Ski Rusutsu, Hokkaido, Japan

Ski Rusutsu

Rusutsu is one of Japan's most popular year round resorts, located 90 minutes by bus from Sapporo's Chitose International Airport and one hour from Niseko Ski Resort.

Rusutsu has 3 main mountains - East, West and Mt Isola. Together there are 42 kilometres of runs, including a long cruiser of 3.5 kilometres. Here you’ll find untracked powder runs,  amazing variety of terrain and some awesome natural terrain features not found in other resorts. It has the best tree-skiing in Japan and the backcountry is superb. The uncrowded groomed runs are amazing,  resembling gigantic freeways with long consistent fall-lines.  For the kids there is a host of activities including tubing, dog sledding and snowmobilingThere's also night skiing till 8pm.  Add to this one of the best half-pipes and snow-parks in the area and you’ve got a resort that offers everything you could ever want in a ski resort.

The town of Rusutsu comprises the Rusutsu Resort Hotel and a handful of pensiones, restaurants and a new sports bar serving pizzas and boutique beers.

Mountain Statistics Top Lift Elevation 3262 ft Vertical Drop 1950 ft Skiable Acres 420 Lifts 17 (13 Chairlifts, 4 Gondolas/Cable Cars) Trails 37 Terrain: Easiest 30% More Difficult 40% Most Difficult 30%

Rusutsu is made up of 3 main mountains:

West Mountain has a great terrain park and halfpipe, and some superb backcountry: hike for 20 minute and you can access long steep chutes or a myriad of amazing  tree runs. The runs are often short but quite steep.
 
East Mountain  is quite a flat hill with only 2 runs. It is mostly used as an access point to Mt Isola, but there are two secret runs off this mountain which are worth the effort.

Mt Isola.  This is Rusutsu's best mountain. It's furthest away from the hotels, but it’s a treasure trove of incredible tree skiing and perfect groomed pistes.