International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) 2023 Hokkaido Trip Report

[Mattadvproject]

Greetings all......
Season 22/23 is officially about to start for me with my first trip kicking off next week. This season I will be spending almost 2 months in Japan, with 2 x 12-day sessions in Hokkaido (5th - 16th Jan and 18th - 29th Jan), then a 12-day session in Tohoku (1st - 12th Feb) and then a new trip, exploring the Myoko area for the final 12 days of the rotation (13th - 24th Feb). Then March is currently open and if I don't get booked, that's ok as some time off to enjoy my own skiing (perhaps a little road trip down to Telluride, my old stomping grounds, is in order?) would be fine. My wife and I are spending a month in Bentonville in Arkansas, for the off-season for mountain biking and I'm really looking forward to that....

Anyway, I digress..... back to Japan! It's been a while since I was last in Japan, Jan/Feb 2020 was the last time I have been there. That was just as the Pandemic was kicking off, with hotels in Japan that we were staying at already giving warnings about the disease with extra health protocols in place for people who had come in from China. Obviously we didn't understand the seriousness of the situation at the time and what would later transpire, but for me, I was struggling with a back issue and that really put a damper on the trip as I was in a lot of pain and could only ski a couple of days and then I'd have to rest for a couple. The snow was good and it was a mental struggle to not be able to get out and enjoy it.

So this season, I'm definitely excited to get out and ski some of the famous Japanese powder, hopefully injury free. I had a serious mountain bike crash back in late June and I'm almost over that, my messed up ribs seem to be good and my broken finger is still really crooked and doesn't bend fully, but it doesn't hurt to hold a ski pole and I can pole plant without any problems. So, I'm as injury free as I can be and I hope it stays that way. I should be able to ski at almost 100% and I'm excited for that.

Japan was forecasting another La Nina season (number 3 in a row) and typically that means an above average season. So far, Hokkaido has been getting really good snowfall. Tohoku has been starting to fill in and Myoko seems to be a little behind, but it's very early days there. I'm sure they will catch up. There's heavy snow in the forecast for our arrival in Hokkaido on the 4th Jan. We'll be heading up to Furano on the 5th and staying there for 5 nights, then 5 nights in Otaru and 1 night back in Chitose when the first session ends. Then we do it all again.

It will be interesting to see how the Japanese are still focusing on safety measures for COVID. From what I have heard (one of my team is already out there), then masking is still in full-effect (Japanese people were already masking prior to the Pandemic), so that's not a surprise. We'll have to see how far it extends though, again I've been told that in all indoor public environments masking is still happening and at the ski areas, it's happening in the lodges and getting onto gondolas. We'll see if it applies to chairlifts as well, but whatever the societal norm is, then I'll want to honor and respect the local customs. I hope this is the last time we have to consider such restrictions when on a trip, but either way, we'll work with it.... I'm just happy to be heading back to Japan and enjoying the powder and culture.

In terms of travel logistics, airfares were defintely higher in price (back in October when I bought mine at least) and sadly the very efficient Denver-Narita direct flight with United, seems to have been cancelled altogether which was a little frustrating, so I will be flying Denver/San Francisco/Haneda and then onto Chitose. There is a new immigration procedure and a fast-track app to download if you want to skip a lot of the manual checking and processing on arrival in Tokyo. I have all that downloaded so hopefully the arrival process will be somewhat painless and definitely hope there are no problems getting out of the US!

So, I will update here as live as possible, starting on the 3rd or 4th Jan! Until then....

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Skis are all prepped up and ready to go, bags are packed, hitting the road tomorrow morning. There's a winter storm warning in effect for Denver tomorrow, so we'll see if the flights are affected or not. Fingers crossed we make it! I have a 5:52pm flight to San Francisco and then a 12:20am flight to Haneda, arriving at 4am local time on the 4th Jan. Then I have a 10am flight to Chitose landing around 11:30am. I'll head straight to the rental car company and pick up the van and then hopefully get a couple of hours sleep before the others in the group start to arrive.....

 

[BMC]

I’m in Niseko now. Great snow now after 4 or 5 days of pretty consistent snowfalls. Fingers crossed it continues!!

 

[Mattadvproject]

I’m in Niseko now. Great snow now after 4 or 5 days of pretty consistent snowfalls. Fingers crossed it continues!!

Hopefully! The Yuki tap is pretty firmly turned on right now, Japanuary is living up to it's namesake..... Enjoy!

 

[Mattadvproject]

4th Jan - Arrival in Japan

Well that turned into quite the adventure! Finally made it to Japan, just! I left Granby on the 2nd, the big storm didn't really hit the mountains and apart from half an inch in Granby, crossing Bethoud Pass was a breeze as it was sunny. Heading down into Denver, it turned grey and foggy with some icy drizzle. We (Tim and I) were at the airport by12:30pm with plenty of time to spare for the 5:52pm departure to SFO.

Unfortunately the Bay Area had been having massive storms and the air traffic into SFO was being severely impacted and they were limiting the flights in. We had a nice 5-hour cushion but we had the first delay that pushed departure back and hour, then another one, then 3 x 30 minute delays. We were losing that cushion. Finally we got on board around 9pm and then were preparing to leave when they let a bunch of standby passengers on as there were some open seats still.

Crazily enough, these passengers had their checked-bags with them as they had been told to bring them onboard. Bizarre! All the overhead bins were full but somehow they found room for them. Then were about to push off and they realized that one of the standby passengers didn't have a seat! Crazy! The jet-bridge had been pulled back already so they had to get that back in place and then potentially remove the extra passenger from the flight.

After a lot of toing and froing, they finally found a seat for him when I mother in first class had her child sit in her lap to open up a seat. Then we could finally close the doors again and start to move out. We had to de-ice and then we could take-off. By this time it was around 10pm and with the 2 hour 20 minute flight, that was going to be massively close, especially as it was quite a distance to get from our arrivals to international departures. I was a little frustrated by all these shenanigans, to say the least. What a messup with the extra standby passengers they allowed to board with check-in bags, overloading the plane and then starting ot depart before everyone was seated. That was probably the most amateur-hour thing I've seen on a plane, not the best look United!

Oh well..... so we landed and then I had a sprint to make it to the international terminal and our gate for the flight to Tokyo - Haneda. I got there in about 20 minutes and was breathing hard. I checked in and then the flight was delayed about 10-minutes or so. Tim managed to catch up as well. Then it was a 9.5 hour flight and I managed a good 6 or 7 hours sleep (yay sleeping pills!). We arrived in Tokyo around 4:20am on the 4th Jan.

When we got off the plane there was someone waiting for us from ANA with a sign up with our names on it. Yep, some of our bags had been delayed. We made it through immigration and headed to the baggage claim. Some ANA staff told us that one of our bags was delayed. It was the ski bags. Tim and I both had our main suitcases but the ski bags didn't get on the flight. Unfortunately, as nice as the ANA staff were, with the language barrier, they didn't inspire us with much confidence as to where our bags were (the United tracking app said SFO) but they were unable to locate them for some reason. Extra stress.....

Anyway, had to change to the domestic terminal for the next flight to Chitose, at least there was no rush for this one. I headed to the ANA lounge to try and speak to an agent there. My wife was also calling United to see if they knew anything. All they could say was that the bag had not left SFO and it was ANA's responsibility to help. They also suspected that the bag didn't get scanned in SFO by ANA and that's why they couldn't find it. ANyway, none of this was adding to the confience of seeing the bag anytime soon, so I boarded the next flight to Chitose and had a quick and easy 1 hour 30 minute flight, with a quick view of Mt. Fuji but the best views were out of the left side of the plane and I was on the right.

When we arrived I headed to the baggage claim and there was an announcement over the PA for my name, so I headed to find an ANA agent. I was a bit worried that my other bag had now gone missing but actually the agent said that my ski bag was on it's way from the US and should be in Chitose in the morning. That would be a Christmas miracle if that is the case! I really hope so.

Grant (one of our guides) was waiting outside and then we headed to Nippon Rent-A-Car to pick up our vans. Then we headed up the road 10-minutes to the ANA Crowne Plaza, our meeting point for all the groups. I had a nice little snack lunch from the Family Mart in the hotel and now the challenge is to stay awake until a reasonable time to get into the timezone as quickly as possible. Really hope my ski bag arrives tomorrow! Hope Tim's comes in as well!


Mt. Fuji from Haneda



Flying over the Hokkaido coastline as we arrive in Chitose


- Matt

 

[BMC]

Well in good news there’s lots of snow waiting for you. The last 3 days have each been knee high or more powder days. I think the next few days might ease off a touch, more with lighter dustings of a few cm (inches) , but then, hopefully, back into it.

 

[BMC]

Wait, today was maybe even a bit more!! Thigh deep

 

[SkiYaLater]

Loving the play by play report here! Keep it coming. Found myself with a couple of weeks to burn between jobs and may make a run to Japan. What all do you use for forecasting?

 

[BMC]

Loving the play by play report here! Keep it coming. Found myself with a couple of weeks to burn between jobs and may make a run to Japan. What all do you use for forecasting?

Ha! Nothing! I do look at the Mountain Watch App fwiw but it’s only been vaguely accurate.

 

[Mattadvproject]

5th Jan - arrival and transfer to Furano, first ski day

This was another eventful day..... our mission was to head to Furano where we would be staying for five nights. Unfortunately one of the guests who had been feeling sick during the journey to Japan tested positive for COVID. He would need to be isolated and then according to Japanese regulations, taken to quarantine. The hotel in Chitose was not permitted to allow guests to stay for quarantine so the guest had to be transfered by special vehicle to Sapporo where there is a hotel that is set up for quarantine purposes. You are given a room, then you can go down to a restaurant where you get 3 meals a day apparently. The guest can leave quarantine on the 10th so he can still join us for the second half of the trip when we are in Otaru.

I was the most exposed out of the group so I tested at the hotel in Chitose and was negative. Grant, my other guide did the same and was also negative. We agreed that with the negative test, we could leave and head to Furano. That all took a fair amount of time, so we didn't get on the road until close to 11:30am. We took the toll freeway out of Chitose to the east and then headed north to Yubari. It wasn't long before it started to snow heavily and the road was getting deep. There were some ruts where heavy vehicles with chains had chewed up the snow surface and with the light van, it was easy for the back end to start wanting to fish tail. It was slow going. We readjusted the luggage to the back of the van and that help stabilize it a bit, but it was still slow going.

The snowbanks when we approached Yubari were huge, the biggest I've ever seen and were above the van in most places. We parked near the main hotel and headed over the river to the main base lodge. We only had time for a 2 hour ski so (cost 2,000 JPY, about $15) and the guys went off for a shred. I wasn't able to ski as I still had none of my gear. I was very happy for them but definitely wished I could be out with them. The snow looked amazing, they said it was thigh to waist deep in places and many face shots were had. That was a great way for them to start the trip and I was genuinely happy for them. I hung out in the cafeteria and had a lovely Katsu curry for lunch.

At 3:10pm they were done and we hit the road again after the obligatory stop at a 7-Eleven store for snack lunch. It was a tough drive again out of town until we hit the expressway and then the roads were much better plowed. We made up some time and were in Furano by about 6pm. We had a convenient dinner at the hotel (La Vista) and had an early night. I had a really good sleep and woke up refreshed after all the travel and stress of the previous few days.....


Massive snowbanks in Yubari!



Go get it fellas! Rob, Jamie and Jeremy heading to the lifts.....



Plenty of fresh snow to be had at Mt. Racey!


- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Jan 6th - Hanging in Furano

My ski bag was due to arrive that day, so I still had to hang out and play the waiting game. I got a really good night's sleep and then was up to meet the guys down in the restaurant at 7am for our first time at the breakfast buffet. It was quite the spread with plenty of Western dishes (eggs of different style, bacon, sausage, fried chicken, breads, fruit, cereal) and lot's of different Asian dishes. There was plenty of choice.

Then I took the guys to the ski area and dropped them at the Furano side so they could take the cable car. Sounds like they had a fun day and got to explore some of the areas I had mapped out for them. I headed to the home hardware store to purchase a travel adaptor and then catch up with some work. I also had a walk across to the other side of the railway to a pharmacy where I bought 4 x COVID test kits (about 2,000 JPY each or $15). I bought some snack lunch at the 7-Eleven across the road from the hotel and headed back. Time to take another test and it was again negative which was a relief. I think I should be safely done with testing now.

Then I had some more good news, my ski bag was down in the lobby so I can now go skiing tomorrow! Awesome, so happy, I can't wait! My other guest who is in quarantine and was also missing a ski bag, his had arrived so I can take that to Otaru and he can ski the second half of the trip when he's released on the 10th. That's good news all round.

We finished the night by heading into town for dinner. Staying downtown in Furano (and not the ski in, ski out hotel we used to stay at) allows us to walk to places in the evening and that's a lot more convenient. I think I'm liking this setup even more, it's a nice change to be able to just walk to places instead of driving (and then not having to park which is a big bonus, plus now I get to have a beer over dinner and relax more which I like).

We went to possible my favorite restaurant, Masaya where they have a grill and the owner likes to light up the room with a burst of fire when people order the pork ribs. It's a fun show. I had my favorite, the fried noodles with beef cheek and a fried egg on top. Yum!

Well tomorrow I should be skiing and can finally post about powder turns hopefully. Can't wait! Until then.....


Awesome views of Furano (Kitanomine zone) from my room at the La Vista Hotel Furano.



Masaya restaurant in downtown Furano.


Refried noodles with beef cheek and a fired eggs. There's also fish flakes on there that wave in the rising heat and make the dish look like it's alive! Lovely stuff....I paid 2,000 JPY ($15) for the food and 2 beers. Bargain!

- Matt

 

[Lauren]

We went to possible my favorite restaurant, Masaya where they have a grill and the owner likes to light up the room with a burst of fire when people order the pork ribs. It's a fun show.

So good! That place is amazing (I got the pork ribs, garlic fried rice and dumpling…just one of those meals you remember). Good chance it was your recommendation on how I ended up there

Following your journey, but the jealousy is REAL.

Have a great trip and keep it coming so I can live vicariously through you.

 

[Jim McDonald]

Top of Furano side this morning

 

[Mattadvproject]

So good! That place is amazing (I got the pork ribs, garlic fried rice and dumpling…just one of those meals you remember). Good chance it was your recommendation on how I ended up there

Following your journey, but the jealousy is REAL.

Have a great trip and keep it coming so I can live vicariously through you.

Awesome! Finally back on skis today as my ski bag arrived so now the trip begins in proper..... lots more to come!

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Top of Furano side this morning

View attachment 188129

Nice Jim! My guys had that same view. Will be heading out to Furano again today if you are around. I have black pants, dark blue/orange hooded HH jacket, red tecnica boots, red/black Majesty skis, red/black BD airbag and bright yellow Xevo goggles and my star sign is Libra! Give me a yell if you see me!

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Loving the play by play report here! Keep it coming. Found myself with a couple of weeks to burn between jobs and may make a run to Japan. What all do you use for forecasting?

Will do! Thanks for following. I'll be running a daily blog most days for all the trips, plenty more to come. I use a mixture of snow-forecast.com and meteoblue.com.

 

[Jim McDonald]

Neon yellow helmet, red jacket, blue pants.

 

[James]

What skis are people on?

 

[BMC]

What skis are people on?

I’m in Niseko and took over a Nordica Enforcer 100 as a “daily driver” and DPS Wailer 110’s for deeper soft snow days.

I’m liking the DPS’ so much even on groomed runs I’m thinking now the E100’s might be a bit wider than I need for low snow days. It was a low snow day today and I enjoyed them on and off piste. They were great. But something narrower would probably have been better…thinking maybe 94mm or thereabouts. But we’re splitting hairs here.

i get to leave a pair of skis under the roof here between seasons (the wider ones) so it’s generally easier to run the two ski quiver.

 

[Mattadvproject]

What skis are people on?

Big ones! They are orange and black and like to go fast.....

Majesty Ski Vanguard Carbon in a 194cm and 118mm underfoot with Shift bindings.