shuigao

Sucks to be missing this season

Was thinking of going again next season ... but the kid will be ~1.5 years old and will need child care ... and from some casual google it appears that the additional cost runs anywhere from ¥12-¥25k a day ...

Maybe just give half of that to my parents (or in laws) and let them handle the kid at home ...

evergrn

Naeba is 2300y per hour.
Grandeco is 10,000y for 4hrs.
Joetsu Kokusai is only 5000y for the entire day (6hrs) albeit minimum age Limit of 2yo.
I’m sure Hokkaido resorts are more since everything is priced to cater to foreigners up there.

Maybe look into Grandeco, even though it’s a small resort. Ski in ski out with good lift infrastructure. (Disclaimer I’ve never been)

LapLap

Couldn’t you and your partner take turns? Don’t know about elsewhere but at Gala Yuzawa there are toboggan slopes and play areas and other activities for small children. Seems a shame to be left behind when there’s all that snow to have fun in. AND there are swimming pools with fountains, targets and bubbles. That place is a wonderland for children.

evergrn

Gala Yuzawa is more of a day area, though.
If I'm doing a ski vacation out of Singapore, I'd want to go to either a large destination mountain or a resort that's got the whole package with ski-in/out hotel with onsen.
Personally I couldn't fathom buying a pair of lift tickets for me and my wife, only to spend half the time looking after a toddler and the other half skiing by myself. Ski resort daycare is a popular thing in Jpn, parents love it, kids love it. I would just come back and check up on your child every so often.

LapLap

You and I are very, VERY different and our parenting priorities have only a small overlap. I came to terms with this long ago.
One winter I arranged flights and hotel rooms and took my 1.5 year old to Tampere in Finland along with my parents. We spent every possible moment with her. It was absolutely magical.
Love the fact that it is SO much easier to have these snow experiences from Tokyo.

(EDIT TO ADD - just remembered when MrLapLap, LapGirl and I went to Thailand just before this snow trip, we stayed at the Hua Hin IC and I took LapGirl to the child daycare centre to check it out. I stayed whilst she played but there was a slightly older kid there who only seemed to want to play with whatever LapGirl was playing with, and made sure we all knew it. The staff at the centre were delightful, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little boy. Hard not to come away - we didn’t stay very long - with the impression that this was how the boy spent most family holidays.)

evergrn

I don't think you know me, so please don't make assumptions about my parenting priorities because of a ski comment.
For what it's worth, I myself have not used daycare and I only resumed skiing again once my kids were old enough to take up skiing.
Was just making a general advice that ski resort daycare is a viable option (I know people who use these services) for someone with a 1.5yo who wishes to go skiing.

Cynicor

Have to agree with Evergrn. If you want to travel like that, great. But he(she?) never said it’s what you should do. I just also cannot imagine bothering with a ski trip to ski by myself and then look after the toddler.
Skiing by myself is boring, I’d rather do something with the family if I’m going to travel with them.

LapLap

I’d like to clarify two things:
1 - There’s a whole wealth of comments in this forum I’ve based my perception on you and I being very different on, not just one.
2 - That I’m convinced we are very different isn’t meant to be a criticism.

5khours

Rental shop at the top might just be performance skis.... I can't remember. There is no locker room at the top, but there are smaller lockers at top where you could leave shoes, etc. if you've changed at the base and are just picking up boots at the rental area at the top of the Gondola.

Gala also has season lockers which are very reasonable. 16k yen I think. Super convenient. You can literally hop on the shinkansen in your pajamas.

Cynicor

I’ll be hitting my annual Japan trip in late jan this year, Furano for a week.
love that town, nice mix of real Japan (not old Japan though) and western beds and easily access slopes for foreigners (English lessons and rental etc).

freecia

There's a new Dormy Inn/La Vista Furano Hills opening Dec 15, 2019 https://www.hotespa.net/hotels/furano/?login=0 It looks more like a Dormy Inn than a La Vista or Nono but I guess the 3 private/kashikiri onsen put it in the La Vista brand but listed on the Dormy Inn page? They're charging for the kashikiri onsen, though, and most of their other properties kashikiri onsen work on first come first serve for free. There's a ski concierge. Not ski in/out but might be right for some.

leland

Will be in Annupuri (Niseko) end of next month. Unfortunately got a bit injured so I may not be skiing (I'm not the big skier anyway so that's not a massive hardship). Annupuri location seems a bit annoying to get to Otaru, Toya, etc. Should I try to rent a car for that as a non-Japanese speaker? Assume not a problem to find snowshoes and other local outdoorsy activities in Annupuri? I'm a bit worried about the annoyance of getting from Annupuri to elsewhere, but that's just the way it is.

evergrn

Thanks. We'll see when we get there in a couple weeks. Looks like Yuzawa got dumped on recently (been following NASPA webcam), so it's looking good snow-wise. Will report back. We'll see how it stacks up to NASPA which is a small but surprisingly satisfying mountain.

That's great. Are you staying at one of the Prince hotels? Terrain looks excellent there. Have fun!

Heading to Rusutsu again late Feb for our main annual trip. Planning to take ski lessons in Utah before that, so that I might feel up to tackling Rusutsu's vaunted Super East run, but we'll see. Probably end up being all talk no action, seeing as I've been stuck at intermediate forever.

evergrn

Never been to Niseko in winter. I don't think I would plan on driving in Niseko area or over any pass in Dec-Feb, but that's just me. Took a bus from Kiroro to CTS in Dec, from Sapporo to Rusutsu in Feb... glad I was not driving, as the windy roads were snow-covered and yet people were driving fairly fast. I would've been terrified to drive. I've driven from Niseko over the pass to Otaru and also to Sapporo, as well as up to Yoichi... all in summer time. If you're going to drive to Otaru, I'd recommend the roundabout way through Yoichi, as you're not going over any pass. I'm sure others (esp Cynicor) can provide more firsthand account of winter-driving in the area.

Alternatively you can stay put in Niseko and just turn it into an onsen trip.

5khours

They really haven't had a dump yet. Just announced they have delayed opening.... was supposed to be tomorrow. Still plenty of time.