Sorry for the late reply. Snow has been good here but lift delays and mountain closures mean it isn't as awesome as one would expect!

kiroro is FLAT. Really flat. Do not go there if you can go to Rusutsu. Sheraton is probably just as convenient as the Westin in slope access, but I haven't stayed at the westin, only looked at the area.

I really dislikes Kiroro and the snow was poor. Rusutsu is basically full of Niseko people now though, so it will be a little more crowded. Dunno, the choice is clear to me but we aren't the same person! :)

When you say flat, in what way? Do you mean the mountain does not have enough challenging terrain? Or that every run is less steep than its rating? Or that their runs have too many flat sections interspersed with hills? Or that there's too long of a flat area at the bottom of chairlifts? If it's the former two, that's totally fine with us. But I do hate having to deal with completely flat areas.

I'm looking at Westin's trail map, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of great options for beginners on the East and Iroha Mtns which is the side connected to Westin. It seems like most of the green runs need to be accessed by interm/diamond runs. Seems like a great mountain for me, but not for my kids.

If you are looking for good and accessbile beginner runs, I would recommend Kiroro. The Sheraton is an ok hotel, right at the pistes. There are good, long, uncrowded green and easier red ones right at the first chair (Yoichi 1) lift. There are no compeletly flat parts. For advanced skiiers, the terrain offers enough for a couple of days, in my opinion. The biggest drawback is that - in contrast to Rusutsu - off-piste skiing is not allowed.

The hotel is seperate from the ski resort (but in one building). There are facilities for hotel guests and seperate facilties for day guests. You won't have trouble with your luggage before check-in. There are plenty of lockers.
When you rent a car, the drive from Otaru to Kiroro is about half an hour, depending on road conditions. The bus has enough space for your luggage.

At Rusutsu, I would recommend to stay at the Resort, not the Westin. West Mountain has more accessible beginner runs; East and Isola Mountain have only one noteworthy green run; the red ones can get quite challenging for beginners when there's a lot of snow. Most black ones at Rusutsu are no-go areas for beginners.
Both resorts close down areas (at Rusutsu paticularly often Isola Mountain) due to strong winds - which can happen quite a few times a month.

Another option might be Sapporo Teine - good enough for a couple of days.

See also powderhounds.com for a good description of all areas. Kiroro gets - statistically - more snow than Rusutsu. Nonetheless, Rusutsu will stay our powder go-to resort for now :)

@Chinatrvl

Thank you for your outstanding, comprehensive response! So helpful!

Your feedback on Kiroro is reassuring. Yeah I don't think Rusutsu will work out for my family at this stage of their ski level. I'd love to be able to drive to Kiroro, but I'm rather nervous about the possibility of having to drive in wintery conditions. So I guess we'll do the bus. If we do decide to ski on this trip, then Kiroro it is.

Don't drive yourself if it's a short trip and you aren't used to snow/ice driving. It's not worth the stress! (I drive every trip and the first 1-2 weeks ever we're pretty hard.).

i'm sorry, if Sheraton is the one closer to slopes and the LC is further away, I've only stayed at the LC and not the Sheraton.

the Sheraton would be right there though and have great slope access.

i found it had a few flat bits and was really slow, but I'm a boarder. It does have great backcountry access ;)

i think you would enjoy both both of the resorts tbh, so go with the one that fits everything else best and don't stress about the skiing!

Thanks a lot, Cynicor. Yes, leaning towards Kiroro. Thanks for all your feedback.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...atal-eruption/

Exactly a week to go before my trip to Zao Onsen. Wondering if I should change plans. 25% of me thinks 'better safe than sorry' but the other 75% thinks I'll have the slopes to myself :D ... plus the Zao Onsen slopes are 3 miles away from the crater so it should be quite safe ... right?

Quote from SnowJapan: "You might have seen on the news about the volcano alert level at the nearby crater being raised yesterday. Hmmm. No other information for you on that, other than... life goes on as normal and there has been no 'events' to relay. Zao Onsen village is about 5km away from the area concerned and the tourism office has issued an announcement that we are 'unaffected'. We live with these things here in Japan!"

Level 2 is nothing. I went to Hakone when the mountain was on level 3 alert. So long as you're not on the mountain itself, there's nothing more than normal to worry about (e.g. a gynormous earthquake can happen at any time)

This is such bad timing for you. That's too bad. I'm sure you'll be fine. I do think a lot of people will be cancelling their trips to Zao, though. That would be a major economic hit for Zao. If you do go, you may be right that the crowd will be substantially less. But, to be honest, I'd probably change plans as well, if it were me. I'm just risk-adverse. Although you'll almost certainly be fine, there's always a chance that they could end up raising the danger level, which may necessitate some of the slopes to be closed down.

But if I go skiing, I will be on the mountain. And not really that far away from the predicted danger zone ...

http://www.zao-spa.or.jp/news/wp-con...7451886472.jpg

Wonder what my backup plan should be. I've already bought the JR East Tohoku area pass, but I can cancel it for an 80% refund, buy a Nagano/Niigata pass and go back to Nozawa Onsen or Hakuba instead. Or keep the Tohoku pass and pay a visit to Appi Kogen? Hmmmmmmmmm.

I've never been to Appi, but I know it's a big-time place. It's on my list of potential ski destinations for next winter. If you do end up going there, it'd be great if you could let us know how it was and how it compared to Nozawa.
When people talk about skiing in Tohoku, it's usually Zao and Appi. Zao is more of a legendary place (and great onsen), but Appi would work out better for us since we HAVE TO have ski in/out hotel.

I wouldn't sweat it, but Shizukuishi would be a great alternative choice in the same general direction.

I'd like to hear more about Shizukuishi. Are the runs wide? How's the rental and locker facility? How's the hot spring? Hotel reviews suggest average-at-best rooms and mediocre hotel restaurant, but I guess that's to be expected from Prince.

I'm looking at 6-7 different places in Honshu for skiing this Dec, including Appi Kogen and Shizukuishi. Appi seems to be 2x the size of Shizukuishi in terms of both #runs and acreage. But size isn't always important. If you or anyone's been to both, I'd love to hear comparisons.

Was recently at Madarao Kogen, which is another decent option for ski in/ski out.

1hr 50 minutes by Shinkansen and then 20 minutes to the resort.
Very easy ski-in and ski out.
Good rental equipment.
Hotel is decent (a bit more character than NASPA and a lot cheaper)
Skiing is pretty good (a lot more terrain than NASPA)
Ski resort connects to Tangram

Reporting in from Zao Onsen, which got 72cm of fresh snow in the last 2 days, so even beginner pistes look like this:


Excuse the crappy technique -- don't get too many ski days when you live in the tropics.

I think Zao's pretty awesome, nice variety of long scenic runs, including one right in between the juhyo which is a green/blue. It's a village, though, which means most accommodation isn't ski-in/ski-out (my choice of ryokan, suzunoya, is a good 10mins walk away from the slopes). Oh, and as some others may have noticed, there's lots of flat areas which are sort of bearable for ski'iers, but would be annoying for snowboarders, especially in between the 3 main ski lifts.