For most people it’s all about the powder days - there’s nothing better than floating through deep, dry powder up to your waist and gasping for air after every face shot! I grew up on the New Zealand ski fields where we got our fair share of great days but the Northern Hemisphere is where I really wanted to be. I heard Europe could be quite inconsistent so I headed to North America, firstly Canada and then down to Utah and Colorado, USA.
Steamboat Springs, CO turned out to be the pick of the bunch – loads of snow and definitely the lightest and driest. I finally understood why they coined the term "Champagne Powder"! After spending 4 winters there I started to hear rumours about Japan and how amazing the snow was, but how could it be better than Steamboat? My curiosity got the better of me so the next winter I packed my bags and headed for the land of the rising sun.
Japan has over 300 resorts so the question was where to start? I had heard of two main areas where loads of Aussies and Kiwis went so I figured they must be the best and the language barriers would hopefully be minimised. The areas were Nagano on the main island of Honshu and Niseko on the northern island of Hokkaido. Nagano was my first stop and I visited 5 of the resorts in the area – each one was awesome and had amazing terrain, and most importantly it snowed like crazy! There were quite a few Westerners working there so communicating wasn’t an issue, and every Japanese person I met was friendlier than the last. They were definitely the most polite and helpful people I had ever met and Japan was growing on me fast. The only drawbacks in Nagano were that the resorts were all on different lift passes and they were also a reasonable distance apart so you needed a car to get to them all.
I was loving Nagano and could have stayed for the whole winter but it was time to leave and check out Niseko. Landing in Sapporo was an experience - I’d never seen an airport covered in so much snow and we were at sea level! We drove along the coast road for a while on the way to Niseko and passed beaches covered in snow, with hard-core surfers riding the freezing cold waves. We rolled into the area known as Niseko (although the village is actually called Hirafu) just after dark, and were welcomed by a mountain completely lit up from top to bottom. The resort was open every night of the week until 8:30pm meaning that you could ride the chairs for 12 hours a day!
The next morning I woke up to 60cms (2 feet) of the driest and lightest powder I had ever seen! I still remember that day – it was snowing so much that by the time I got back to the top of the gondola my tracks from the last run were covered and we had "freshies" every run all day long. As well as the snow being amazing, so was the ski field. Niseko is made up of 4 ski areas all linked up and on the one pass so you could stay out all day and not do the same run twice.
"The next morning I woke up to 60cms of the driest and lightest powder I had ever seen!"
As well as a fantastic mountain, the local village is also a great place to spend a winter. I fell in love with the people, the food and the nightlife and have now spent 5 winters there. There is definitely no place I would rather spend a winter than Niseko. It also turned out to be the ideal place to set up the next base for our ski and snowboard instructor training company, "Snow Trainers". After running courses in New Zealand and the USA for several years we were looking for a unique location to add to the mix and Niseko was it. We run the New Zealand Level 1 and 2 exams for our students over there so again they don’t need to speak any Japanese, and once they are qualified they can work basically anywhere in the world.
We just completed our 4th year of courses there and the feedback has been nothing but fantastic. Many of our students have gone on to instruct at one of the many ski schools in Niseko and even more have come back year after year for guaranteed powder holidays. This winter Niseko broke the record again and has had over 21 metres (69 feet) of snow and it’s still coming down, hard to believe but it’s true! Every year seems to get better and better.
There are also so many opportunities for work in Niseko because they have 4 ski areas, over 15 ski schools, and loads of restaurants, bars and lodges. It’s quite easy to get a working holiday visa and due to the number of English speaking tourists you don’t need to speak Japanese to find work.
So if you are looking for the ultimate ski resort where you can ski/ride hard for 12 hours a day, have guaranteed powder, lots of fun terrain, and even more fun après action then Niseko is definitely the place for you!
"There is definitely no place I would rather spend a winter than Niseko"
Written by Matt Phare, Director and Lead Snowboard Trainer of Snow Trainers. Snow Trainers run ski and snowboard instructor courses in Japan, New Zealand and the USA.