus from Welcome Center to be (fairly) sure of making it to CTS for a 1300 flight.

@Jim McDonald - We're staying at Shikaku - in a studio that we have already booked (http://www.skijapan.com/stay-with-us/niseko-accommodation/shikaku/). We reserved through Ski Japan, and have paid for our bus transfers with the booking, so I assume we have seats guaranteed. I plan to email them our flight info this weekend.

So do you recommend renting instead of bringing our skis?

 

[laine]

https://www.evo.com/ski-bags/evo-roller-bag#image=129789/539863/evo-roller-ski-bag-military.jpg

Oh, that's a ski bag. I have those. I was referring to actual luggage, like a rolling suitcase.

 

[RNZ]

We'll be in Japan overlapping with you for one day. We are at Niseko from the 29th December followed by Furano the a few days in Tokyo and Kyoto. This is our first time to Japan so no help there. But we have travelled from New Zealand to North America a number of times to ski and use earlier versions of the Dakine split roller that you linked to. I couldn't recommend them more highly. Our oldest one has been on more than one hundred plane flights domestically and internationally and is still in great condition. The wheels and handles are robust and good quality and there are hand grips in all the right places.

The split design and different compartments are invaluable when living out of a suitcase. Ski boots do fit neatly in the bottom half of the bag and you can fit a lot in the bagel and stay within the 23kg / 50lb weight limit.

A couple of other things I would check is whether any of the airlines you are traveling on have weight limits for carry on. It doesn't seem to be a thing in North America but down here you are usually restricted to between 7kg / 15lb and 10kg / 22lb total weight for carry on luggage and the definitions for a personal item are less liberal and much smaller than what I've seen in North America.

 

[BoofHead]

@laine You are crazy ambitious! Cool trips. Keep your favorite powder skis close!

@Jim McDonald You are making me nervous. I haven't booked our Niseko rooms yet. Still some variables. One possibility was a ways away but we are leaning towards renting a car. Is there parking at Niseko lifts? That opens some options if we can drive. Us Muricans hate public transportation and love parking lots. Might even pay to park if that's a better option.

The car will give us the option to ski Kokusai and Rusutsu. Will these be worth it? Or other hidden gems? Thanks for your help.

Eric

There is parking at the lifts.
Rusutsu is definitely worth a visit as is Kiroro. Both are day trippable by bus from Niseko. The buses are large comfortable coaches. Moiwa is also worth a day. It is located next to Annupuri but not part of Niseko United. You can see Moiwa from Annupuri and it is possible to skin between the 2. Most catch the shuttle or a taxi.
My avatar image was taken in Rusutsu.
Regarding booting up, you can store your boots and skis up near the gondola/ticket office. Not sure of the cost, you may even get it for free through whoever you book with. I personally don5 use it as I ski to th3 bottom and then walk to accom. ( we always stay in the lower village). Rest of the family use it as they tend to catch a shuttle home from the gondola.

 

[Jim McDonald]

ditto @BoofHead on Rusutsu
I'd personally favor Sapporo Kokusai over Kiroro, but Kiroro is faster to get to from Niseko and it does get tons of snow.

@laine OK, your bus resrv should be no prob; skijapan.com will meet you at the Welcome Center and get you set up; I believe they have their own shuttle system so it should be easy enough if you bring skis (you may want to just sent ski bags directly up to skijapan folks from Narita so you don't need to mess with them in Tokyo). For five days of skiing it's kind of a toss-up, but for that week I'd want to be sure of having decent skis so personally I would bring my own. Hard to be sure you'd find what you want during what's become peak crowding period. Shikaku is just up the street from Rosso Rosso, pretty decent Aussie-run steakhouse, just FYI, but I'd opt for the venison steaks at Niseko Pizza..

@Eleeski Yeah, you ought to get on it now. There's probably still plenty of lodging available, but it fills up fast once Fuji gets its first snow of the season, and guess what I awoke to this morning...
Renting a car is all well and good, but be prepared to wake up to a meter or more of snow to shovel out if you do. I take the bus.

 

[BoofHead]

Haven’t skied at Kokusai yet. Looking forward to checking it out one day
Tomamu/Furano/Sahoro in Jan which I’m looking forward to. Haven’t skied at Tomamu or Sahoro before and not at Furano since they relaxed their off piste skiing

 

[coskigirl]

Oh, that's a ski bag. I have those. I was referring to actual luggage, like a rolling suitcase.

If you’re looking for rolling suitcases I highly recommend Ebags’ own brand. I love the hybrid spinner carryon and rolling underseater. So easy to manage! When I need to upgrade my checked luggage I’ll be buying the bigger size of the hybrid or a full hardside version. I also prefer 4 wheels so I don’t have to pull a heavy bag behind me as that tends to jack up my neck and back.

 

[Nathanvg]

We'll be in Japan overlapping with you for one day. We are at Niseko from the 29th December followed by Furano the a few days in Tokyo and Kyoto. This is our first time to Japan so no help there. But we have travelled from New Zealand to North America a number of times to ski and use earlier versions of the Dakine split roller that you linked to. I couldn't recommend them more highly. Our oldest one has been on more than one hundred plane flights domestically and internationally and is still in great condition. The wheels and handles are robust and good quality and there are hand grips in all the right places.

The split design and different compartments are invaluable when living out of a suitcase. Ski boots do fit neatly in the bottom half of the bag and you can fit a lot in the bagel and stay within the 23kg / 50lb weight limit.

A couple of other things I would check is whether any of the airlines you are traveling on have weight limits for carry on. It doesn't seem to be a thing in North America but down here you are usually restricted to between 7kg / 15lb and 10kg / 22lb total weight for carry on luggage and the definitions for a personal item are less liberal and much smaller than what I've seen in North America.

Good tip, I have been busted for overweight carry ins on some international airlines. I tried to talk my way out of it but they said it was a serious safety issue which makes no sense.

 

[AlpsSkidad]

Ok, I will be the one guy that says no big deal putting the boots in checked bags. Of course the downside is lost baggage and that would be awful.
I am probably setting myself up for future failure, but we have always checked our boots- we have four sets of full ski gear (two adults and two kids) for typically 2 full weeks at a time, so for us from a pragmatic standpoint, we pack the boots in sturdy suitcases and roll the dice on luggage. For us, that's a lot of stuff, different layers of winter clothes, plus regular dinner clothes, kids playing clothes, etc. Helmets, back protectors, extra sets of mittens, goggles, etc. I try to pack "lighter" but the reality is we have a lot of stuff when it is longer duration trips, and feel like we have to do it this way.
Thankfully we haven't been bitten yet, and will continue to be lucky. Otherwise I will be buying or renting boots for someone in our family.

 

[dbostedo]

Good tip, I have been busted for overweight carry ins on some international airlines. I tried to talk my way out of it but they said it was a serious safety issue which makes no sense.

Air New Zealand caught me for my carry-on (a backpack) being overweight. I had some room and weight allowance in my suitcase, so I started to transfer items, much of which was camera gear... at that point the check-in clerk asked if the weight was all camera gear. I said "mostly", and she said that was fine and let me carry it all on. Which I thought was strange - but apparently they have an allowance for camera gear. Or else she was just being nice - I've never figured out which.