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Teine Ski Fields, Sapporo, Japan Part 1

18 Feb 2011- After a wonderful day trip to the snow at Ban-K yesterday, we were really keen to ski on those beautiful white powder snows, so we decided to head off to Teine Ski slopes. We took the JR train costing Yen 5,850 (adults normal price and pensioner is 5,250 to Olympia zone.

The JR train ticket includes a 4 hours ski pass, hire of skies & train & bus pass. It took 10 min from Sapporo station by JR to reach Teine Station (go to South Exit) and then we took a bus from Teine to Olympia (18 minutes only). If you don’t take up the package fare, take the JR train from Sapporo station to Teine, then take the bus (260 yen) or a taxi (about 1000 yen). This takes only about 45 minutes from Sapporo station to chairlift.

The other ski mountain is “The Highland” which is another 10 minutes bus ride, (28 min from JR station). We decided that we will just try the first mountain on our first ski day in Japan and see how we go. We could have the 6 hours pass instead of 4 hrs pass if we wanted to (just add another Yen400).

If you only have a short time in Sapporo, just head off to Teine Ski slope. It would be wise to forget about skiing at Ban –K (takes too long to get there and more expensive to get there too)

Skiing is Japan is like a dream come through. The Japanese Alps aren’t just about ski slopes. Hot springs, snow monkeys, dramatic autumn foliage and villages frozen in time are all part of the magic.

Such a contract between Tokyo city, greyish in colour and texture and its train packed with commuters, all going in one direction (either going to work or returning home) and these Mountain and villages frozen in white sparkling ice and the forest vivid with ambers and reds of autumn. We didn’t see any snow monkeys unfortunately. It may not have been as good as the Nagano ski fields but since this is my first skiing trip to Japan, I am totally satisfied.

According to my brochure, Sapporo Teine is one of the best hills close to Sapporo consisting of two connected areas, Highland and Olympia. It is one of the best places to start skiing in Hokkaido as the conditions are good, the facilities modern.

In my opinion, the advantages of Teine and skiing in Sapporo is the fact that the ski field is easy to get to, has excellent powder conditions for most of the season, is very affordable due to the joint ticket and time based pricing (especially when transport is considered), has great night skiing and superb views over the city, superb off-piste powder areas in the Highland area below the ropeway, and a good beginner section in the Olympia area.
I was informed by authorities there that the lodge and restaurant facilities are not great, the vertical drop is not very high so you need to spend a lot of time on lifts when concentrating on black runs, and the 6 kilometres run is too flat to enjoy – skiers will need to use poles/stocks and for snowboarders getting from Highland to Olympia via the connecting course is a real pain at times.

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