Congratulations, you’ve saved enough for a dream ski vacation. The question now is: where do you spend it?
For British skiers, two resorts almost always top the charts: Whistler Blackcomb, in Canada, and Niseko, in Japan. Both have appeared in countless ski films over the years, further cementing their already legendary reputations, and they are brilliant in their own way. But chances are, visiting both will blow your ski vacation budget for the season, especially when you factor in the cost of long-haul flights.
So if you can’t visit both dream destinations, which one should you choose?
Whistler
Why go?
Whistler (or Whistler-Blackcomb, as the twin mountains are officially known) is famously the largest ski area in North America and has 37 lifts, providing access to 8,171 hectares of skiable terrain. There are more than 200 named routes, but if you want to find the really good stuff, read between the colored lines on the piste map.
It’s the “in-bounds backcountry” – off-piste areas patrolled and monitored for avalanches – that really makes Whistler special for passionate skiers. Scoring the first numbers at Symphony Bowl on a powder day, or traversing a ‘slick’ run, where the trees have been deliberately thinned, is what dreams are made of.
There is also a lot of variety. Iconic runs like Spanky’s Ladder or Stefan’s Chute, both above treeline, are steep and technical. Easy greens like Sunset Boulevard, which winds its way through the woods on Blackcomb, will satisfy intermediate greens. The ski schools are among the best in the world, there are no language barriers between students and instructors, and there’s loads of terrain perfect for families. If your kids are older, or you’re younger at heart, Whistler’s three massive snow parks are among the best freestyle facilities in the world.
The resort is also rightly famous for its snow. Located in the coastal area just a short drive north of Vancouver, its proximity to the Pacific Ocean means that storms often dump their payload here first, before moving inland to the resorts of the Rockies.
For reference, Whistler’s average annual snowfall is about twice that of Tignes in France, with an average annual snowfall of 10.8 metres.
If you’re used to stereotypically grumpy French waiters, North America’s strong service culture will be a pleasant surprise – even if it takes a while to figure out when and how much to tip (when in doubt, the answer is a lot). and all the time).
On the hill, attentive lifties will link groups together to minimize queues at the chairlifts, while off the hill, smiling waiters will happily accommodate requests for items not on the menu. Public transport is also impressive for a North American resort – if you stay in the village of Whistler you don’t need a car, which is unusual in this part of the world.
Why not?
Even before Vail Resorts bought out the previous owners in 2016, Whistler had the unmistakable vibe of a company town. The lifts, ski schools, rental shops and the majority of accommodation, bars and shops have long been owned by one company.
Ski instructors often joke that they were essentially working for free, as most of their paychecks went straight back into their employer’s pockets through a company-owned bar or restaurant.
To critics, Vail Resorts, which owns more than 40 destinations in North America, is the McDonald’s of skiing – homogenizing the ski experience and crushing individuality in the ski towns it owns. Independent businesses do exist, but they often have to fight over scraps.
You certainly won’t encounter many of the third-generation family restaurants found in French or Italian mountain towns, while mountain dining usually takes place in huge cafeterias with trays. There is always a wide variety of cuisines available, but there is little atmosphere. Prices are quite high in the village, and the annoying insistence on listing them without tax only makes them seem even higher.
Although Whistler is large by North American standards, it is not That big in the grand scheme of things – the sheer size of the mountain pales in significance compared to its equivalents in Europe, for example.
The Paradiski area (La Plagne-Les Arcs) has over 35,559 hectares of skiable terrain, making it more than four times the size of Whistler-Blackcomb. Bottlenecks at the base of both the Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains mean queues can get quite long on busy days. And while these may not be a disadvantage for everyone, they are loads of Australians.
Niseko
Why go?
The case for Niseko pretty much begins and ends with the snow – famous for having the most consistent and deepest snow in the world. Whistler could benefit from that near to the Pacific Ocean, but Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, is actually that in It.
The cold wind from Siberia sucks moisture from the Sea of Japan, which they then dump on the first obstacle they encounter: the mountains around Niseko. The resort receives an average of 15 meters of snow every winter.
When I was there it felt like the weather was changing every 45 minutes, from sun, light snow to heavy snow storms and back again. Tracks from the previous day – and sometimes even the previous run – were quickly hidden.
Every morning without exception we had to dig out the stairs of our chalet. Accommodation takes place in shared chalets or, increasingly, in luxury hotels. Renting a car allows you to visit neighboring resorts, which can be quite fun, but you don’t need one to explore Niseko itself.
The other good reason to visit Niseko is the culture, and especially the food. Everything from five-course meals to fast-food snacks from gas station warm-up counters is tasty.
For British palettes, at least, it’s also refreshingly different. Other cultural highlights include a visit to an onsen or Japanese hot springs. The pools are separated by gender, and while the mandatory nudity may feel strange at first, you quickly get used to it.
Why not?
Given the size of its reputation, you’ll probably be surprised by the reality of how small Niseko is. There are only a handful of lifts and about 800 hectares of skiable terrain – barely a tenth of Whistler’s. Like most Japanese resorts, the lift infrastructure was built in the late 1970s and 1980s when skiing was booming, but due to the prolonged recession of the 1990s, much of it has barely been accessed since.
Many of the lifts are still old, small and slow, especially for those used to European high-speed chairs and gondolas. This means that there are often queues and on weekends you are better off going to nearby resorts such as Moiwa or Rusutsu. There are great ski schools and good facilities for beginners in Niseko, but the sheer amount of snowfall – and lack of clear, sunny days – means it’s not the easiest place to learn. Furthermore, unless you and your party are skiing at a level where powder is on the menu, the pleasures of this all-you-can-eat buffet will be wasted on you.
In a society that is one of the most ethnically homogeneous of all developed countries (97.8 percent of Japan’s population is ethnically Japanese), Niseko is in fact one of the least Japanese places in the country. Walk around the main resort and you’ll find plenty of bars and foreign-owned businesses. While some people will appreciate the fact that you can travel anywhere without ever resorting to Google Translate, if you want a true Japanese cultural experience you might want to try somewhere where, again, there are fewer Australians.
The verdict
In some ways, the two resorts are quite similar: both have an outsized reputation compared to their actual size. Both offer the promise of incredible snow and the chance to discover a completely different ski culture.
Whistler is bigger, has arguably better facilities and is definitely easier to navigate as an English speaker. But in the end, the quality and quantity of Niseko’s powder, the famous ‘Ja-pow’ that people flock to every year in ‘Japan-uary’, tips the balance in Niseko’s favour.
The acreage of internal contiguous property only really matters if you’re concerned about it being tracked. But that’s never a problem in Niseko, where there’s a good chance your tracks will be covered within an hour.
Part of the fun of skiing in different countries is experiencing a truly different ski culture, and while the influx of Aussies means Niseko may not be the undiluted Japanese experience it once was, it’s still better than Vail’s version Resorts of a North American ski town.
Essentials
How to Ski in Whistler
Crystal Ski Holidays (0203 451 2821; crystal ski.co.uk) offers seven nights at the four-star Aava Whistler Hotel (1 800 663 5644; paradoxhotels.com/aava-whistler), from £1,600 per person, room only, including flights from London Heathrow to Vancouver and transfers, on a two share basis.
How to ski in Niseko
Mabey Ski (0 20 8144 5687; mabeyski.com) offers seven nights at Aspect Luxury Apartments in Niseko from £1,395, room only, including six days of skiing with a private guide, concierge service and transfers from New Chitose. Excluding flights, based on six people sharing an apartment.