Hakuba Valley
Ski Hakuba Valley, Japan Hakuba in the Japanese Alps near Nagano is a large valley with a huge expanse of ski resorts that offer over 200 runs. The area has seen a minor influx of international holiday makers over the last couple of years as they search to find an alternative to the busy Niseko.
Hakuba Ski Resorts Don’t be fooled by information that states that the ski resorts at Hakuba are linked. They may be accessed by a common lift ticket, but the resorts are not interconnected via skiing, only by road transportation. The exception to this is Hakuba 47 and Goryu Toomi (or Goryu for short). This combined resort is one of the most popular resorts.
Another well known ski resort is Happo-One (pronounced Happo ‘On’ ‘Ay’ as opposed to the number one). Other resorts in the Hakuba Valley include Iwatake, Tsugaike, Norikura and Cortina. Shuttle buses are available to get around to the various ski areas.
Ski and Snowboard Terrain The
Hakuba ski terrain is varied across the resorts but it’s generally well suited to families, beginners and riders who like groomed runs or bumps. Freestylers are also well catered for with extensive terrain parks.
The Hakuba area hosted the winter Olympics in 1998 with Happo-One being the venue for the slalom, ski jumping and downhill, which is always a good sign that the resort has plenty of vertical. Happo-One has over 1,000m of vertical and some steep groomers, so it’s a great place to be a speed demon.
Whilst there is quality powder at Hakuba, the ban on tree skiing and off-piste skiing is a major drawback for Happo and Hakuba 47/Goryu. Powderhounds will have very limited opportunities to get off-piste to enjoy the powder unless they take a backcountry tour and are prepared to hike.
Where are the Hakuba Valley Ski Resorts? Hakuba is located on the island of
Honshu, a one hour drive west of Nagano. Habuka is 350kms from Tokyo,
Japan.
What’s in a Name? A couple of the ski areas in the Hakuba Valley and a village or town have similar names and it can all get a bit confusing. “Hakuba Valley” refers to the large area that encompasses the 10 ski resorts, but some people just refer to the area as “Hakuba”. There is the town of Hakuba which isn’t next to a ski resort, but it’s about 5 minutes from the Hakuba 47 ski area and the Happo-One ski area. Some abbreviate “Hakuba 47” to “Hakuba”. Next to the Happo-One ski area is the Happo village, but some abbreviate the ski area to “Happo”. Baffled yet? Check out the map of Hakuba Valley and the villages near the town of Hakuba, and hopefully that might clear things up?!
Hakuba Infrastructure and Facilities With all the international attention from the Olympics, it’s surprising that the infrastructure and facilities aren’t a little more modern. Hakuba claims they have state of the art facilities, but it appears that little has been upgraded in the past couple of decades. The lifts look pre-historic and are slow, the buildings appear very tired, and even the outfits of the locals seem to be from the 80s.
Maybe the lack of progress is a plus, as Hakuba is largely unspoilt by western influences and the area provides a great insight into Japanese culture. It’s “westernised” enough though to make it a reasonably easy place to travel to. The signs on buildings are generally in English as well as Japanese, thanks to the recent Olympics. However there’s huge variability in the degree of English spoken, so at times you’ll be able to converse freely in English, whilst at others you’ll have to use sign language or your broken Japanese.
Hakuba Accommodation Hakuba accommodation is either in the town of Hakuba or in various villages near the ski areas. The Hakuba Valley offers a good range of accommodation including hotels, self contained chalets, pensions and hostels. Typically the accommodation is a little more expensive than what you’d find at Hokkaido ski areas (with the exception of
Niseko ski resort).
Ski Packages to Hakuba There are a range of travel agents that specialise in ski holidays who can coordinate your trip to Hakuba. Examples include
Deep Powder Tours and
Snowave. We’ve used
Travelplan who do a fantastic job.
Why Ski or Snowboard at Hakuba? One of the advantages of a ski holiday in Hakuba is that there are day tours available to get a small taste of the non alpine areas of Japan. Of course, you’d need to be able to drag yourself away from the ski slopes!