Late Season Skiing at Niseko Annupuri

Our late season skiing trip to Niseko Annupuri from April 24 - 26 was proved to be a little bit too late especially due to the warm up of the weather during that time. Our original plan was to ski full day April 25, half day on April 26, and return to Sapporo on the afternoon of the day. We eventually changed the plan, skiied only one day and relaxed in the morning of April 26, returned to Sapporo earlier than planned. 

However we enjoyed the trip to Niseko Annupuri - for the cool weather, the white snow,  the thrill of downhill speed, and the sight of Mt Yotei, aka ezo Fuji. We also encountered a red fox on the trail!

We arrived at the ski resort around 4:30pm, the ski trails were closed already.  We went on to a side ski trail to get a feel of the winter, and cold. When we were back to the hotel to prepare for next day's ski, we found out a ski goggle was broken, and the ski gloves were in sad shape. So we bought new ones to replace them at the resort's shop.

mountains were partially covered by the snow

trees were budding

The next morning, we had an early breakfast buffet, and went to the rental store to rent ski equipment early shortly after 8am in hope to get the equipment for the first run of the day on the slope. The rental store won't open until 9am. We had to wait. There was no one else there for the rental, so we got on to the trail in 10 minutes, and onto the lift by 9:20am, after purchasing lift tickets!

On the mountain, the ski trails were fully covered by snow. Ski condition from mid-mountain was decent all the way to base, we enjoyed one run there and found the thrill of downhill skiing. We then moved a one level up via the gondola.

From upper mountain, the trail is much longer, ~ 2+ mile, and of course larger vertical drop ~ 1900 ft. The ski condition was better than lower mountain. Better yet, we had great view of Mt Yotei.

Mt Yotei, aka ezo Fuji, is a volcano, which resembles  mt Fuji, but much smaller and shorter - 1898 m vs 3776 meter in elevation. We had two runs from the upper mountain, and decided to go to the upper most lift station to the championship course. This course is steep, was not groomed, the trail were covered by man made moguls, not a great place to ski for us, we could ski on the trail, but did not enjoy it. We only skied on it once, and went back down to the gondola. 

We had a few more runs and it was time for lunch (13:15). We had a picnic right outside the upper mountain gondola station, a bare patch with dry rocks. During this period, a few skiers took off from the top of the trail, one family came to take pictures, then the dad skied down, the mom and the child took gondola downhill. A more interesting episode was that a guy carried his child on his back with a car seat like carrier, and skied downhill!

The slope looked ok

sitting on a dry rock, we had snack for lunch and enjoyed people watching

a guy carried his child on his back going downhill!

We stayed on the gondola trail - panorama trail until 3pm. The we went to the lower green trail - paradise trail + junior trail to cool down. 

The last run of the day was dramatic: Lily missed the exit to the rental shop, so we went up the mountain one more time than planned. When we were close to the landing place, we saw a large animal walking on the slope. It tuned out to be a red fox!

Wildlife sight on ski trail!

In total we skied a little over 6 hours, almost non-stop except the lunch break. 

It was a fabulous day of skiing - blue ski, white snow, thrill of downhill ski, sight of mt Yotei, and red fox, nevertheless we decided not to ski the next day because of the wet snow and forecast of a even warmer day.

Red Fox

A fabulous day on the trail

Note -

Apparently the trails were not groomed.  It was actually a common practice for resorts open for late seasons. The main reasons include: 1) Lack of Snow Base: Grooming equipment requires a certain depth of snow to operate without damaging the terrain or bringing dirt and rocks to the surface. 2) Warmth and Ice: When temperatures fluctuate significantly above and below freezing, grooming can create "rock-hard" skating rinks. 3) Groomers may choose not to groom to avoid creating icy conditions. Soft/Wet Conditions: Grooming wet, warm snow can cause equipment to get stuck and results in deep, unusable ruts when the snow refreezes.