Hokkaido
Backcountry Huts

Hokkaido Mountain Huts: A list

A growing list of English information about mountain huts in Hokkaido for ski touring, hiking, and bikepacking.

Hokkaido is unique within Japan when it comes to mountain huts. Whereas huts in most other regions in Japan are privately owned and operated, huts in Hokkaido are usually owned by local mountaineering clubs and managed by either local councils or universities. As such, they’re generally rustic, basic, and cheap – if not free – and almost all do not have hut keepers. They exist first and foremost for the local community and/or the club members that lovingly maintain and use the huts, so the public is not entitled to their use; they are granted access to these gorgeous oases of shelter only due to the great goodwill of those who own and run the huts.

NOTE: This list is a work in progress. For a full list of Hokkaido huts (in Japanese), take a look here. Leon Roode also has some information on some huts in the Daisetsuzan National Park here. BackcountryHuts.net also has a couple extra huts listed in Hokkaido here.

Important

Most huts in Hokkaido are maintained 100% through volunteer passion and effort.

If staying at any of these huts, give the place a sweep out after use. Always pack out your own trash. If you use wood stacked inside the hut, replace what you use from the woodstack outside. Make sure to sign the guestbook (even if only in English); funding decisions by the authorities are made based on usage.

See our Hokkaido hut etiquette guide here.

Always leave a hut cleaner than you found it.