# Hakuba 2018



## whitelinesman (Jun 30, 2016)

Just go to Myoko, you are most of the way there anyway.

Over 6m in January this year, uncrowded, awesome onsens and local restaurants - DO IT!


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## motleybeast (Mar 25, 2015)

Ha ha, sounds good.

Yeah, I have literally just booked this morning for Hakuba, but will put in on the list for next time. I'm organising for 10 of us, I think if I look at somewhere else now, they'll shoot me!


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## htfu (Mar 18, 2015)

just a suggestion if you are going to hakuba valley : ignore happo one and hakuba47 resorts as they are crowded and full of moguls


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## motleybeast (Mar 25, 2015)

Can't be any worse than a weekend at Ruapehu here in the north island mid season!

How crowded is it, how long to wait for a lift for example?


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## JDA (Feb 10, 2016)

Cortina on a powder day, now that is crowded!

We rode all the resorts in Hakuba last year and my favorites were Tsuigaike and Iwatake.


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## The Shogun (Sep 25, 2016)

K's Hostel and Monkey Rider always get good reviews.


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## htfu (Mar 18, 2015)

JDA said:


> Cortina on a powder day, now that is crowded!
> 
> We rode all the resorts in Hakuba last year and my favorites were Tsuigaike and Iwatake.


have to agree with you here ... tsugaike is brilliant. iwatake was great too as it was walking distance from where i was staying. cortina was great too, but was really full on pow days.

to be fair all resorts i went to weekdays were amazing, saturdays were rammed and sundays slightly less so due to the weekend influx of people.

speaking to the locals about which resorts to avoid, they said to avoid happo one and hakuba47 as they were where most people go and they don't do a lot of grooming there (usually they don't need to due to the snowfall) so they get super tracked out and mogul-y. another big thing is they are super strict about ducking ropes there ... they see you do it and you lose your pass, no questions (one of the tsugaike patrol guys said they pulled someone's season pass on their first day there this year). the smaller resorts seem to be a bit more relaxed about it (doesn't mean they won't do it if you take the piss).


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## francium (Jan 12, 2013)

Me and a group of mates are doing Niseko for 13 nights next season there seems to be a mad difference in accommodation it seems to go from cheap to mad expensive with very little in between, we managed to stumble across some bargain accommodation though which seems nice just got the long wait now.


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## N92 (Oct 9, 2017)

As someone who has been to Hakuba a few times now and will be there for January 2018, I can say that Monkey Rider and The Backpackers in Echoland will be your best bet. Super convenient as well because the free shuttle busses leave from the main road out the front of the Shakespeare Hotel (where I'll be staying) and drop you off in the same spot. 

Echloland is convenient as the 7eleven is close by, as well as an onsen to recover after a long day and Chanko Nabe (sumo food) restaurant to re-feed. Happo Village is a very short taxi ride away as well if you fancy changing up what you want to eat/where you want to drink.

Tsugaike and Cortina/Norikura are my picks of resorts. Tsugaike is huge and you can find fresh pow all day in the trees, Cortina and Norikura are actually interlinked much in the same way as Hakuba47 and Goryu, you can use the same lift pass for both resorts so it's actually a much bigger area than most people think.

Might see you there!


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## motleybeast (Mar 25, 2015)

We'll be staying at Morino Lodge which is close to Happo One. From the info from the lodge, the passes should cover most of the ski fields mentioned above? I guess you guys that have been will be able to confirm that. But yeah, I've heard Cortina is good, and Iwatake. 

We're going to be there for just under 2 weeks at the end of January, so we'll hopefully get a few in!


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## N92 (Oct 9, 2017)

Good stuff mate! 

the all mountain passes cover all of the resorts available in Hakuba, you may have to pay a 500yen deposit for the electronic lift pass, but outside of that you should be good. 

Iwatake I found caters to more of a beginner/intermediate crowd with it's big wide fairly mellow runs and not a lot of steep terrain even off piste.

I'll be in Hakuba from Jan 10th -> Jan 21st and then all over Japan until Feb


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## The Shogun (Sep 25, 2016)

motleybeast said:


> We'll be staying at Morino Lodge which is close to Happo One. From the info from the lodge, the passes should cover most of the ski fields mentioned above? I guess you guys that have been will be able to confirm that. But yeah, I've heard Cortina is good, and Iwatake.
> 
> We're going to be there for just under 2 weeks at the end of January, so we'll hopefully get a few in!


Morino lodge is a good place...the peeps that run it are pretty cool.


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