We left Furano shortly after 8AM and drove south 1+ hour to Tomamu. This would give us a slightly shorter (we thought) drive to Niseko after skiing, yet Tomamu is farther to the southeast from Hokkaido’s population centers for the holiday weekend.
Tomamu’s stats in terms of both vertical and snow are more modest than Furano’s, but it proved to be a worthy stop. The snow was not as deep, but tree spacing is better with more continuous fall lines to avoid getting stuck. View above the top Powder Express lift.
Liz and Mary dropping in.
Here and in Niseko we were skiing among the sasa grass as well as deciduous trees.
Tomamu was developed as a family oriented resort with many amenities such as an ice village and a wave pool. Consequently we were stopped by patrol and informed we needed go down to the lodge to sign a waiver to ski off-piste.
When you sign the waiver you get the yellow armband labeled “Experts-Only Powder Area,” and also a helmet if you don’t have one. Temperatures have been on the chilly side, so the helmet was quite comfortable. Reported temps are in the -10C range, but I’m guessing it feels colder due to island humidity.
At lunch we saw this well adorned but exhausted Japanese youngster.
The most distinctive feature of Tomamu are these resort towers.
Supposedly the colors were in a pattern but a windstorm tore many of them off and they were replaced haphazardly.
The more muted color towers to the left in this pic are more upscale.
We wanted to stay here but all 4 towers were sold out. Nonetheless in contrast to Furano there were minimal lift lines or competition for powder that was much less recent.
After lunch we took a few runs on the Tower Express. This is direct south facing so the best snow was in trees well shaded by evergreens. These were tight but fairly low angle. We returned to the main mountain for our last couple of runs. This still faces SE, so Tomamu is definitely a dead-of-winter ski area.
In bounds Japanese ski terrain has few extreme steeps or cliff areas. The major hazards are V-shaped creek beds. Surprisingly with all the snow, there can be running water, and I managed to get the tail of one ski in the water while my other one bridged a Tomamu creek.
The highest chair on the tower side has been idled. There are also abandoned cut trails (visible on Google Earth) west of Tomamu with no chair lifts. These are likely evidence of the contraction of the Japanese ski industry, which has lost 60% of its skier visits since the late 1980’s peak.
We skied 14,000 vertical, 5K of powder before the 3 ½ hour anticipated drive to Niseko. The drive across the middle of Hokkaido rated to be difficult, so we followed the Google Map recommendation to follow the Hokkaido Expressway to the south. The expressway was speedy, but unfortunately the 2 secondary roads angling NW toward Niseko were closed. We wound up coming into Niseko on a road paralleling the rail line from the SW, with much anxiety due to a gas gauge warning light and the discovery that all Hokkaido gas stations close at 8PM. Fortunately we made it to Niseko One Towers about 9PM (also missing dinner) and we were even able to get the rental van another 10km to Moiwa ski area and finally a gas station the next day.
Tomamu’s stats in terms of both vertical and snow are more modest than Furano’s, but it proved to be a worthy stop. The snow was not as deep, but tree spacing is better with more continuous fall lines to avoid getting stuck. View above the top Powder Express lift.
Liz and Mary dropping in.
Here and in Niseko we were skiing among the sasa grass as well as deciduous trees.
Tomamu was developed as a family oriented resort with many amenities such as an ice village and a wave pool. Consequently we were stopped by patrol and informed we needed go down to the lodge to sign a waiver to ski off-piste.
When you sign the waiver you get the yellow armband labeled “Experts-Only Powder Area,” and also a helmet if you don’t have one. Temperatures have been on the chilly side, so the helmet was quite comfortable. Reported temps are in the -10C range, but I’m guessing it feels colder due to island humidity.
At lunch we saw this well adorned but exhausted Japanese youngster.
The most distinctive feature of Tomamu are these resort towers.
Supposedly the colors were in a pattern but a windstorm tore many of them off and they were replaced haphazardly.
The more muted color towers to the left in this pic are more upscale.
We wanted to stay here but all 4 towers were sold out. Nonetheless in contrast to Furano there were minimal lift lines or competition for powder that was much less recent.
After lunch we took a few runs on the Tower Express. This is direct south facing so the best snow was in trees well shaded by evergreens. These were tight but fairly low angle. We returned to the main mountain for our last couple of runs. This still faces SE, so Tomamu is definitely a dead-of-winter ski area.
In bounds Japanese ski terrain has few extreme steeps or cliff areas. The major hazards are V-shaped creek beds. Surprisingly with all the snow, there can be running water, and I managed to get the tail of one ski in the water while my other one bridged a Tomamu creek.
The highest chair on the tower side has been idled. There are also abandoned cut trails (visible on Google Earth) west of Tomamu with no chair lifts. These are likely evidence of the contraction of the Japanese ski industry, which has lost 60% of its skier visits since the late 1980’s peak.
We skied 14,000 vertical, 5K of powder before the 3 ½ hour anticipated drive to Niseko. The drive across the middle of Hokkaido rated to be difficult, so we followed the Google Map recommendation to follow the Hokkaido Expressway to the south. The expressway was speedy, but unfortunately the 2 secondary roads angling NW toward Niseko were closed. We wound up coming into Niseko on a road paralleling the rail line from the SW, with much anxiety due to a gas gauge warning light and the discovery that all Hokkaido gas stations close at 8PM. Fortunately we made it to Niseko One Towers about 9PM (also missing dinner) and we were even able to get the rental van another 10km to Moiwa ski area and finally a gas station the next day.
