The House of Powder’s Chisenupuri Ski Area

チセヌプリスキー場

Posted on Dec 25, 2016
2
S
Posted on Dec 25, 2016
2 2
S
3.5km

Distance

1.5 hours

Time

270m

Ascent

828m

Highest point

3/10
Difficulty
Snow Icon | Hokkaido Wilds
Dec-Apr

Best season

The Chisenupuri Ski Area is now leased by The House of Powder, where they operate a quality cat-skiing operation. They have maintained excellent relations with the local community and ski tourers, who have for many years used the ski area to access Mt. Chisenupuri, another 1 hour beyond the upper reaches of the ski field. As of winter 2017/2018, they have very kindly prodived access to the top of the ski area via a well-marked up-track on the far-western side (on the climber's far left) of the ski area. Hikers and non-paying guests are asked not to ski down the ski area slopes.

Last updated Nov 25, 2022

Route Map

Photo Gallery

Need to know details

Location

This route up The House of Powder’s Chisenupuri Ski area is about 30km west of Niseko Resort in Hirafu. The trailhead location is here.

General notes

From December 2016, Chisenupuri Ski Area has been re-opened for cat-skiing (see their Facebook page for information updates). Obey all signs posted.

Hut
None
Route details

As of winter 2017/2018, The House of Powder has very kindly marked an easy-to-follow route up the far western side of the ski area. This route marking may not be actively maintained, so it is best to assume you’ll be navigating on your own.

Route Timing
Up | 1hrs
Down | .5hrs

Transport

Public transport:

There are no public transport options.

By car:

There is a large parking area at the base of the Chisenupuri Ski Area, here.

Physical maps
Print: HokkaidoWilds.org 1:25,000 TOPOMAP+
Niseko Backcountry map: Buy on Amazon.co.jp | See companion site for more purchase options
Official Topo Map: Chisenupuri (チセヌプリ) – map no. NK-54-20-7-4

NOTE: The official 1/25000 topo map(s) above can be purchased for 350yen from Kinokuniya bookstore next to Sapporo Station or online (in Japanese).

Aspect
The main aspect skiers are exposed to on the descent and/or ascent is South. Therefore, keep an eye on the weather forecast a few days ahead of your trip to monitor wind, snow, and temperature. Also, since this route is in the general vicinity of the Shiribeshi area, consider looking at the Japan Avalanche Network avalanche bulletins (updated Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays at 8am) or the daily Niseko Avalanche Information website. These may give extra insight into avalanche conditions in the greater area around the route.

Snow and
route safety

While this route follows an old ski area, it is still the backcountry. The ski area is not actively patrolled.

  • Notify the police of your backcountry plans online using Compass – instructions here.

The House of Powder’s Chisenupuri Ski Area Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

C

3

Hazards

D

0

Navigation

D

0

Totals

28/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy).  More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.

Weather forecast

Windy.com weather forecast for Chisenupuri Ski Area
Onsen nearby

There are plenty of onsen (hotspring) options close to this route. Yukichichibu Onsen is very close (here), and has excellent outdoor pools.

Extra Resources
No extra English resources that we know of. If you know of any, please let us know in the comments.

Guide Options

If you’d like to ski this route and/or explore other Niseko areas together with a local certified guide, get in touch with Yasuko Kikuchi. Born and raised in Hokkaido, she’s a JMGA-certified guide now based in Sapporo. Her outdoor experience is broad and worldwide, having worked as a Canadian Ski Patrol member, and has sumitted a number of 6,000m+ peaks around the world. She speaks good English. In addition to Yasuko, also see a full list of English-speaking Hokkaido Mountain Guides Association (HMGA) guides on the HMGA website here

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Show Full Route Notes Close Route Notes

Route Trip Notes

UPDATE: These notes were written winter 2016; skiers should now stay off The House of Poweder’s Chisenupuri Ski Area slopes on the way down. 

The day started fairly early, picking Haidee’s brother Josh up from his staff accommodation at 7am in lower Hirafu.

Therefore, we arrived at the Chisenupuri ski area car park plenty early at 8am. Already there were a couple of other hikers there – both snowboarders. I asked one of them about the new cat skiing operation that was rumored to have started this year. They said they’d heard that we might get told off for using the ski area, but that there weren’t any signs up, so we may as well make the most of it while we can. So we got going.

This would be Haidee’s first time skiing up a hill using skins, so we decided to get to the top of the ski area, and then see from there whether we’d carry on to the top of Mt. Chisenupuri.

We were either on or next to the cat-tracks most of the way up. Until it got steep enough that zig-zagging our way up was a more pleasant way to climb. The top of the ski area was very windy, so we decided to call it quits, and ski back down.

Haidee’s ski setup, new for her this year, and her first ski touring setup, consists of last season’s Atomic Century 102 skis, Dynafit Radical ST 2.0 bindings, and Scarpa F1 Evo boots. Mercifully, the boots seem to be comfortable so far!

The way down was fairly average in terms of snow quality. The Niseko region had a day of rain two days prior to us being there, so there was a fairly tough crust under about 15cm of fresh snow. Add to that cat-tracks along the main ski run, and we had to pick our lines carefully. Furthermore, ideally you’d want to be here in at least late January – there was still bamboo sticking out in places.

There was still plenty of smiles to be had though!

We were down before 10am. Just in time to see a staff group heading up the hill in the cat. For the cool price of 30,000yen (around US$300), you too can have a day of being shuttled up the hill in warmth and style.

Comments | Queries | Reports

Done this route to Chisenupuri Ski Area, or others nearby? Thinking of doing it? Please post any feedback, reports, or queries here. Thanks!

2 thoughts on “The House of Powder’s Chisenupuri Ski Area”

  1. A bit of recent beta.

    1. The friendly folks at House of Powder have been putting a cat track in right the way up and around the western edge of the resort to the top of the lift. You can literally skin the cat track all the way up the lookers left gully to the top of the lift then head north across the flats to climb the peak.
    2. While I’d agree with the marked avalanche slope on the peak itself, the other two that appear to come from the guide book are a bit over cautious. There is fantastic skiing down in that area, albeit rather short laps. It’s a well protected area so even if most of the other places around have been wind %^%&ed you can still get good turns in here.
    3. The head of the lookers right gully is also great skiing, but, there’s about a 8m cliff band at the head of the gully/foot of the slope. So just ski carefully.

    HTH

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The House of Powder’s Chisenupuri Ski Area Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

C

3

Hazards

D

0

Navigation

D

0

Totals

28/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy). Hazards include exposure to avalanche and fall risk. More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.