Why Did I Ski Japan?

In 2023, I went on a college spring break ski trip with 8 friends in Breckenridge, Colorado. From then on I was pretty much hooked on skiing. For the past 2 years I've obssessed over skiing despite skiing a handful of times as a kid—and not seeming too interested in it back then. I've made a bucket list goal to ski on every continent (still trying to decide if I should include Antarctica).

Having checked off North America I looked to Europe and Asia as the next places, Japan is one of the go-to spots for skiing so it only felt natural to do so. But let's give Japan the respect it's due; skiing in Japan was not just to check off a box saying that I've skied in Asia. Japan is a dream destination for skiers and snowboarders worldwide and I think it truly lives up to that reputation. I had an absolute blast skiing in Japan, the snow was great as advertised, and the food was delicious.

The Skiing

I skied in Hakuba Valley home to 10 ski resorts which I had 5 days of access to curtesy of the Epic Local Pass. One thing to note is that there is a lack of super steep expert terrain that some people might be looking for, and the resorts in Hakuba are fairly small compared to some of the larger resorts in North America that you might be used to.

Another interesting thing was the ratio of skiers and snowboarders being pretty much 50/50, leaning towards more snowboarders actually.

Hakuba Goryu/47

Goryu and 47 are two ski resorts that are connected via lifts and accessible to eachother without having to leave the mountain. I skied 3 of my 5 days at Goryu and 47 mainly because it's close to where I was staying. I had a great time on 2 of the days when snow conditions were good, and a fairly average day on the last day when the weather wasn't as good. If you're used to large North American resorts you'll be surprised at how small these resorts in Japan are. I ended up lapping/repeating runs quite a bit while at Goryu/47 but I would still consider Goryu/47 to be a really great time. There is some tree skiing but it's not this resort's strength by any means. Higher up on the mountain there's some really good snow, but with that—the whiteout conditions/visibility were pretty bad—at least while I was there. It was definitely interesting to be alone with no other people in sight though. I had plenty of fresh snow/runs to myself even later on into the day, which is interesting considering the small footprint of the resort.

Favorite runs/lifts to ski off of were the Alps Chairs 1-4 on the Goryu side. There was a lot of fresh snow, I don't think I ever hit any ice there, or at Goryu/47 in general. Hakuba Valley was fairly good with the consistent daily accumulation of snow.

Happo-One

Happo-One is the largest resort in Hakuba Valley. I skied one day at Happo, and had an absolute blast. Snow was good and again crowding was minimal. There was much more varied terrain at Happo which made it more fun. Realistically I should have skied another day at Happo instead of Goryu/47, but I guess I was feeling too lazy for the free 20 minute shuttle ride to Happo from Goryu/47.

I did my first little drop-in at Happo (only like 6-7 ft) which was cool. I'm hoping to send some bigger drops/cliffs in the future. It was unmarked and was on skiers right of the "Riesen Slalom Course" which is easily lappable with the "Happo Riesen Quad" lift. I was the second person to do it that day so I had some fresh tracks in like 6-8 inches of fresh snow. And it seems like I was the only person really hitting it for the rest of the day——maybe it's too lame? But onto an observation of the crowd, most people stayed on groomed on-piste runs from what I could tell, but that might just be selection bias as that's where I was. However from what I know of the mountain via the trail map there aren't many areas/opportunities to go off-piste, most runs are groomed and actually that was one thing I was slightly disappointed about, I didn't get the opportunity to really ski true mogul filled runs like I would have in the U.S. or Europe.

My favorite run at Happo was definitely the "Riesen Slalom Course" off the "Happo Riesen Quad" lift. It's a nice cruiser that was never too crowded, no line once you hit the lift, and had the little cliff drop that I mentioned if you really go off to the right (almost out of bounds/off the run).

Tsugaike Kogen

Tsugaike was my favorite resort and day of skiing. I did it on day 4 (Jan 5th) and there was tons of untouched powder all day long. I had a lot of fun skiing in glades and under some lifts which had some tracks but mostly had untouched snow (roughly 6-12 inches) thanks to Hakuba's consistent snowfall.

My favorite skiing was just lapping the untouched snow under the "Han-no-ki No.1 Quad Lift". Which falls in the green shaded "Tsugapow DBD Area" that covers the glades in the middle of the trail map. It was easily some of the best snow I skied on all trip.

Food

In stark contrast to the skyrocketing food prices in the United States, Japan similar to other Asian countries had very cheap and delicious food. My lunches were typically a giant bowl of delicious ramen for ~¥1200 ($7.70 USD), katsu curry, sushi bowls, and more all at on mountain restaurants/food courts. It was my first time really having a proper lunch during a ski day as I usually bring Clif bars to eat instead of going for a small and mediocre $30 burger I'd probably get at most resorts in North America.

I think I had the best food at Goryu/47 and Happo-One. Tsugaike's food was okay (at least at the place I got food from).

One interesting to note is that portion sizes were surprsingly large, I was shocked as I'm used to large portion sizes being more of a U.S. thing, but most of the meals I had at the resorts were definitely more than enough food, maybe even too much for a mid-day meal especially if you're going to ski for another few hours.

The People

One of the cool things about skiing in Japan was that I met a very diverse range of people from all over the world. I met people from Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, China, Argentina, Singapore, U.K., and the list goes on.

I had a few conversations on the gondola/lift, and in the food courts. I shared a meal with a couple from the U.S. which was nice. And there were two really nice people working at the place I rented my skis from, one guy from the U.K. and a girl from Argentina.

Tips

Early January right after New Year is the best time to ski in Hakuba, Japan. This is more anecdotal, based on my experience, but I ran into almost no lines or crowds skiing Jan 2-6 which seems fairly different from skiing in North America (although I haven't skied in North America in early Jan). I've heard that Japan does do a mini-shutdown/break after New Year's and that it's generally not a good time to travel to Tokyo or other cities as many restaurants and stores are closed. However, it seems to have led to less crowds at the mountains so that was really nice.

Conclusion

Skiing in Japan was amazing and I definitely plan on going back to ski in the future. I would like to ski in Hokkaido next time and truly experience some deep powder tree skiing—which I didn't really do this past trip. I definitely recommend visiting Japan to ski for those who haven't, the snow and vibes are definitely unique.