This would turn out to be our second climb for the day, having previously hiked up the old Chisenupuri Ski Area earlier in the morning (report here). With that as a warm-up, we made the most of a bluebird day to explore a little bit of Mt. Iwaonupuri, behind Goshiki Onsen.
The route is fairly easy, earning a ‘beginner’ rank in the Hokkaido Yuki-yama Guidebook (ISBN: 978-4894538047). It starts at the end of the snow-cleared section of Route 66, and starts off flat for a few hundred meters before cutting to the northwest just on the Kutchan Town border (marked with road signs). From there, the route follows the town border (marked on maps) along the western ridge of a large bowl on the southern slopes of the still-active volcano that is Mt. Iwaonupuri. The lower 150m or so of the ridge is a bit of a labyrinth of thin trees, but soon opens up.
Further up the ridge, the bowl to the east (particularly the western side), is prime avalanche terrain, so check conditions before venturing into that area.
According to the Yukiyama Guidebook (ISBN: 978-4894538047), the ridge can also be very wind-swept and icy, so take a wide berth westwards from around the 900m altitude mark towards the summer track if the going is too icy.
This still being Haidee’s first time on skins in the backcountry, we opted not to go all the way to the top of Iwaonupuri, only making it to around the 1,000m mark before heading back down (our GPS trace here). Josh, with his snowboard, hiked up a little further before getting in some very nice lines with a picture-perfect Hokkaido backdrop.
5 thoughts on “Iwaonupuri (Goshiki Hot Springs) Backcountry Skiing”
Thanks for this great resource! I have ski toured and skied in this area just up the road/trail from Goshiki Onsen a few times, both on the backside of Niseko Annupuri and on Iwaonupuri. Is it possible to snow camp in this area? My vision is to ski out of Gate at 6 at Moiwa Resort and ski over to Goshi Onsen (which I have done a couple of times) and then skin along the valley following the general route of Road #58 and camp somewhere along that route and do some skiing in the valley up from Goshiki Onsen for a day or two. (The area around the first hairpin turn as you take Road #58 looks flatter and less likely to be impacted by avalanches.) I am also thinking of then continuing to skin along the route of Road #58 all the way to Kutchan. I will be with a few buddies and we are all experienced backcountry skiers and mountaineers, so I am not worried about gear or weather, but rather permissions/permits. Thanks for any insights on this!
Cheers for the kind words Dave. Sounds like an awesome trip idea! No problems at all with camping in winter. Technically, by law, to erect a structure (including a tent) anywhere in Japan you need permission from the land owner. The Niseko Range is part of the Niseko-Shakotan-Otaru Kaigan Quasi-national Park, so in this case you’d need permission from the the Hokkaido Government (ref: https://www.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp/ks/skn/kouenkisei2807.pdf). But so long as you practice common-sense leave-no-trace camping principles, then you’ll be fine. We’ve done plenty of camping trips in winter here (including in a national park). As an aside, note that this rule about erecting structures (including a tent) doesn’t apply to a snow cave. But really, don’t sweat it – please let us know here how your camping trip goes!
Will do. Thank you!!
Oh wowowowowowowo!!!!!
Yup! Such a nice spot!