NISEKO SKI RESORT

Niseko boasts some of the world’s best powder snow, delivering an average of 15m of snow season after season. This makes it one of the most popular ski resorts in the country, attracting large crowds of skiers and snowboarders from across the globe. All this comes against the breathtaking backdrop of Mount Yotei, a cone-shaped active volcano reminiscent of Mount Fuji.

The Niseko United Ski Area is comprised of four interconnected ski areas: Hanazono, Hirafu, Niseko Village and Annupuri. It is the largest single ski resort area in Japan and with a continuous vertical of 1,000m and a massive selection of on and off-piste terrain, there is easily enough to keep exploring even on a two-week holiday.

The Annupuri area has great groomed runs for beginners and intermediates and access to sidecountry skiing. Niseko Village (formerly Higashiyama) is mainly a beginner and intermediate area, with a couple of black piste runs whereas Hirafu caters well to all ability levels. Hanazono is good for tree skiing, sidecountry access, the best snow quality, and terrain park fun. Moiwa is interconnected with Niseko United via the sidecountry but it’s not considered part of the resort and has a separate lift ticket.

A huge plus for Niseko is that skiing and boarding off-piste and in the trees is permitted. Unless roped off, you are permitted to ski all in-bounds tree areas. Unfortunately, with the increasing popularity of Niseko, the days of finding fresh tracks in the off-piste areas past mid-morning are now mainly behind us.

In addition to the in bounds off-piste terrain, Niseko United operates a gate system to access the amazing sidecountry terrain. These gates are operated at the discretion of ski patrol, according to daily avalanche risk assessment. You can check the opening of the gates and the general avalanche risk online via daily avalanche reports (published at approximately 7:30am daily).

Once outside of the gates, you are outside of the resort boundary. The ski patrol do not sweep these areas and do not provide a rescue service. Please ensure that you have proper backcountry equipment and that you know how to use it.

For the freestyle crowd, the largest terrain park is located in the Hanazono ski area. Features vary year to year but usually include a variety of smaller jumps for beginners & intermediates, larger jumps, rails, boxes, half pipe and even a bag jump. In addition, Hirafu has a smaller terrain park located at the bottom of the mountain during peak season and at the top during spring with a row of jumps to hit.