Japan Expedition

Japan Expedition

So after emptying our wallets several times over to fund this little expedition, Gez, Mark, and yours truly found ourselves rolling up to Heathrow on a crisp March morning wondering just what we’d gotten ourselves into this time. We had read several stories of lost luggage and extortionate excess baggage fees, so after abusing our hand luggage allowance as much as possible we finally let the handlers prise our precious board bags from our hands and waved tearful goodbyes to them. One Micky D’s and a lot of queuing later and we were aboard a plush Emirates jet, Japan bound. Well I use the term ‘Japan’ loosely because in order to save money I had booked a flight that wasn’t entirely what you might call direct. No, in my wisdom I had taken us via Dubai and Osaka before finally arriving in Sapporo, creating a ‘magical and enchanting jaunt across the globe’. Those were the words I used when I pitched the whole idea to the lads anyway. Admittedly by the time we stumbled off the plane in Sapporo they had their own colourful language to describe what had taken place.

We were soon in high spirits again though as our three beloved board bags trundled into view on the carousel. Within no time at all we were met by our first Japanese stereotype. Our driver, a small super polite little man, immaculately turned out complete with white gloves and an air about him that said ‘you are most welcome’ but if messed with would, with a few slices of the hand and a blood curdling cry, leave you lying on the floor.

The couple of hours to Niseko alternated between coma and a time-lapse photography type view of the ever increasing depth of snow covering the landscape. By the time we arrived some parked cars looked like double-deckers with their own height again in accumulated snow on the roofs! We checked into our accommodation, Niseko Lodge a comfortable hostel 5 minutes walk from the centre of town, and crashed out.

Evenings were spent in some of the cool little bars around town, one of which is accessed straight off the street through a fridge door! We hit the sushi bars a couple of times, but be warned it’s not the tame stuff you find in Waitrose. I’d say that we didn’t know what the hell 90% of the stuff we were eating actually was!

So what was our overall verdict on Japan? AMAZING! The nicest most friendly and polite people you could wish to meet, zero lift queues, phenomenal powder, and a language and culture that’s both amazingly different and at the same time reassuringly similar in some strange way to our own. Would we recommend it? Hell yeah! The resort is very low and quite small by European standards so euro piste bashers might get bored. This would be missing the point of going to Japan however. It’s all about the powder. Japanese sections in snowboard dvd’s are very often shot as dream like sequences of short runs through trees and over pillow lines all in mind bogglingly deep and light powder, and quite frankly this is exactly what it’s like. There are some bigger faces to be ridden off the top and some pistes are of reasonable length, there’s even a board park if you feel so inclined. Honestly though who goes half way around the world to ride in the park? Go for the pow’ man, and to play in the trees. You won’t regret it!

Hazards

Avalanches: Transceivers are a must if you want to hike out the back country gates (and it’s well worth it). We almost got caught out on our first visit as the gates lull you into a false sense of security. Whilst traversing a slope we heard a bang followed by a massive split running horizontally across the slope that suddenly appeared just above us. Luckily it didn’t slide but we were very lucky.

Australians: They’re everywhere, due to the proximity it’s their closest and most reliable source of powder. On the whole not a problem with many of them working hard (ok hardish) to run the lodges to a good standard. Be prepared for some rowdy evenings in some of the bars though. Fairly easy to avoid or embrace, depending on what kind of trip you are looking for.

Weather: Sometimes (especially January) big storms roll in from Siberia causing many lifts to be closed due to strong winds. This is of course a double edged sword as while it can mean down time it also often means massive dumps of powder. No pain no gain!

And finally the all important issue of cost. It is undoubtedly more expensive than going to Europe but when you add everything in such as lift passes, beer, and food etc. it’s surprising how much the alps actually costs. We’ve been to Niseko a couple of times now and both times the total cost (flights, accommodation, transfers, lift pass, food, beer, everything) has been around £1200 - £1300 for 8/9 days on the slopes. By anyone’s standards it’s big bucks, but once you’ve been once it will seem like the best money you’ve ever spent. Period.

Some people (well mostly my wife) might say that guide books are a bad thing. Well for me anyway. They lead to all sorts of crazy ideas and desires. So as the year drew to a close, and after devouring several snowboard guides, yet another ambitious plan was being hatched. A trip to what is arguably one of the powder capitals of the world.

Destination: Niseko-Hirafu, Japan.

Situated on the northern island of Hokkaido, about 2.5 hours from Sapporo international airport, sits the resort of Niseko which although small and low by European standards boasts some of the best and most consistent powder in the world. Enough said.

It’s difficult to describe the anticipation and excitement felt when waking up on the first morning of a snowboard trip to a new destination, but needless to say breakfast hardly touched the sides before we were out the door. Coming off the gondola and onto the first lift that morning will always be one of my most vivid memories of Japan: Snow (and oh do they have snow!), mega polite lift attendants who bow and brush the snow off the chairs for you, pop music playing on the chairlifts, and the name of that first lift; Swinging Monkey! The strangeness of it all and the haze of jetlag combined to create a surreal dreamlike atmosphere, a theme which lasted the whole time we were there.

The next 8 days were some of the best days boarding I’ve ever had. Powder beyond your wildest dreams. Untouched stashes everywhere, riding through the trees kicking up plumes behind you. Back country gates that you can hike out to the top of the mountain to gain some 800m vertical or so of waist deep powder. And the night riding, which is an experience in itself. Every night the slopes are lit until 9pm so we’d ride most of the day, then back to the hostel for snacks ‘n’ snoozing in the afternoon, then head back up the hill for an evening session. On one occasion the lifts had been closed during the day due to a storm passing through, but in the evening things calmed down and they opened the lifts. Fresh pow’ under massive floodlights is the craziest experience ever!

The nitty gritty:

We arranged our trip independently and flew with Emirates via Dubai, Osaka, and finally into Sapporo. It is a long journey but Emirates planes and staff do make it fairly pleasant. We have since flown with ANA which was much more direct (London-Tokyo-Sapporo) but the planes are more basic and less comfortable.

We have stayed at both Niseko Lodge (www.nisekolodge.com) and Slow Life Lodge (www.nisekopowderholidays.com) both of which have been very good. Slow Life just being a little further from the centre of town. Both lodges can take care of all your transfers and lift passes etc.