Quieter, sunnier skiing round Yōtei from Niseko
Yes. The resort's Powder Day Trip bus runs from the Hirafu Welcome Center to East Mountain in January and February, about 45 minutes each way, and seats 40 a day. Book online by 3pm the day before. By car it is about 30 minutes.
The 25-hour ticket is spent an hour at a time on any day of the season. The first gate takes an hour, you ride freely for that hour, and the next gate after it takes another. One-day and five-hour tickets are sold too.
Yes. Start on the Family Course in front of the hotel, then ride to Easy Trail on East Mountain, the gentlest run, laid out away from faster traffic.
To Mt. Isola's trees and to the ungroomed runs, left untouched after a snowfall. Super East, on East Mountain, is the steepest. Book the resort's mountain guides several days ahead.
Yes. Samurai Kids lessons take ages 4 to 14 in small groups, with a supervised lunch and priority on the lifts, and children aged three and under ride free.
Yes, for five consecutive days. Show the pass at a ticket window to collect your lift tickets; the mobile pass alone does not open the gates.
From late November to the end of March, with night skiing on West Mountain from mid-December. The second half of December is the peak.
Forty-five minutes round Yōtei from Hirafu, you get the same dry Hokkaido snow with far fewer skiers chasing it. Book the morning bus the afternoon before, and head straight across to Mt. Isola for the trees.
Runs and lifts from OpenStreetMap, inside the Rusutsu ski area outline (dashed). OpenStreetMap has 29 of the resort's 37 runs and 15 of its 18 lifts; the bar is the share of mapped run length at each level, not the resort's own count.
Rusutsu sees more sunny days than Niseko. It sits south-east of Yōtei, sheltered from the north-west wind that brings the snow, and close enough to the Pacific for clear skies. Powder under a blue sky is the day to hope for.
Three mountains on one ticket. West Mountain holds the hotels and the night skiing, East Mountain the steepest run, and Mt. Isola the longest runs and the widest view, over Lake Toya.
The trees. Several runs are left ungroomed after a storm, and Isola is far enough from the hotels that its untracked snow lasts. A helicopter from the resort also lands skiers on Mt. Shiribetsu, with a guide.
The lifts open in late November and close at the end of March. The second half of December is the resort's peak season. The bus from Niseko runs only in January and February, the heart of the winter.
Where to base yourself, and the mountain next door
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