Posted on Mar 17, 2024
0
ESN
Posted on Mar 17, 2024
0 0
ESN
8.5km

Distance

5.5 hours

Time

750m

Ascent

1107m

Highest point

6/10
Difficulty
Snow Icon | Hokkaido Wilds
Jan-Mar

Best season

TOPO
Kiroro's 1107m and 992m peaks 1107峰/992峰 just west of the Kiroro Snow World ski resort afford excellent access to some amazing backcountry terrain away from the madding crowds of the resort. Kiroro is known for abundant powder snow, and this area east of the resort is no exception. Close proximity to the lower backcountry gate makes for very efficient access to great powder-lapping terrain. There are plenty of options here to dial up and down the exposure, from ridgelines, well-spaced glades, and large open bowls.

We visited this route on Feb 24, 2024

Skiers: Haidee, Timbah, Saoka

Topomap

Route Map

Need to know details

Location

Kiroro Ski Resort sits about 12km south of the bustling tourist town of Otaru, about 30km west of Sapporo City. The start location for this backcountry zone west of the resort is the backcountry gate (here) just next to the upper lift station on the Gateway Express ゲートウェーエクスプレス lift, to the west of the main Kiroro Mountain Center マウンテンセンター. Note that access is only permitted via this backcountry gate (as per the backcountry rules on the Kiroro website).

General notes

To the west of the sprawling Kiroro Resort is a large backcountry playground, involving a number of un-named peaks along a north-to-south ridge. It’s not feasibly accessible from higher up in the ski resort, so it’s very much a human-powered backcountry zone. It shares the same great powder snow that falls in the resort itself, and offers a number of different aspects. The upper reaches offer great views east to the resort.

  • Exposure and difficulty: Being so close to the resort, it would be easy to take this zone less seriously than backcountry areas not adjacent to a resort. The bowls, peaks, and ridges in the area are, however, very much the backcountry; . In 2021, there was a fatality due to an avalanche in the area (see the report here). That said, experienced skiers will find it relatively easy to dial up and down the exposure depending on snowpack stability on the day. Even the ridge-line skiing can be fantastic, given the sheer amount of powder that settles on the terrain in this area.
  • Mountain plan submission: As per the resort policy, Kiroro Resort requires all parties accessing the backcountry from the resort to submit a mountaineering plan to the Hokkaido Police prior to setting off. Skiers can do this online in English using Mt-Compass. The English interface is a bit clunky, but we’ve created some instructions here.
Hut
None
Route details

From the Kiroro resort carpark, make your way up to the Mountain Center, and enter via the stairs (or escalator) at the main entrance. Walk through the throngs of resort skiers out to the snow on the southern side of the Mountain Center. Once outside, head right to the top station of the Gateway Express lift, keeping well to the side of the slope. Don skis just outside the backcountry gate, and head south with the Yoichi River stream on your right.

After about 500m or so, find a good snow bridge to cross the river to the right (west), to access the main lower gully between the 1107m and 992m peaks. Once you’re in the gully, select a suitable ridge to ascend to the 1107m or 992m peaks. There are a few options, and they’re all good.

On the descent, return the way you came.

Route Timing
Up | 3hrs
Down | 1hrs

The timing here assumes no lapping of slopes, but in reality, we’d imagine most skiers would want to make the most of their time in the zone by lapping several slopes.

Transport

Public transport:

Kiroro Resort runs a bus service from both Otaru train station (1,300yen, 70 mins) and Sapporo train station (2,200yen, 90 mins). See the details on their Access page here.

By car:

Kiroro Resort (location) is about a 70 minute drive west of central Sapporo City via Otaru City on the expressway (90 minutes on the low roads). There is ample parking in the resort’s gigantic parking lots. If you’re later than 9am, expect to have to walk quite far from the parking lot to the Moutain Center.

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: Amemasudake (阿女鱒岳) – map no. NK-54-20-2-2

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 East. Other aspects that may also be encountered while following the route outlined on this page include: South, North. 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

As mentioned above, despite this zone’s proximity to the sprawling Kiroro Resort, it is the backcountry. It’s not patrolled, managed, or signposted. While much of the approach to the respective peaks is generally via ridgelines, the popular bowl terrain between the peaks is very much avalanche terrain. Skiers should be very confident in snowpack stability if attempting to ski the bowls. Bowls lead into deep gully terrain traps.

Kiroro 1107m & 992m Peaks Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

B

35

Time ascending

C

3

Technicality

Altitude

B

6

Hazards

B

12

Navigation

C

6

Totals

62/100

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 Kiroro 1107m Peak
Onsen nearby

If you’re heading back to Sapporo, we’d recommend a long soak and meal at Yu-no-hana in Asari-gawa Onsen area 小樽天然温泉湯の花 朝里殿 (location, 880yen). Multiple pools, mist and dry saunas, cold plunge pool, and a large 2nd floor restaurant area.

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

It wasn’t on the original plan to ski near Sapporo this particular February weekend. The original plan was a mellow hut trip to the Bozu-yama Hut near Shimukappu. Heading into the weekend, however, Timbah (who lives in Shimukappu) reported some disheartening news.

“It’s about as dry as it gets right now,” he reported. “No new snow.”

It was the complete opposite around Sapporo. We’d received an almost-windless knee-deep dump of dry, cold snow, with more forecast for the weekend.

Rather than face the possibility of skiing breakable crust all weekend, we pivoted fast, and committed to a long weekend of exploring our backyard mountains around Sapporo.

It was only the second time I’d skied anywhere near Kiroro Resort. The last time was many years ago when I was just getting into backcountry skiing, almost ten years ago.

Since then, Kiroro Resort has gone through a few different backcountry management systems, including compulsory sign-ins, mandatory membership in a Kiroro mountain club, and now, a more accessible Kiroro backcountry policy.

We were a bit slow off the mark on the Sunday morning we visited Kiroro for this tour up the 1107 and 992m peaks. The gigantic car parks were filling up fast. 

We got our gear together and headed up towards the enormous Mountain Center. With all our touring gear and backpacks, we felt out of place as we walked through the plush carpeted lobby and out into the bright, groomed staging area in front of the Mountain Center.

We walked with our skis to the right along to the top of the Mountain Gateway lift, and then donned our skis.

It was a bright, sunny, but cold day. It was likely that southerly aspects would be baked, but if we were lucky, less southerly aspects promised to be cold, dry powder.

Once though the backcountry gate, we made our way along and then over the Yoichi River (more of a babbling brook way up here).

We followed an existing skin track which led us up into the main access gully, and then up the first eastern ridge to the summit of the 1107m peak. The ascent soon got us into some beautiful old-growth dakekanba white-birch forests.

As we made our final approach to the summit of the 1107m peak, the vast Kiroro Snow World ski resort spread out behind us. Across the small gully, we could see another party making their way up the narrower eastern ridge to our south.

We were happy to arrive at the 1107m summit with no wind. Just a gorgeous 25cm or so of fresh powder. We ripped skins and skied down the north-northeast slope to the gully.

In places, we could just feel the crust from the freak warm spell in the preceding week. Otherwise, it was glorious cold powder.

One great run was not enough, so we donned skins again and headed up to the 992m peak via a circuitous route around the top of the bowl just east of the peak.

We were sharing the area with a couple of other parties, including a guided splitboard group. 

Any southerly aspects in the sun were by now getting warm and soggy, but we kept to the cold and dry northern aspects and had a great last run. The descent back to the ski area was less flat than we’d expected, so were able to get back without having to don skins again.

After spending almost 6 hours in the backcountry, it was jarring to return to the bustling, gaudy noise of the Kiroro Mountain Center.

Comments | Queries | Reports

Done this route to Kiroro 1107m Peak, or others nearby? Thinking of doing it? Please post any feedback, reports, or queries here. Thanks!

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Kiroro 1107m & 992m Peaks Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

B

35

Time ascending

C

3

Technicality

Altitude

B

6

Hazards

B

12

Navigation

C

6

Totals

62/100

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.