WHAT IS VEIA VERIFIED
Travel zones, hacks and pro tips from VEIA Ambassadors & Employees. Use it to fuel your next trek across the pond or up a new peak. From to-die-for dining to hidden skateparks, volcanic hikes to post-surf beer joints we are constantly exploring the globe for the next YEW to share with YOU.
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Snowboarding an Active Volcano in Hokkaido
WHO: Harland (VEIA Marketing Guy) & his buddy, Pilot Sam. Who can do it? Anyone can sightsee or ride the cat track down. Only experienced/avalanche certified skiers should explore off the cattrack!
WHAT: Views, hiking, skiing, snow, ICE ;)
WHEN: When there's snow. FEB for us :)
WHERE: Asahidake Volcano in Daisetsuzan National Park, Hokkaido, Japan. About 2-3 hour drive thorugh the longest tunnels you've ever experienced from New Chitose Airport (don't even try holding your breath for those).
WHY: How often do you get the chance to snowboard a volcano?
GEAR: Explorer Snowboard Bag, Big Nice Burgendy Snowboard Bag, Explorer Main Mitt, Pro Chute Mitt.
If you've heard or know anything about fresh pow, you know Japan is at the top of list. With ski resort prices on the west coast going every year, it's seemed like more and more have gravitated towards Japan for guaranteed powder and cheaper or the same cost (yes that's including air fare). I've been to Japan a couple times already exploring Tokyo and southern coastal cities as well as a trip to Japan's most west-coast styled ski resort area, Niseko, but this year marked for a new mountain with new lines & less crowds. That's where Asahidake was mentioned.
Once we booked our flights, my close friend, Pilot Sam, sent me some clips of skiiers hiking up the side of an active volcano and skiing down between it's sulfur volcanic vents (otherwise known as fumaroles). Needless to say, I was in & after we spent our first half-day in Hokkaido getting our boards and legs tuned back in at Furano Ski Resort, we booked it up the hill towards Daisetsuzan National Park and nestled into our night stay at K's House, a cozy little hostel-like lodge with firm beds and free morning toast located just below the base of Asahidake.
Morning came and our first mistake of the trip was sleeping in… we ran into a bit of a line getting onto the ropeway but by 10:30 we had boarded the ropeway and made it to the top of the lift & base of Asahidake's peak.
^Asahidake Ropeway up to the base of the Asahidake volcanic Fumarole area/start of hike to peak.^
A blue bird day, perfect in every way with peaks in the distance as far as the eye can see. There's something really special about skiing in Japan - a quite often forget that it's just a big island & depending on where you are you can spot the Pacific Ocean from the peak of a snow covered mountain top, did someone say surf check? *We actually couldn't spot any ocean from here, but I was still thinking about secret slabs and beachbreaks hidden along the Hokkaido coast for some reason.
While it was nice that the sun was out, the wind was out as well and at about 7,500 ft of elevation, Pilot Sam and I were very content on our choice of cowhide leather built VEIA Mitts for the day.
^View across Daisetsuzan national park from Asahidake + Explorer Main Mitt and Pro Chute Mitts. ^
We continued taking the views in as we hiked up to the side of Asahidake Fumaroles where we found some tracks and followers other better-equipped skiers with spiked shoes and backpacks with safety gear. The Fumaroles are sulfuric vents coming out of an active volcano... they smell horrible and definitely should be roped off to keep tourists from getting pictures too close, but man do they make us look cool! We quickly realized our (lack of) gear hit its limitations and after 20 minutes of hiking, a couple slips, and of course a much needed Chu-hai break, we took in the view one last time and began our descent through the Fumaroles of Asahidake.
^Explorer Main Glove + Chu-hai + Fumaroles^
Epic, epic, ICE. The wind from the night before had probably swept a bit more powder off the face than expected, I quickly slid (ruining my perfect IG shot), sat on my ass, warned Pilot Sam, and continued on through the Fumaroles, past the top of the ropeway station and over towards the designated cattrack on the south side of Asahidake.
^Epic, epic, ICE.^
While the top of the mountain was sprinkled with unexpected dust on crust, mid-mountain was where the wind had piled the powder up and for the next few minutes we rode through pockets of trees and dips just off the cattrack that was littered with fluffy frozen H2O until we landed back at the car to take it all in and call it a day. One long volcanic run and done, we had big plans for a new mountain further in North Hokkaido with a new storm rolling in and decided to hit the road.
^Onto the next with our Explorer & Big Nice Burgundy Snowboard Bags.^
