As Hakuba enjoys one of its best ski seasons in decades, there has been a timely reminder that hazards in ski terrain come in many different forms. A group of skiers were nearing the end of the day in Hakuba’s Cortina ski resort when they discovered a girl submerged in a 5-metre hole and barely visible. After several unsuccessful attempts pull her free using different methods, they succeeded with a length of paracord carried by one of the skiers.

One of the riders in the group that found and assisted her recounted the event in a post on the Ski & Snowboard Japan Facebook group.

“The powder in Japan is amazing, but this is a small reminder to be careful when skiing back and side country. This is from last week.

“A Chinese girl was lucky to be found by us as we skied passed her on the backside of Cortina this year. She was pulled out and had suffered no injuries. She didn’t speak English so we have no idea how long she had been down there.

“We found her one hour before lift closing time. She had snowboarded on her own and gone straight into this hole.”

For those new to backcountry skiing in Japan, we highly recommend reading this first timer’s guide for some tips on when to go, what you need and what to look for in a guide.