Features

Powder plan: Winter destinations

1 Nov 2016 by Business Traveller Asia Pacific
Carving a slope in Niseko

In a continent strewn with balmy tropical isles, the typical “powder” escape means hitting a beach to savour talc-soft sand between your toes. But winter brings an alternative bounty of white gold to the mountains of North and Central Asia. From as early as December, well into spring and even later in some cases, snow lovers are spoilt for choice. There’s everything from the mildest of slopes for your family’s first foray on skis, to the wildest imaginable backcountry where full avalanche kit and years of experience are required. So switch your shades for goggles, the bikini for a beanie, and come dive into Asia’s snowy deeps.

Hokkaido – Deep and crisp and uneven

One resort has single-handedly put this northern island on the agendas of the world’s skiers and snowboarders. A couple of decades ago, an enlightened off-piste policy and outward-looking attitude lifted little Niseko out of obscurity. Interestingly its success has coincided with the country’s long economic slump, so it’s a case study in the sort of fresh thinking needed across Japan, not just in ski tourism.

Today the early adopters – mostly Australians and Kiwis, hungry for midsummer snow – are fanning out to look for fresher tracks. In their wake come increasing numbers of Europeans, Hong Kongers, Singaporeans, Malaysians and the more affluent mainland Chinese.

Old hands now like to bemoan the lack of Japanese to be heard around town, but on the plus side the influx of foreigners has led to a diverse culinary scene. It’s possible to eat twice-baked croissant aux amandes for breakfast, Neopolitan pizza or a gourmet burger for lunch, and Mexican or Sichuanese for dinner. Head for the ice bars afterwards and later on a kebab shop or chippy van might tempt you as you wind your way back to your chalet.

Of course the fact there’s a resort here at all is down to the most essential ingredient of any ski location: snow. In this, Niseko is richly endowed, with winters accumulating an average of around 16 metres, much of it dry and fluffy as duck down.

That said, some neighbouring resorts do almost as well and the lessons of Niseko are starting to rub off here too. Loosening up the riding rules and adding eateries, new locations like Furano, towards the centre of Hokkaido, are expanding their offer. Kiroro and Tomamu, still centred on big hotels, appeal in particular to families and to Asian clientele, while the city of Sapporo has a ring of small resorts that let you follow days on the slope with nights on the razz.

skiing-hokkaido.com

Nozawa Onsen

Honshu – Japan’s ski heartland

Every winter, shinkansen (bullet trains) full of skiers fan out from the main urban hubs heading for the Japanese Alps and lesser ranges. In the heyday of the 1980s and 90s, so many people skied in the country that resorts proliferated like golf courses. Today, some are out of business but scores of others survive and a few are prospering anew, innovating and foraging overseas for new markets.

Some valleys see several resorts clustered into great ski factories, impressive in scale but rather soulless and confusing for the non-Japanese speaker. Instead, the discerning foreign skier should aim for authenticity – along with ample snow of course.

Nozawa Onsen, near Niigata, stands out here. The town itself is a gem, synonymous with the history of skiing and just as celebrated for its eponymous traditional baths. Crucially that gives it a draw card year-round with the result that this place, while not without its tourist tat, does avoid the see-saw seasonality that makes ghost towns of other places once the last skier schusses off home.

It helps that most guests stay downtown, not in the unsightly tower hotels that sadly dominate many Japanese resorts, but in minshuku and ryokan (bed and breakfasts). They make a charming sight, especially when roofs are heavy with snow, mixing alpine chic and a Japanese aesthetic – chocolate box picturesque meets bento box orderliness. The picture is then completed by the nightly parade of robe-and slipper-clad skiers slipping through the streets to the public onsen (hot springs) through wreaths of geothermal steam.

Nozawa is no slouch on the slopes either, with 21 lifts accessing 36 runs. It doesn’t yet tolerate ducking the rope in the way Hokkaido resorts do, but if the piste does start to pale, the smaller resorts of Madarao and Myoko are a shortish bus ride away. The latter especially can get even bigger dumps of snow and is increasingly favoured by free-riding foreigners.

japanski.com.au/central-honshu

Yongpyong Ski Resort, South Korea

South Korea – Prepared for the party

Though it gets far less natural snow than its northeast neighbour, South Korea bulks this up with the artificial variety. The result is a lower-priced alternative best suited to improvers and families.

That picture has shifted somewhat lately, as facilities for the coming 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang come online, meaning there’s something even for committed speed merchants added to the mix. Brand-new infrastructure including direct rail access from Incheon International Airport to the host resorts whisks you out to where the country’s longest runs now await. A shot at an Olympic downhill or slalom run may never again be this accessible.

One drawback is the crowds at peak times. Avoid holiday periods at all costs and ideally ski midweek to minimise lines and run-off areas choked with every level of learner. Pyeongchang’s Phoenix Park (phoenixpark.co.kr) and Yongpyong (yongpyong.co.kr) are good choices for non-Korean speakers, while for serious snowboarders Wellihillipark Snow Park (wellihillipark.com) in Hoengseong has international competition-level super-pipes and a great mogul course.

Shymbulak, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan – Opulence is in

Just outside Almaty, former capital of Kazakhstan, is Shymbulak, a brash resort that is testament to the huge wealth available to the privileged in this country. Whether in the lift-line or ordering vodkas at the bar, you’ll be brushing shoulders with the scions of oligarchs, usually immaculately suited and booted in the latest ski fashion.

Out on the slopes, there are only three lifts but together they take you all the way up to 3,200 metres, higher than almost any other lift-accessed point on the continent. From here the view is as sublime as it is surreal. The serrated peaks of the Tien Shan guard the horizon, immutable and unfazed. Below you lies a kilometre of vertical, typically loaded with a more-than-adequate metre or two of snow. It’s possible that this place may follow South Korea in hosting the Winter Olympics, so what you see is just the beginning: Shymbulak is certain to have plenty more money lavished on it.

shymbulak.com/en

Skiing in Kamchatka

Kamchatka – Call of the wild

It’s not what most people consider when they think “Asia”, but this vast Russian peninsula offers very exotic thrills indeed. The preferred route to the snows here is from the air, dropping down onto enormous peaks – some still-active volcanoes – from a helicopter. While winter can be bitter with temperatures often dropping below -20˚C, if you have the warm gear, the skills and the bank balance, you can sample some of the most off-the-wall off-piste anywhere. Want to ski inside a volcanic crater? No problem. From a peak all the way to the Pacific? Why not?

Expect long, swooping lines where the only other tracks for miles will be those carved by the others from your chopper. Once you bottom out, it’s back aboard for a lift up another peak, with as much as 10,000 metres of vertical possible in a single day.

skiinginkamchatka.com

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