10 Reasons Why Aussies Love Skiing in Hakuba

15th August, 2013

  1. There are well over 100 lifts in Hakuba making it one of the biggest ski areas in Japan; its otherwise known as the Japanese Alps.  Its wide open terrain is great for all levels of ability and includes beginners to the serious expert runs.  There are kids parks and most resorts you can ride in the trees.  Hakuba also averages 10-11 metres of snow annually and for those really serious you can book a guide (highly recommended) to ride the backcountry. 
  2. The powder is amazing; here is a shot of yours truly in real powder. My board is about 80cms under the snow accessed directly off the lift. You don’t often see a photo of a snowboarder with their boards so deep.   At places like Niseko I would have stopped with the lack of steepness but Hakuba has steeper mountains that will keep you on the move no matter how deep the powder gets.
  3. You don’t get lift lines.  There simply isn’t enough accommodation to crowd the resorts even with the day trippers that come in on the weekends.
  4. You can’t beat the location.  If you are staying for a few weeks you may also want to visit other resorts like Nozawa Onsen which is not far away.   There are also other cultural destinations nearby and the snow monkeys.  And certainly not forgetting Tokyo with its great shopping and Disneyland as well as everything else Tokyo has to offer which is only 3 hours away.
  5. The weather is pefect as it rarely gets below -5 Celsius in the village compared to say Niseko that can get to -20 degrees.   That’s pretty chilly for the kids, especially if they want to get out in the snow to make a snowman or have a snowball fight....its freezing!
  6. You don’t need to get an internal flight.  If you fly into Narita, Haneda or even Osaka (however not as close) you can be in Hakuba in 4.5 to 5.5 hours!
  7. You don't get the jet lag that you would heading across to a European ski resort or to North America.
  8. If you bring your laptop to Hakuba most places have free internet with fibre optic internet connections that run at 100 mbps, fast enough for a dozen people...more... to be watching streaming videos all at the same time, the bandwidth is huge.
  9. Hakuba is safe.  If you look a little lost someone will approach you soon enough and ask if you need help.  They would never think to ever rip you off or take advantage of you. 
  10. And again adding to that the hospitality being no doubt in my opinion second to none why would you consider anywhere else to ski.

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