I stayed in Furano this year and loved it. I wouldn't probably recommend it for a whole season, as the areas had a limited amount of runs (although some are really fun) and a lot of the tree areas are easily seen from lifts/gondolas.

The town itself is nice, and we really enjoyed it, but I couldn't see myself staying there the whole time, possibly 2 weeks.

They do have their own winery, brewery and cheese factory though

Don't know if you've been to Furano already but it's not small. It's bigger than Hirafu.

I guess it's my perception of "worth it" - I'm usually on the first bus out so I get to the resort before opening time and stay until the nighter begins, otherwise I feel like I'm missing out on part of my day pass. I've argued against doing a day-trip to Niseko from Sapporo by the same reasoning. If I'm going all that way for less than 5-hours on resort, I'd rather stay overnight and get more snow time in to make the hours spent in the bus more worthwhile.

It does sound nice that the whole package is fully organized - that definitely makes life a whole bunch easier!

There are definitely a lot of really interesting places to check out up in the center! I'm carless in Sapporo, so all my trips are by bus or train. Once you get used to it, dealing with a boardbag on the train or bus gets easier, even with a 2 or 3 day loadout.

Ungroomed inbounds at Furano is very, very limited! They seem to groom to within inches of the ropes. A couple of spots get left, but they are tracked out very quickly.

I'm talking about around the top of the Furano zone - off to the right at the top of the "Downhill No3" lift. A bump on skier's right is ungroomed but badly tracked even after a decent dump overnight. There's also a natural bump course from the same lift to the left off the top, staying left of that course. To the right is groomed.

At least, that was the case last January.

I have a link to an english piste map if you're at all interested. (checked with SJ that the link is OK, so here it is ...)

Hmmm... sounds pretty lame. What a pisser. Thanks for the info and map, JA. It's so annoying because Furano ticks all my other boxes - walk to lifts, cheap accom and food, more clear days, awesome scenery, cheap passes. But no trees. NO TREES!!!

And a 1+ hour bus trip to Kamui.

Okay, so does anyone know if Asahidake, Kurodake or Kitataisetsu have a town with cheap accom and supermarkets nearby? The YHA near Kurodake closes for the season. Shirataki is near Kitataisetsu but I can't find much info on it. Anyone?

I guess I'd need a bus to get to the mountain too. No car.

This is why I keep gravitating back to Furano and its dozy three minute walk to lifts. But I don't want dozy boarding...

Yeah, you'll have to go elsewhere for trees, unfortunately.

Asahidake doesn't have much other than the ropeway bottom lift station and a few hotels and pensions directly at the base. I believe some of the pensions are fairly cheap... I don't remember what I paid the last time I was there.

There's a reason why the Niseko Area is so popular. It provides MOST things to the MOST amount of people.

Choosing a different ski area as opposed to a ski resort in Japan or anywhere else will result in compromises and benefits.

For example, no bus service but less people on the mountain.

The criteria you're looking for in Furano can be found in the Niseko area at the same price IMHO.

The other ski areas that I and others have recommended all have their pros and cons in comparison with Niseko and Furano.

And pretty much it's down to (lack of) transport and variety.

Thanks guys. Sounds like a month in the north, a month in the south, and a month somewhere else might be best. I really wanted to settle right in to somewhere for the whole season, but that's cool. I'm lucky to have a season off work so I'm not gonna whinge.

Any recommends for a month's stay in Niseko? Any cheap long-term rates or places with that special something?

You might want to check the places on here and contact them.
That big cyan button up top click and go from there.

is that really cyan? what colour is cyan?

OK lightish blue (??)

or is it turquoise?

Thurs, cyan is pretty close to the "places to stay" button.

Magenta is pretty close to this.

Yellow is - well - yellow!

They are the subtractive primary colours, used to create all others (along with black, of course) in printing. The additive primaries are Red, Blue & Green - used to create the other colours in crt displays.

feeling a bit fruity eh BW?!!

OK cyan looks gay. I like magenta. Thanks JA, you sound cyan for knowing.

Comes of having been an Info Tech teacher for 14 years! You get to know all sorts of useless information, because a student has asked, and you need to find some cred!

Cyan is a good one.

But on topic, to me a season in any one ski resort sounds like a bad idea. I'd much prefer to take in a selection and get to know quite a few over a season if I had that long.

Charlotte,
In your situation, with the wonders of the Japanese resorts in all their glory within a couple of hours travel, I can understand your point.

For some of us, however, the trip to the snow is an annual event. For me, it takes at least 10 hours driving to get to the nearest ski field. In that case, we tend to go to one place, stay there and ski there for the week we can afford the accommodation and lift tickets for, and then go home again for the remainder of the year.

Now, having discovered Japow, we fly for 10 hours, after driving 8 hours to get to the airport, ans stay in the one resort for the 14 days or so we can afford. We take the opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing and so are away from home for 3 weeks.

Being from Perth, I know what you're talking about, JA. Travelling to snow is a big deal and that's why, for the third time in my life, I'm here in another country getting ready for a season. Short trips leave me stoked but longing for more. Snow is far more important than career for me. And seeing first snowfall right through to Spring slush is a beautiful thing. I think that's what Charlotte is talking about - a whole season.

My main aim is not to blow my money before the season ends, so that means backpackers, supermarkets, buses, shoe-shines, in-store appearances, organ sales, book-signings, card games and other degrading alleyway tricks. The only places I've come across that have cheap food, accom and transport are Furano, Niseko, and Asahikawa (which sounds like a big industrial town). So I think I'll go for a month in Furano, and a couple of months in Niseko. Like Mike Pow said, there's a reason Niseko's so popular.

I'm thinking of staying at the backpackers in Annupuri. Might be a bit more laidback than Hirafu.