I go searching for Japan’s most remote backcountry skiing on the frozen island of Rishiri, up in the northernmost reaches of Hokkaido. Two hours by ferry from Wakkanai, Japan’s northernmost city, Rishiri is a backcountry ski paradise. The island is almost perfectly circular and in its centre is the mountain — 1,700 meters tall with an almost infinite number of lines to choose from depending on the weather conditions.
Read more about Rishiri and how to get there: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2022/03/28/travel/hokkaido-rishiri-skiing/
In this video:
• Francesco Bassetti (IG: fra_bass)
• Naoki Kitagawa (IG :naoki_kitagawa0731)
• Toshiya Watanabe (IG: toshiya_watanabe)
• Oscar Boyd (IG: oscar.boyd)
Special thanks to:
• Ayami Saga
• Rishiri Town Tourism Association
• Wakkanai Tourism Association
• Toshiya Watanabe
• Naoki Kitagawa
• The Japan Times
• Francesco Bassetti
A couple of years ago I was invited to go skiing in one of the most remote places in all of Japan. Way, way, way up north to a tiny, frozen island called Rishiri. Rishiri is best known for producing some of Japan’s most expensive sea urchin, or uni, which sells to fancy restaurants in Kyoto and Tokyo for about $300 per kilo. But it’s got another more secretive side to it as well. The island is basically one big mountain and once winter descends and the snow clouds roll
In it becomes home to some of Japan’s most exciting and most remote skiing. There’s just one catch. The island is two hours by ferry from Wakkanai, Japan’s northernmost city, and it’s notoriously tricky to get to. The day we arrived in Wakkanai all the
Crossings to Rishiri were cancelled because of the wind and the waves, and no one was quite sure when the ferries would start up again. And so we waited in the weather-beaten port city, fingers crossed and hoping that the ferries would be running again the next day. [Music and wind] [Alarm sounds]
It’s 5:55 in the morning and we’ve just received word that the ferry is available so it looks like we’re going to Rishiri. Aren’t we? Francesco: It’s too early for this. That is my pal Francesco who was joining me on the trip to Rishiri. And after our day in a hotel in Wakkanai,
He was as excited as I was by the news that the ferries were running again. So we packed up all our gear and marched over to the ferry terminal where we boarded the extremely luxurious ferry to Rishiri. In summer, the ferry is packed with day trippers on the hunt for sea urchin
But in winter, it was completely deserted. There were five of us on a ferry for 500, rolling across the moody grey sea. We’ve made it finally onto the ferry to Rishiri. It’s very windy very choppy outside. Big waves, lots of spray. Chances out of 10 we’re going to make it? Francesco: None
Oscar: None? Francesco: There’s no way. Despite Francesco’s less than optimistic predictions we got to Rishiri without even needing the sick bags that were scattered throughout the cabin. We’ve made it onto Rishiri… first steps. We dropped off our gear at Rera Mosir, one of the only hotels open for winter,
And spent the day exploring what felt like a ghost town. Most of the restaurants and hotels on Rishiri were shuttered and many of the islanders had left to escape the cold. But for us, the cold weather and the fresh snow was what we were there for, and meant perfect conditions for skiing.
After visiting the local hot spring for a relaxing bath, we returned back to the hotel for a slap-up dinner of local fish and sake. Finally, we met Toshiya Watanabe, the owner of the hotel and our guide for the next few days,
Who came armed with a map of Rishiri and photos of all of his favourite lines to ski. Rishiri is an outlier in the otherwise gentle landscape of Northern Hokkaido. The island is almost perfectly circular and in its centre is the mountain,
1,700 meters tall with an almost infinite number of lines to choose from depending on the weather conditions. And because the island is so compact, nowhere is more than a 30-minute drive away along the island’s one main ring road. There’s such an abundance of terrain that even with the island’s temperamental weather,
There’s pretty much always somewhere to ski. So after our long journey from Tokyo and our night stuck in Wakkanai, all that was to do was just that. Get out on the mountain and go skiing. Finally on the road. We’ve had what do you reckon, 5-10 cm over night? Francesco: Yeah, at least. down here. Oscar: Fresh snowfall despite none being predicted. And now the sun’s coming out. I think Rishiri loves us Grab on. Okay, so we definitely cheated a bit with the ski touring and used snowmobiles to get through the first four kilometres of the approach. It’s definitely not the quietest way to get around definitely not the most environmentally friendly, but it did cut about an hour off the climb.
And after about 10 or 15 minutes of towing, we got off the snowmobiles slapped the skins on the bottom of our skis and started climbing properly. Skins on now the real work begins. We’ve got about a 3 hour climb from currently where we are at 350m up to about 1,000m.
Up the east side of the island just above the dam. Beautiful weather, fresh snow on the ground. We were worried yesterday that it’ be very windy, very icy but it looks like Rishiri’s given us another treat. Guided by Naoki-san up front and Toshiya-san at the back.
We’ve been climbing for about an hour now. We’re about 650-700m up. About 300 to the top. The weather’s been excellent, view has been sublime… out of this world. I can’t believe we’re able to see so far. We can see all the way to mainland Hokkaido 20km away.
We can see all the way to Sakhalin in northern Russia, way up north. It’s amazing and just hoping this sunlight holds so we can have a really, really good ski down as well. Enjoy! So we’re here at about 1,100m, and enjoying the ski down. Francesco’s just cut a beautiful line down the mountain. Really excited for this one. How nice is that? Oscar: All right Francesco, what’s about to happen? Francesco: We ski to the sea. Oscar: Completing your? Francesco: Lifelong goal, after this it’s all downhill. Francesco: More like there, that’s where I want to be. We’ve just come down from our final run on Rishiri. Second day of skiing,
Fourth day on the island. Man I’m going to miss this place. The snow has been fantastic, the weather has been fantastic, all the people we’ve met here have just been lovely. Our guides Toshiya-san and Naoki have been brilliant.
I would heartily recommend you stay with them and go guiding with them if you come here. We’ve just being spoilt for choice. It’s been really special being able to see over to Wakkanai, being able to see far, far north to Sakhalin apparently the visibility is about 130 km today.
Yeah it’s just been a brilliant experience and I cannot recommend coming to Rishiri enough. Naoki: Yeeeew