JAPAN SKI TOURING - AKIKO’S FAVOURITES
• 8 days guided skiing
• 1 Transit/rest day
• 1 Tokyo sightseeing days
• 2 International travel days
OUTLINE
After two winters of Covid we are excited to be returning to the magical mountains of Japan and it’s legendary powder skiing. For the fourth time we are teaming up with our wonderful Japanese ‘fixer’ Akiko, between us we have honed our ‘Aikiko’s Favourites ’ programme to offer an action packed 8 days skiing on both Hokkaido and Honshu. As always our aim is to combine the main ingredients that are the essence of Japanese skiing; unrivalled powder, fascinating cultural history, awesome food and not forgetting the end of the day relaxing thermal pools or ‘onsens’. Akiko’s “favourites” ticks all these boxes and more.
Akiko Nakae, the owner of ‘Epic Japan’ has been the logistical maestro behind my last three powder skiing trips to the land of the rising sun. She is a “fixer extraordinaire” who spent twenty years working as a construction engineer in Tokyo before turning her back on the corporate world and setting up Epic Japan to assist visiting backcountry skiers get the best out of their off-piste and ski touring holidays in Japan. A qualified mountain guide Akiko and Nick will guide together.
The mountains of Japan receive huge quantities of light powder each winter and the snow-chocked forests are beyond idyllic for ski touring. The skiing emphasis on this holiday will be on ski touring with some lift access rather than lift access with some ski touring. In other words we often use lifts to gain height access at the beginning of the day enabling us to venture further into the wild, uncrowded Japanese backcountry but from then on it’s skins on to earn your turns!
Itinerary
Our goal is to discover the best of Japanese skiing whilst immersing ourselves in the fascinating culture of the country. There will be 8 days guided skiing. We start with 4 days on Honshu, the main Island. We then fly north to Hokkaido for 4 further days skiing. You’ll return to Tokyo for the last night back in the capital.
Japan’s huge snowfalls are a result of deep depressions of cold temperatures tracking from Siberia and picking up moisture from the Sea of Japan before dumping on Japan. The mature birch and pines provide excellent snow anchoring and the deep snow-pack promotes good stability. Average slope angles are 30 degrees with the steepest being about 35 - 40 degrees with average runs of 500-700m of (hopefully) superb powder snow. Days are then finished soaking in the many thermal springs.
A Taste of the Trip (subject to minor changes)
