Rishiri Island Sea-to-Summit Skiing

Rishiri Island, Hokkaidō · Japan

Challenging6 daysAsia~£2,200 est.

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Overview

Rishiri is a 1,721m volcano rising straight out of the Sea of Japan — an island Fuji loaded by Siberian storms. You clip in beside the fishing harbour, skin past frozen kelp-drying racks, and by early afternoon you are carving 1,500 vertical metres back towards the water with Rebun Island floating in the strait beyond your ski tips. This is weather-play as much as skiing. February brings the deepest snow; March and April trade a little depth for the stable windows you need on the upper mountain. Plenty of groups touch the summit ridge only once in a week, spending the other days on the north-west shoulders and the ridgelines above Oshidomari — a guide who knows the island's wind is worth every yen. Getting there is half the trip: fly Sapporo to Wakkanai at Hokkaidō's northern tip, then take the Heartland Ferry across. Stay in a family minshuku, soak in Rishiri Fuji Onsen each evening and eat uni landed that morning. Budget about £2,200 for six days guided, excluding flights to Japan.