This post is called "Skiing Niseko" but we didn't do much skiing there. Maybe 4 runs. The winds were high and the upper lifts were closed on and off. The conditions went from bad to worse and then to horrendously awful. Rather than Japow, we got an ice skating experience on Hokkaido Hard Pack or Sapporo-Style Sierra Cement. Perhaps we arrived too late--people said January might have been better. Maybe the mountains were too low (like in Whitefish, Montana), even at 42.8048° North. Maybe it was global warming--it was rarely below 32° during the day. Maybe our expectations were too high.
In Niseko, we booked a Yotei View apartment at the Vale Niseko in September (Niseko Hirafu, 166-9 Nisekohirafu 1 Jō, Kutchan, Abuta District, Hokkaido 044-0080, Japan, +81 136-21-5811). The cost was ¥1,589,000 or US $1,086.652 per day. It was described on their website as ski-in, ski out. It was not. From the ski lockers, there was a long flight of stairs up to the level of the snow. Then there was an uphill hike on the snow to the starting lift. We were pissed.
In addition to the location, our first impression of the Vale Niseko itself was bad. The bellman took us to the 2 bedroom Mt. Yotei view apartment and it had a view of the street and a parking lot. No Yotei view and it didn’t look like the photo on the website at all. We protested, we said we would not stay in that apartment and waited and waited. The General Manager, a charming Italian named Mirko Corbella from Rome (or was it Tuscany?), arrived and said he had a solution. He took us to an apartment that indeed had a Mt. Yotei view and it was the one pictured on the website.
We were happy (until we did a walk through and saw the layout of the apartment and the design of the heating controls). The radiators in the apartment were controlled by a knob near the floor. We had to get on our hands and knees to change the setting. It was ludicrous.
Neither of the 2 bathrooms had any vanity area around the single sink--there was no master bathroom of the type we expected. Both bathrooms were cramped and we didn’t like them. Only one bathroom had a Toto toilet. On the positive side, the bathrooms had heat.
The kitchen of the apartment was a full one, with an oven, full dishwasher and stovetop too. The living room was large and had a dining table for 8. We set up Dimitri’s desk by the radiator at one end of the dining table. We used the other end, surprise[!], as a dining table. The bedrooms were both small but the smallest one became the ski clothes room and Audre’s dressing room. Both bedrooms got hot (The air conditioning was disabled and the only unit was in the living room. We can only image how hot the bedrooms would get in the summer). Actually the whole apartment was hot. Fortunately, there were windows that could be opened. There was also an alcove with a desk that Audre used for her lap top.
During our
stay GM Mirko did everything in his power to make our stay pleasant. His staff
was also superb. Unfortunately, none of them could do anything about the poor
quality of the snow and the lack of Japow. Like the Vale Rusutsu, the staff
provided a shuttle service to our restaurants and to the convenience store
where we could buy basic groceries.
We had prepaid for 10 days of breakfasts at the Vale Bar and Grill on the first floor of the Vale Niseko. The price, per day, for the two if us was ¥5200, US $34.55. We went the first day and it was awful. The room was cold, the music was too loud, the servers hated their jobs and were abrupt and un-helpful. To top that off, the oatmeal that Audre ordered was pre-sweetened and Audre hated it. Dimitri ordered French toast and it was also awful. We went to Mirko and the solution he was able to achieve was to give us a refund (from the separately owned establishment). From that day on, we had breakfast prepared by Audre from ingredients purchased at the Seicomart convenience store. We even found oatmeal and a maple syrup substitute so that we could have hot cereal and French toast chez nous.
We rented our skis (US$588 for the two of us for 9 days) from the Niseko Sports shop in the hotel (much more convenient than Amuse Sports in Rusutsu) and were cautiously optimistic there would be good enough snow to ski.
The first night’s pre-fixe omakase at Rikka was really, really great. Rikka was so good we went twice.
The second night's dinneer at Lupicia was a disaster, but we were rescued by Tomoko-san, Front Office Manager of the Vale Niseko and Harry, Guest Experience Ambassador Team Leader, of the Vale Niseko. Our other meals were less noteworthy. We did have a surprisingly good Indian meal at the Taj Mahal, next to our Seicomart convenience store.
We used the Onsen at the Vale Niseko once. It was very small, had no handrails to get into the hot tubs and it was dark and unpleasant. Did you catch that we didn't like it?
Niseko was
more of a town than Rusutsu. There was a Montcler ski shop, for example. There
was a spa with CBD massages in the Vale Niseko, as another. One day (when we
didn’t ski because of severe winds that closed the lifts) we put on spikes
and walked our town.
Our friend Thyrn (a friend of Heather and Kent) introduced us to Jason Demmons who was spending a winter teaching skiing in Niseko. We booked a lesson with him and he postponed it when the lifts were closed because of high winds. We went with him the next day (even though the lifts were still closed) and he was delightful. We were not skiing, we were ice skating on the rock solid hardpack where all of the snow had been blown away. Through it all, Jason was entertaining and very considerate. We took two runs and then hosted Jason at a sushi restaurant for lunch.
We went snowshoeing with Surresh from Niseko Adventure Center around Hangetse (Half Moon Lake) one day. That was fun (and some exercise after a rather sedentary time)
We heard that conditions were better in Aspen/Vail, albeit with high winds. As our Italian GM might say: una proprio disastro!
So, did we have a bad time in Niseko? Well, it was a major disappointment but we didn't have a bad time. In any event we will not return to Japan to ski.
To continue reading about our Japan trip, click on Older Post below (yes it's counterintuitive).
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