My friend and I are looking into a ski trip to Japan for December 2008 to January 2009. I will be using a *A C class award to get there, so we are trying to figure out where to go.

We are both expert skiers and are mainly interested in powder and some backcountry (with a guide). Can any one recommend a resort or area we should go? We are on a somewhat restricted budget (read: cheaper is better) and skiing quality is paramount.

We are planning about 3 weeks total, of which 10-13 days will be spent skiing or at a mountain area. The remaining time we plan to spend sight seeing in a city, I figure either Tokyo, Osaka, or Sapporo.

Thanks for the help.

Now we're talking my language.

Okay. Fire up your web browser (which I'm assuming you're using, if you're reading FlyerTalk) and check out the following links:

Snow Japan - http://www.skijapanguide.com/index.php
About Japan (Skiing) - http://gojapan.about.com/cs/sports/a/skiresort.htm
Japan Guide (skiing) - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2262.html
Japan National Tourist Office Skiing PDF - http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/PTG/pdf/pg-802.pdf
JNTO Snow Page - http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/se...ter/index.html
Ski Japan (Tour Operator) - http://www.skijapan.com/
News.Com.Au Article - http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/...006180,00.html

Okay, so now you have a lot of links.

Now, here's my personal take on it...I thought the snow out there was amazing. Way better than anything I had skied in the US prior to that trip. Expert trails are expert trails, and at Green Plaza Joetsu (where I stayed) the weather was beautiful - but there were no warnings when a trail ended. (I almost skied right off the mountain. Oops.) Green Plaza Joetsu is in Niigata, which is also well known for rice and o-sake (and hot springs).

Budget-wise, you may want to find a friend who speaks Japanese and get them to look at the tour company ski trip books. I did an overnight (for $200 each person) in mid-February that included train tickets, ski rental, breakfast and dinner buffets, huge bedroom, hot springs, lift tickets, and a snowboarding lesson if we wanted it. Separately, it should have been about $400. (Nippon Travel Agency's 2007-2008 Ski Books)

Searching the SnowJapanForums.com site for "backcountry" gave me this little tidbit - "If you don't want to go to Niseko, but really want to ski the trees, then I suggest Rusutsu. It is relatively uncrowded and has great off piste skiing." (And they even have an AVALANCHE AND BACKCOUNTRY FORUM!)

Also - since most ski areas are located near each other, you can generally buy multi-resort lift tickets. Always try to find out if there's one available.

We're considering flying into CTS and spending 2.5 days and 3 nights up there. Any recommendations on the best ski area in Sapporo or where you'd spend those days?

SFO2ORD: did you ever do this trip? I may be going to CTS for a weekend in January and would be very interested in any info about good places relatively close to CTS.

-C

I like this area for skiing, Yuzawa. There are a huge number of resorts all within a short distance of one another. The town has a great atmosphere, with a lot of fantastic Onsen and Ryokan at the foot of the runs. The cost is also less than the other ski areas, like Nagano, which is pricier due to the Olympics, not quality. It takes about one hour by Shinkansen from Tokyo Stn. to get there, very convenient.

http://www.welovesnow.com/eng/resort_map_yes.html

It also within the central mountain ski area, so if you want to try out Nagano, it's not far to get there, as well several other ski towns to the North.

Actually I have been to Naeba and other resorts around Yuzawa. I was thinking of trying something different, especially since the time from Tokyo to Yuzawa or Nagano by train is the same or more than flying to Sapporo (not counting bus to ski area). But, thanks for the suggestions!

I had hakuba in mind...

Sanosuke!

I'm headed to Hakuba for a week in January, the links provided above were very helpful. Let's hope that bountiful Japanese snow starts to fall soon!