Originally Posted by
mileagerunner
I'm thinking about taking my son skiing outside Tokyo one of these weekends. He's been to Niseko, and loves it there, but it's gotten too expensive and I always have problems with the Hilton's on-site snow school. The school seems to cater mainly to beginners, so every group lesson ends up being a beginner lesson.
I'm still looking for a suitable option so your post about NASPA was really timely. Did you sign your kids up for private or group lessons? I only see the option for private lessons on their website but you mention group lessons. Do you recall the cost?
Have you been to Gala Yuzawa? How would you compare NASPA to it? I've done a day trip to Gala Yuzawa and found it to be extremely crowded (relative to Niseko at least) but I liked the range of terrain.
What I also liked about Gala Yuzawa is that it's really easy to get to, especially if you can use the JR Tokyo Wide Pass for confirmed Shinkansen seats.
Is it just your son, or are you also skiing? Is your purpose primarily to get him into ski school for the day? Are you planning on just a quick day-trip from Tokyo, or do you plan to stay overnight?
I haven't skiied Gala yet, although I'm quite familiar with Gala since I've taken my kids there for ski school and have rented skis and gone up to the mid-mountain to hang out while the kids took lessons. When I've been to Gala, I don't recall lift queues looking that bad even if there's a lot more people on the slopes than NASPA. So maybe it won't be so bad if you go on a non-holiday weekday.
NASPA group lesson is 3200yen for one lesson (half-day), 5300yen for two (full-day). Lessons are at 10a-12p or 1.30p-3.30p. We did group lessons. Really excellent. # of people usually 5 or less per group, sometimes as little as 2. Keep in mind, this is all Japanese lessons. If your son only speaks English, then you need to take lessons through a separate company called Canyons or something... NASPA apparently outsources English ski school to them. I can't vouch for Canyons' quality. If you decide to do lessons in Japanese with NASPA, though, I think they're unbeatable. I'm intermediate and got a lot out of the lesson. There were advanced skiers taking group lessons, too. Only my kids have taken lessons at Gala, so I can't comment too much on the ski school at Gala. But Gala group lessons will likely have a lot more people per group than NASPA, so it's hard to imagine Gala being better than NASPA school-wise. Again all of this is regarding NASPA's regular Japanese lessons.
NASPA is a small mountain. Not that many runs. If you're intermediate, there're basically only 3 runs and each is probably only 400-600 meters long. But they're a lot of fun. They're wide with few other skiers. The really wide blue run towards the left of the mountain is especially enjoyable. With no lift lines, it'd take 6 minutes to ride up and ski down, and I must've done that loop 50x or more. Never got tired of it.
Just based on seeing the mountain upfront, looking at the trail map and talking to my sibling who's skiied there, Gala is a good-size mountain. NASPA is quite a bit smaller. There's also Kandatsu Kogen which you might look into. Even though you have to take the shuttle bus to NASPA, they run all the time and it's only a few minutes from the station. So even though Gala is right at the station and hard to beat, NASPA is pretty easy to get to, as well.
What really sets Gala apart from NASPA is Gala's extensive facility for day users. Gala, as you know, has a spacious facility with rentals and large locker/changing area under one room, adjoined to both bullet train and gondola to boot. On the other hand, NASPA is not as well set-up for day users. The changing / locker room is really small, and rental is located in a different building.
You can use Tokyo Wide Pass for Gala, NASPA and any other Yuzawa area ski places, as well as places like Manza (shuttle bus from Karuizawa), Joetsu Kokusai and Kagura (shuttle bus from Yuzawa).