Kiroro is great if you’ve got kids as the all inclusive Club Med will take care of everything. When you first look at the map, it doesn’t seem like there’s much here for advanced skiers. Most of the pistes are great for progressive beginners and intermediates as they are fairly gentle and wide (even most of the reds). But if you check out the tree run area map you can see that the five zones actually make up most of the skiable terrain.
We had a lot of fun in tree zone 1 Powder Ridge. The trees are nicely spaced and it gets pretty steep in places. We spent most of our time lapping here and zone 2 the other side of the lift. The areas are so wide that you can find a new route down each time and still get fresh tracks. The other tree runs lower down are also perfect for those who’ve not been in the trees before and want to take it easy.
It snows a ridiculous amount here. We did a guided backcountry tour here with Whiteroom in knee deep powder when the whole of Hokkaido was having a dry spell. It’s rare to even see the sky it snows so much, but when you do get a blue sky day the views across the ocean are unbelievable.
If you want to experience what you see in skiing and snowboarding videos then come to Kiroro and get a guide. The backcountry is just a 15 minute hike off the top lift and you’ll hardy see anyone else out there. It’s steep and it’s deep.
To save some cash, you can also base yourself in Otaru and drive up each day. It’s an easy drive and the car park is huge. And check out Hoppi Hills farm on the way up for an interesting place to stay with horse riding and goat petting.
