Hakkōda Snow Monsters Powder Week, Tōhoku

Hakkōda Mountains and Zaō, Tōhoku · Japan

Challenging8 daysAsia~£2,000 est.

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Overview

The Hakkōda Ropeway rises out of Aomori's cedar forests into a field of juhyō — 'snow monsters', fir trees entombed in metres of rime until they loom like frozen statuary. You ski between them on some of the deepest, driest snow in Japan: Aomori is statistically one of the snowiest cities on Earth, and Hakkōda takes the brunt of it. Pair it with Zaō further south, where you ride between glowing monsters under floodlight before soaking in sulphur-clouded baths. Hakkōda is not a resort in any normal sense — one ropeway, a couple of marked courses and a vast backcountry where every frozen tree looks identical. Go with a guide, carry full kit and accept that flat light and wind holds will reshape your week; that is the deal for snow this deep. Take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori (about three hours), then a bus to Sukayu Onsen, whose thousand-person hiba-wood bath has steamed skiers back to life since the 1680s. Roughly £2,000 for eight days with guiding, transport and onsen-ryokan lodging.