Originally Posted by
Cynicor
Well that’s Furano done for me. Recommend the Naturwald as a decent location in Kitanomine with lots of restaurants and such nearby, basically ski in/out as it’s over the road from the gondola and lift, very simple to get to.
Snow in central Hokkaido is less deep than the West (Niseko/Rusutsu) but generally preserves well as it’s colder and gets less hard hit, though crowds are definitely increasing.
Off to Canada for 2 weeks of snow now, will see how that goes but a rain/freeze layer from last few days means higher avalanche risk.
Next year Japan is hopefully going to be 3-4 week Hokkaido tour with the La Vista Daisetsuzan on the cards for a few nights. Very nice hotel with an excellent onsen.
I'm envious. I too will be following up my Feb Hokkaido ski trip with Canada, but for me every trip is so short. I get next to no time off work!
I've been studying Furano's trail map. How's the on-piste experience there? It seems like a big mountain with lots of promise, but I don't know if I like the lift layout. They have 2 high-speed lifts, but I feel like they put them in places that are kind of meaningless for non-beginners. I see that there're 2 high-speed quads, but there's a total of just 1 run off of those 2 quads combined that's not beginner.