Posted on Feb 28, 2023
0
SENE
Posted on Feb 28, 2023
0 0
SENE
9.5km

Distance

4 hours

Time

600m

Ascent

718m

Highest point

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

Best season

GPX

KML

TOPO

GSI

Urausu-yama 浦臼山 (718m) is low in altitude but packs a heck of a punch. Situated to the west of the Iwamizawa Plains, this area receives some of the highest and most frequent snowfall in Hokkaido. The snow here from late January to end of February is as deep as it gets in Hokkaido. There is a plethora of terrain options to explore for the more adventurous skier, from mellow bowls to very exposed, very steep faces. Even for the beginner, however, a simple up-and-back along the ridge will allow for a great day out.

We visited this route on Feb 05, 2023

The crew: Tim and Gavin

Last updated Jan 15, 2024

Topomap

Route Map

Need to know details

Location

Urausu-yama sits to the west of the long north-south Ishikari River plains, between Iwamizawa and Takikawa cities, about 60km northeast of Sapporo City. There’s a summer trail to the summit approaching from the west, but this winter route approaches the summit from a northwest ridge via a snowed-in forestry road. The route starts from the end of the snow clearing near the Urausu Town Recycling/Incineration Center.

General notes

The hills to the west of the Takikawa Plains get an inordinate amount of snow. Access and terrain can be tricky though. Approaches can be long, and slopes can be densely wooded and steep. Urausu-yama, however, bucks the trend with relatively easy access, and some beautiful bowl and ridgeline skiing. Being relatively low altitude means anything up to around 650m in altitude in the area will be relatively sheltered from wind, so this can be a good storm-skiing zone (but, note the cautions regarding the southeast aspects).

Hut
None
Route details

Starting from the end of the snow clearing near the Municipal Recycling Center, skin northwest along the snowed-in road for about 30 minutes. Just after the Osatsunai-entei Dam , gain the spur on your left (to the south), and follow this up towards the 490m point on the map. From the 490m point, keep heading along the heavily corniced ridge to the summit at 718m. On either side of the ridge are great slopes for lapping. Generally, the southern slopes are steepest, but also the most hazardous – lots of glide cracks. There are some great bowl-like broad gullies dropping to the northeast off the ridge at around the 500-600m mark which offer less hazardous runs. Gullies lower down in this area are classic Hokkaido terrain traps, and will give diminishing returns for all but the hardiest of skiers.

The return along the snowed-in road is just steep enough to pole, instead of putting skins back on – at least some of the time. Your mileage may vary.

Route Timing
Up | 3hrs
Down | 1hrs

A simple mission to the summit and back along the ridge will likely take a fit party about 3-4 hours. If your focus is on lapping slopes, it’s quite possible to spend up to 6 or 7 hours in the area.

Transport

Public transport:

There is no public transport to this route.

By car:

There is a small, cleared snow-dumping area just across from the entrance to the Urausu Municipal Recycle Center. It’s large enough to park four or five cars. Try to park in a manner that doesn’t completely block snowplows’ access to the sides of the dumping area.

Physical maps
Official Topo Map: Urausu (浦臼) – map no. NK-54-13-4-3

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 Southeast. Other aspects that may also be encountered while following the route outlined on this page include: Northeast. 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

The southern aspects on this route are steep, corniced, and full of very deep glide cracks that may or may not be visible. It’s very important to get eyes on these aspects prior to considering skiing them. There are also glide cracks down lower in the gullies – make conservative decisions when selecting descent routes.

Urausu-yama Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

C

30

Time ascending

C

3

Technicality

Altitude

C

3

Hazards

B

12

Navigation

B

12

Totals

60/100

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 Urausu-yama
Onsen nearby

Close to the trailhead is the lovely Urausu Onsen 浦臼温泉 (location, 450yen). There’s no outdoor bath, but the indoor bath has amazing views, high above a snowed-in pond. There’s also an attached restaurant.

Extra Resources

See Yamanomakochan’s write-up here: https://yamanomakochan.blogspot.com/2022/03/blog-post.html

Guide Options

If you’d like to ski this route and/or explore other hills around Sapporo together with a local certified guide, get in touch with either Wataru Nara or Yasuko Kikuchi. They’re both Hokkaido born-and-bred Sapporo-based JMGA-certified guides. They both cut their teeth on peaks including those around Sapporo City and have taken part in major international expeditions. In addition, see a full list of English-speaking Hokkaido Mountain Guides Association (HMGA) guides on the HMGA website here

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Route Trip Notes

“This is the best snow I’ve ever skied,” beamed Gavin.

“It’s definitely up there for me,” agreed Tim.

“It’s the best I’ve skied too,” I added.

For a zone so low in altitude, we’d not expected such incredible snow. We were hovering around the 450m mark, and surface conditions were deep. Everywhere. We didn’t even attempt climbing the final 100m along the long, flat ridge to the summit. Everything off the ridge was just so good.

This was my first time to ski Urausu-yama, but it had been on my radar for some time. Tim had skied it before, so had some beta on skiing options. We met up at the snow clearing near the trailhead, and set off. There was a party in front of us, so we had a free ride – no breaking trail for us at least for the flatland approach.

Lost in conversation on the skin track, we missed our planned access to the ridge that would take us straight to the summit ridge. We backtracked a little and forged our own way up the ridge. We could have followed the existing skin track, but it wasn’t clear where it was going.

The snow flurries came and went, punctuated by short periods of clear sky and warm sun.

We made short work of the climb to where the summit ridge flattens off somewhat and started having a look at our options for skiing. The weather was off-and-on, so the thought of summiting appealed much less than lapping the very appealing looking slopes on either side of the ridge – mostly southeast and northeast aspects.

The southeast bowl directly below the summit was just visible through the murk, and it was clearly heavily cracked. Had there been more reliable visibility, we would have been more keen to look at it more closely, but for now, we set our sights on the slopes lower down.

The southeast slopes directly below us at around 550m were also cracked, but only at the very top. We decided if we skirt around the side of the upper section, we’d get some very good skiing for the rest of the fall line.

I dropped in first, hugging the skier’s left of the slope, to set up for some photos. The snow was sublime. Deep. Steep. Perfection.

We ended up lapping that southeast slope twice. It was just so good.

Actually armpit deep.

After the second lap, we skied one of the northeast bowls, down into a gully that linked up with the snowed-in forestry road. This too was deep. Not as steep as the southeast aspect, but even deeper.

Pretty sure this ranks as neck-deep?

The run-out via the gully had already been skied, which was handy. The party before us had made all the calls regarding snow bridges and hole-dodging – of which there was plenty. I’m not really a ‘ski the gully’ guy, but Tim, who lives with the Yubari Range in his back yard, was in his element.

Once at the forestry road, we had to make the call to put on skins or pole our way out. Gavin opted to pole out. Tim and I opted for skins. Gavin beat us back to the van by a large margin. It was one of those should-I-shouldn’t-I sort of exits, when it came to skins or no skins.

All together it was an amazing day out. For the elevation and access, just incredible.

Comments | Queries | Reports

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Urausu-yama Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

C

30

Time ascending

C

3

Technicality

Altitude

C

3

Hazards

B

12

Navigation

B

12

Totals

60/100

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.