Niseko, Japan March 11th Day 1 of 4

So long story short, I was stationed in Okinawa Japan 2 years ago and finally decided to act on my dream ski trip of skiing northern Japan. I arrived in Niseko after a 2 hour bus ride from the Sapporo airport, as we got closer and closer the snow got deeper. Niseko is made up of four resorts all connecting at the peak, the biggest resort being Niseko Grand Hirafu, then  Annupuri, Niseko Village, and Hanzono. After checking into my hotel, and getting my rentals i was on snow by 2 pm. I headed up the ace quad lift and stuck to Hirafu the first day, there was some snow coming down expecting to accumulate to an inch overnight. Conditions were packed powder with some choppy snow, and the groomers were great. A bit cloudy out but great conditions anyway.

Turning onto the access road

Looking at the mountain from the village

View of MT Yotei hiding in the clouds

Heading up the bubble chair about 3/4 up the mountain

The single chair takes you as close to the peak as possible, i was surprised about half the ski field to the right of the lift was groomed


looking down the mountain from the single chair



Around 6 pm the snow started to pick up, this is towards the bottom of the mountain near the hirafu gondola


After my first day I went out for some drinks, when i discovered the "Cooler Bar". The entrance is an old coke vending machine that you walk through to get into the bar, as you can see theres some east coast pride on the door. So far ive seen ski the east, darkside boards from Killington, and Sunday River Maine

This is great, keep it coming. For me, the allure of skiing in Japan (besides potentially epic pow) would be combining a familiar activity like skiing with the incredible socio-cultural differences of that country. I think Patchrick is on to this.

Thanks in advance for more :)

Niseko is on the top of my bucket list..Imagine VT with 500 inches of snow a season..Crazy..But unlike the Northeast , Sapporo's snowiest months are Dec and Jan, due to the greatest lake effect machine on the planet..

I get their snow report everyday , Japan is off around 20% this year.
http://snowjapan.com/japan-daily-snow-weather-reports/Niseko-Now

The culture was great, a lot of foreigners( mainly aussies ) but still traditional Japanese in the local culture. I even went to a traditional Japanese onsen one night, great for sore legs after a powder day.

Wow, so off their single chair its mainly groomed. I have had a few buddies go there this year and last and had the best powder of their life.   Keep the photos coming.