There's something of an art to getting the most out a ski trip to New Zealand, but getting the most out of storm is one of the most subtle, and rewarding, arts to master. If you're looking to get the best out of some bad weather, you need to think about visibility, wind, snowfall, avalanche danger, terrain and lift closures, and road closures...
Before I left for Japan last winter I put the word out to everyone I knew: If you're thinking about heading to Hokkaido, let me know and I'll help sort you out with a fun trip.
An old school buddy of mine named Anthony (Anto) took up the offer. He was in Australia visiting family before heading back to the US, where he's been living for a few years, and was swinging through Hokkaido on the way.
We had plans to roll around for a week or so chasing good snow, but some visa delays meant that Anto had to push his flight back and ended up with just three nights in Japan. For a lot of travelers, trying to get decent skiing on three night stopover would be almost more trouble that it was worth. After you've caught trains and buses and found rental gear and checked into you accommodation, and then done that whole process again in reverse, it doesn't leave a lot of time to ski. So just how much can you do with three nights in Hokkaido?
It's opening weekend at some of the NZ club fields! If you're heading over for some turns this winter, be warned that the club fields have a few extra logistical quirks compared to a regular ski holiday.
There are no ski towns like you'd find in North America or Europe. Each club field is usually just a some weird lifts and few simple hut/lodge style buildings at the top of a sketchy dirt road. Temple Basin doesn't even have a road. That means that you want to have a few things squared away before you arrive.
With June almost upon us, you've either sorted out your NZ trip or you need to get cracking. What's that you say? You say you're not going to New Zealand? You're going to ski in Australia? Well. You're definitely not going to have a good time in New Zealand. That's a serious breach of step zero of skiing in NZ:
Step zero: Go to New Zealand
It would be a true feat of self deception to have a good time in NZ if you weren't actually there at all. And yet each year hundreds of otherwise reasonable and intelligent skiers and boarders fail at this most fundamental step.
Rusutsu straddles two mountains on either side of highway 230 in Hokkaido’s southwest. It’s close to Niseko (about half an hour’s drive), easy to get to from Chitose airport, sports seemingly endless tree skiing and gets great snow. There’s an awful lot to like, and with a combination like this it’s amazing that the place managed to fly under the radar for so long. But a very smart marketing campaign for international visitors, years of rave reviews from forums and travel websites, and a market that’s looking for alternatives to Niseko have finally started sending people and their credit cards Rusutsu’s way.
