Once you step into Black Diamond lodge you soon realise you’re being attended to by genuine mountain men. All six male staff are Canadian, and just as most people assume all Australians know their beaches, you get the feeling that
Canadians know their mountains. There’s something about the laid back drawl and casual use of terms like ‘vert’ that gives you confidence you’re in good hands. Andrew Spragg from Calgary has spent the past three seasons in Niseko guiding with the Black Diamond Lodge, taking care of their growing Black Diamond Tours business. A certified Canadian Avalanche Association operations level 1 guide, Spragg has been involved in the alpine business for almost his entire career. He was based in Whistler for some time but the ability to ski powder for more than a few hours after a snowfall has seen him relocate to Hokkaido.
Niseko has plenty of fantastic terrain that can be accessed easily enough through the gates, but unless you really know your backcountry safety, it’s well worth hiring a guide to show you the best Niseko has to offer. Our backcountry tour began with a meeting at Higashiyama’s Black Diamond Lodge where we received our avalanche beacons, shovels and probes and an extensive run down on how to respect the risks that the mountain can offer. We kitted up and headed straight for the peak of Mt Annupuri. Our first descent was through the back bowl to Annupuri. Dropping into the back bowl is possibly the steepest terrain in Niseko, but with the steepness comes the risk of avalanche. It’s reassuring to have an avalanche expert by your side, particularly if you’re yet to earn your own avalanche stripes. On this day we were lucky enough to have a blue-bird with relatively low avalanche risk, but it was great to have Spragg on hand to show us the best entry point into the bowl and take us to some special pockets of powder that were quite unique. Unfortunately for our readers, I was made to sign a non-disclosure agreement about how to get there.
After that we were straight back to the peak, from where we traversed around in preparation to descend the north face to Goshiki Onsen. The run down began with an icy patch similar to riding down a tilted ice skating rink with a thousand craters in it. As Andrew explained, the north face and back bowl are somewhat diametrically opposed – often when one side is ‘on’, the other side is not. After we slid down below 1000m we hit some completely untouched terrain, and at times it felt like we could have been dropped off by helicopter. Once you reach the bottom of your descent you end up on route 58, a road by summer but a deep powder pack in winter. A 15-minute walk along the deeply buried road back to Goshiki makes you enjoy the awaiting onsen even more. If you’re lucky you can see some extreme riders pulling some huge air off the booters that are built down there. A Black Diamond staff member (a Canuck of course) came down to return us for more runs, thus avoiding the ¥10,000 cab ride.
If you feel you’ve done the Niseko thing to death, in addition to their Niseko tours, Black Diamond Tours also offer a range of tours for those wanting to experience the lesser known resorts dotted around Hokkaido.
Powderlife was guest on a Black Diamond Tours backcountry tour.