Is a resort guide in Japan worth the cost? Our honest take, from Rusutsu and Kiroro

It seems like a straightforward plan when in Hokkaido. You’ve got limited time with access to some of the best lift-assisted terrain in the country. Rather than try to sniff it out yourself on a powder day and end up one step behind the locals, book a guide and learn where the best spots are, what to hit first, and the traps to avoid.

We were spending time in Otaru and Kutchan, so the plan was to book a resort guide at Kiroro and Rusutsu at the start of each stay so we could learn our way around the vast tree runs, then go back and do it on our own. We booked with Hokkaido Mountain Experience (HME) because of their knowledge of the two resorts and because of their unique approach that combines instruction and guiding.

Obviously, we were expecting deep snow, but the weather gods had other ideas. After it had snowed in Kiroro for 30 days straight, we arrived to find sunny blue skies following a freakish five-day dry spell. We weren’t sure if a guide was really worth it. As it turned out, it absolutely was.

Why it’s so hard to learn a mountain on a powder day

Getting to know a resort properly during a peak-winter powder frenzy isn’t easy. It can be hard to see during a storm here, but it’s not just about visibility. Everyone is in race mode, especially at a place as competitive as Rusutsu. You want to be first in the lift line, first off the top, straight into the trees, and then first to the next lift and more untouched powder. There’s no time to stop, no time to double back, and very little thought of actually building a map of the place. You ride hard, you have the best day of your life, but you leave with very little knowledge.

Kiroro is regularly covered in thick cloud, which can make it hard to scope out a route. Image: Jamie O’Brien

A calm, low-pressure day flips that around. When nothing’s fresh and you’re not racing for first tracks, you can afford to cruise, take a look around and repeat a run. You can scope terrain on the chairlift from across the valley and talk through entry and exit points, spotting where the trees thin out, and you can actually see where the gullies, rocks and other hazards are. You can stop mid-run and let the guide talk you through what you’re looking at: why this side holds snow longer, why that ridge gets scoured, why the fall line through a particular stand of trees isn’t the one that looks obvious. Because you’re not rushing, it actually has time to sink in. It’s the difference between being led around and being taught how to plan yourself next time.

HME’s resort guiding is built specifically for people who want the best of a resort without the guesswork. Every full day comes with complimentary pick-up and drop-off from your accommodation, a maximum guest-to-guide ratio of 4:1, and a tail guide for groups of five to seven. Before the day, the guides take the time to work out what you’re after, your ability, fitness, and what your ideal day looks like, and plan around that.

Kiroro’s tree run areas

With a guide at Kiroro, one of the snowiest resorts anywhere in Japan, you’ll get a full runthrough of its five tree run zones. The tree runs don’t look like much terrain on the normal map, but as you can see from the tree run map below, the light blue areas make up a large part of the skiable area. The tree runs aren’t super long, but they are very wide in places with varied routes and features (and some spots to avoid), so they don’t get boring on quick laps. Snowboarders will need to be cautious in certain areas, as getting out isn’t possible unless skiers have set a track. That’s why it definitely pays to have a guide here.

The designated tree run areas at Kiroro. Image: kiroro.co.jp

Kiroro is often shrouded in clouds, which sometimes means you genuinely can’t see 20m in front of you. With clear skies, we could see everything. Our guide, Sam, took advantage of the visibility to properly walk us through the mountain. We scoped runs from the chairlift, spotted the danger areas in the gully across the valley, and built a proper mental map of the resort. A couple of weeks later, back at Kiroro in a near whiteout, all of that paid off. We knew exactly where we were and where we were going, in conditions where we’d otherwise have been guessing.

The best tree runs at Kiroro are Powder Ridge (No 1) and Orange Light (No 2). They both run adjacent to Asari No 2 Express lift, so there’s no long traverse or green runs to do another lap. The bottom section at Kiroro is very flat, so it’s best to avoid the gondola if you can. Here, you’ll find well-spaced trees with over 30-degree pitch in places. This is the best in-bounds terrain, and you’ll see people lapping Asari No 2 lift until the powder is all tracked out. If you want something more gentle, then try the other two tree areas lower down. You can also lap Barcode (No 5) on the Nagamine side and avoid the gondola.

Tree runs Powder Ridge (No 1) and Orange Light (No 2) at Kiroro. Image: opensnow.com (Yellow numbering composite, Ski Asia)

Rusutsu’s limitless in-bounds off-piste

Rusutsu has a truly vast area of fully explorable trees. There are no designated zones, so you can go anywhere within the resort boundaries that isn’t specifically roped off. If there’s one place in Japan where you need an in-bounds guide, this is it. You’d really struggle to find the best spots without someone to show you around. The problem here is, on a powder day, it gets extremely competitive, so you’ll need a plan to find fresh tracks and stay ahead of the crowd.

Rusutsu’s east side is a series of ridges and gullies that are fully open for exploring. Image: rusutsu.com

On the day, our guide, Francisco, did everything right, working hard to find us some powder in the harder to reach spots. We also found a few soft patches in the flatter tree areas.

Ducking branches to find the fresh spots at Rusutsu. Image: Aron Tarjani

What we got here was a proper education in Rusutsu’s in-bounds terrain: which lines hold snow, which get tracked first, and what to avoid on a day like this, knowledge that would have taken us several trips to build up on our own.

This view from the top shows clearly how the red runs track the ridge and you can drop into the natural gullies from wither side and end up back at the lifts. Image: opensnow.com

In the afternoon, Francisco gave us a carving lesson on Rusutsu’s long red cruisers, another great benefit of having a guide that also knows how to teach.

The pistes hold up at Rusutsu into the afternoon. Image Robin Watts

Learning to think like a local

Beyond the terrain itself, the thing that actually changes how you ride a resort after learning from a guide with local knowledge is learning how to plan your day to perfection. Locals don’t just show up at opening time and join the crowd; they arrive early enough to park close, get ready without rushing, and be standing at the right lift with time to spare. They know which lift to ride first.

A resort doesn’t open all at once either. Certain lifts and zones get checked and released before others, so the mountain effectively unlocks in stages through the first hour or so. Locals read that sequence and position themselves accordingly, sometimes waiting it out at a lift that’s on hold, because they know that particular hold is temporary and that lift leads straight into the good stuff the moment it releases.

By mid-morning, the obvious runs are already tracked out. That’s when a local’s knowledge really pays off, because they know where to go next: a traverse that isn’t well known or a mellow zone with an awkward runout that most people ignore. Or, when it’s time to call off the search for fresh snow and work on your carving.

There are endless lines through Rusutsu’s trees. Image: Aron Tarjani

The real lesson

As much as it was great to learn about these two powder destinations on a sunny day, the real lesson was realising a mistake we made before either day even started.

We booked both days by naming a resort. We’re at Kiroro on this day, so we want a guide at Kiroro, or we’re going to Rusutsu, so we want a guide to show us around in the trees. That’s too specific. A guide’s knowledge covers a huge area well beyond a single resort boundary, including spots that aren’t on the internet, and they know better than you where the best snow is on any given day. If you give them a location, you’ve prevented them from using their knowledge.

The better approach is to tell them what you want, not where you want it. How fit you are, what terrain excites you, what you’re capable of, and what your ideal day on the hill actually looks like, then let them decide where that happens. Be honest, and be willing to sit in a car for an hour. The snow will still be there when you arrive.

We found out just how true this was later in the same trip. With nothing fresh at Niseko, we drove out to Kiroro on a guide’s tip and found fluffy, knee-deep powder in the backcountry. If we’d insisted on Niseko, we’d have missed it completely.

So is a resort guide worth it, even without fresh snow?

If you’ve locked yourself into one resort and the snow there is trashed, a guide can only work with what’s in front of them. Give them flexibility on where and let them work their magic.

Setting that aside, I don’t regret what we learned at Kiroro and Rusutsu. On a quiet day with no new snow, we built up a really good knowledge of not just where to go to find powder but why.

If you’re planning guided days in Hokkaido, HME runs resort guiding at Niseko, Kiroro, and Rusutsu, lift-accessed backcountry through Niseko’s gate system, and full touring further afield out of South Hokkaido, Furano, and Asahikawa. Just book with the destination open and a willingness to travel, and you’ll get a lot more out of it.