We visited Hidaka Kokusai en-route from Tomamu to Noboribetsu on a Friday, and whilst there were several defence force folks around, there were many more staff at the ski area than guests.

A nice southerly storm had just hit and there was fresh snow, but the base was only 40cm and nearby Sahoro was also having similar problems with a very low tide.

Consequently we just bought a 2 hour lift pass for which cash was required, and cash was also the only option to buy lunch.

Whilst the lifts were fixed grip double chairs, they were running them at a decent clip. The top lift was closed, and they were citing inadequate snow. We followed a local hiking up the groomed trail on skiers’ right which had adequate cover, whilst the course adjacent to the lift did have thin cover but it seemed that the real reason for the closed lift was a lack of staff.

We had a bit of fun playing on the edges of the piste, and the powder quality was exquisite. Whilst some locals had been heading off-piste, we gave that a skip due to the lack of base. The off-piste terrain looked really good, so this is a ski area that we’d return to when there is a bit more snow.

You can see our Hokkaido ski resort ratings to see how we compare Hidaka to other ski areas.
See our video here