Hachimantai Cat Ski Review
There are handful of different companies that provide guiding services for the Hachimantai Cat, so you can get a rather different experience depending on who you go with. We had a rather unique experience whereby we had 2 different guiding companies because we went out with a couple of local tourism dignitaries. The lead guide was Junya, a great local Japanese guide who speaks decent English, but also along on the trip were a couple of the fab international JSTs guides that run these Hachimantai Cat Ski Trips.
The general word on the street is that a few of the other Japanese guides tend to be rather conservative and spend most of the time on the former mellow piste and potentially repeat runs, whereas JST guides & Junya will take you into the trees, on steeper pitches, and if the group’s up for it, will take you on a long traverse to explore some tasty terrain. Also if you go with JST, you get a nice lunch provided, otherwise you have to BYO.
Like most Japanese cat skiing, the Hachimantai Cat Tour differs significantly from cat skiing you typically find in BC Canada. Here the emphasis is on having a ball riding the Japow and enjoying the all-round Japanese experience – two of our favourite pastimes!
Pros
- The powder is commonly abundant and dry.
- It’s a fun and relaxed way to score Japow!
- Many pros are associated with the region:
- The region has lots of great spots for powder skiing and riding, so you can combine the cat skiing with plenty of other experiences.
- Hachimantai has some superb hot springs that provide a very traditional onsen experience.
- The Iwate area is not highly visited by gaijin, and it offers a chance to experience some of the real Japan. And if you stay in a ryokan, you can fully immerse in some genuine Japanese culture.
Cons
- The terrain size is not particularly large, which is typical of a number of the Japanese cat ski outfits. Thankfully powder resets are usually frequent, but if it hasn’t snowed in a while, the terrain may be somewhat tracked.
- Some of the guiding is fantastic, but it seems like it depends on which guiding company you get.
Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- If you’re looking for steep gnarly tree skiing akin to some of the Canadian cat skiing companies, this may not be for you. The terrain ranges from mellow to nicely pitched, which is ideal for strong intermediate to advanced riders.
Terrain
We visited during the start of the 19/20 season, when the snow tide was very low. Nature had been trying to reclaim parts of the old ski resort, and whilst they had chopped down many of the smaller trees and shrubs, there was still plenty of vegetation on the piste which provided plenty of slalom poles. There were also some open zones of varying pitch, and lightly treed areas. There was nothing gnarly yet it was a super fun day.
Snow
Whilst the snowpack wasn’t deep, the quality of the powder on top was lovely which is to be expected for Iwate snow. The aspects vary somewhat, although there is a predominance of southeast facing slopes, so the snow quality could potentially become sun affected towards the end of the season.
Snowcat
The snowcat rides were really comfortable. The spacious lavish seats all faced forwards so there was no sliding backwards onto others when going up the hill, and the cabin had massive windows so there was no fear of getting cat sick. One minor inadequacy relative to some of the world class BC cat skiing outfits was an awkward side entrance where you had to walk on the slippery skids, rather than a back entrance with stairs.
Lodging
We stayed at the Hachimantai Mountain Hotel which is a lovely deluxe hotel with a nice onsen, and meals that are superb if you need a big feast.