Warren took Lawrence Dallaglio skiing this season to see what the big man was made of on the slopes.  It was an amazing 3 days of development and Warren confirmed that Lawrence was one of the fastest learners in skiing he had ever coached.  On day 1 Lawrence was making basic parallel turns and on day 3 short radius turns and the steep slope of Mont Fort were conquered.  Quite an achievement!

On a chairlift in Verbier on the 3rd day Lawrence asked Warren if he fancied joining in with a cycle challenge in France.  Warren agreed to doing it without realising too much of the details.  He was a bit shocked when he found out it was 933km's over the French Pyrenees but as it was the big man asking and for the Bliss Charity he felt honoured to be a part of it.

On a chairlift in Verbier on the 3rd day Lawrence asked Warren if he fancied joining in with a cycle challenge in France.  Warren agreed to doing it without realising too much of the details.  He was a bit shocked when he found out it was 933km's over the French Pyrenees but as it was the big man asking and for the Bliss Charity he felt honoured to be a part of it.

05/02/08 We flew from London Heathrow on Japanese Airlines (JAL) to Osaka Kansai which was an 11 hour flight. Aparently the flights are always half full, so we had plenty of space to sprawl out and sleep.  I was also surprised at the quality of in-flight meal.  Warren actually asked for seconds! Once we arrived in Osaka in Japan we hopped on a short 1 ½ hour flight to Chitose Sapporo.  The final stage of the journey was a 1 ½ hour transfer bus to Niseko where we would spend our first few days. The journey was long, but luckily very comfortable. It was certainly worth it for what we were about to experience.

Niseko is made up of 3 main areas Niseko Village (formerly Niseko Higashiyama), Hirafu and Annupuri. We stayed at the Niseko Prince Hotel in Higashiyama which has now been taken over by the Hilton group and will be transformed into only the second ski in, ski out Hilton hotels in the world, the first being Whistler. There is also an impressive view of the dormant volcano Mt Yōtei.

Niseko has almost 50km of piste and unlike many of the other resorts in Japan, has an abundance of accessible and permissible access to some beautiful off piste terrain. The top lies at 1,309m, the base being at 300m, with an elevation of 300m. With an average of 40ft of snow in a season, there are no rocks and plenty of days of powder! It is practically guaranteed each day! There are 38 lifts and 59 pistes, so the on piste is plentiful also.

Apparently this was a bad winter. With a 40ft base, it was still however, the best snow we had ever skied, so we didn’t complain!

08/02/08 Furano
The next day we started on our journey to the resort of Furano which was approximately 4 hours away by car.  About half way we pulled over at the Iwamizawa service station, a little like the Little Chef on the outside, a little like a vending machine on the inside.  Everything was written in Japanese, only pictures to give a hint of what you were ordering to eat.  We popped the money in the machine and selected a picture that looked like noodle soup.  Out popped a ticket and we sat down and waited patiently.  The ladies behind the counter giggled at our bemusement.  They tried to say the odd word in English as we tried to say the odd word in Japanese which got them giggling at the same time as running around frantically preparing this and that in the none too busy diner.

We had the private room in the back booked which fitted 12 people around the table sitting on the floor.  Shoes had to be taken off on entry which I thought very hygienic until the waitress, obviously part of the family who run the restaurant, put down our tray of Sake while sighing, then take out a tissue from her pocket, blow her nose in it and then continue to dab the sweat off her head with it.  I wasn’t very impressed, however quite amused by her nonchalance and obvious lack of care.

However, the food was delectable.  With a deliciously grilled selection of fish and vegetables, my palette was watering.  Unfortunately the helpings were not so great, and I was a little put off by the Cod Sperm!  I allowed myself a sneak round the corner into the kitchen to take a couple of quick and non-distracting pictures.  The chef looked round at me with a big smile with a cigarette hanging out of his mounth, happy to be in the picture.  He grabbed who I guess must have been his wife into the picture with him, until the nose blowing mother came into the kitchen none to happy at the scene before here.  I took off without glancing in her less than happy direction.

09/02/08 Saturday was to be our day of filming on the mountain.  We had heard of the strict rules of the off piste skiing in Furano, and were adamant not to get into trouble with the locals, especially as we wanted to take our clients here next year.  We headed up with local guides Nobu and Osamuka.  They took us around the pistes for a while before we started to get itchy feet. Eventually we took off on our own. 

We were looking at an area at the top of the resort that looked like it had numerous special lines coming down through the trees.  There were snowboarders lapping the area tempting us to chance it. At the top of the lift we bumped into the snowboarders who turned out to be locals.  We followed them under the barrier and over the side of the hill.  It was a short 10 minute hike and then we set off.  We got a couple of good runs in and filmed some nice lines.  So we headed up for another.  This time, on the run out, we knew we had been busted. The mountain security were there waiting for us, and they confiscated our passes.  Apparently we could have been arrested!  They were pretty decent though, and when we asked them if we could do one more run, they escorted us to the lift and made sure the lift operator let us up for one more run.

That night we were to eat at the Furano Hiroba where we would be entertained by a Japanese cultural performance.  A local family dressed up in traditional Japanese clothing and sang an array of traditional style songs and did some flower arranging and artistic Japanese writing.  With a room full of Aussies behind, there were almost embarrassing moments where I thought they may start cracking jokes about the performance.  However, the male of the Japanese family casually asked a couple of the young Aussies to come on stage and sing with him and his family, to the delight of the crowd.

10/02/08 Asahidake
The next day I had been looking forward to.  We were to ski the Asahidake live volcano.  It was only 1½ hour drive from Furano, so we were up there by 9am.  There is one cable car up the volcano which stops at 1600m, the top of the volcano being at 2290m; the highest mountain in Hokkaido.  There were hot steam vents just above where we hiked up to, before traversing across to find some nice untracked lines.  Even on the traverse we were walking past patches of bare snow and steam where there were vents.  It was quite spectacular.

It was a special place and was very pretty with the silver birch higher up and then sinking into the thick winter pine trees on the descent down.  We lapped the cable car a few times, moving further and further along the ridge we were skiing each time.  The photos were taken against the deep blue backdrop of the sky with the clean white bark of the Silver Birch standing timeless.  It was very picturesque. 

12/02/08 Furano
We were supposed to be heading back to Niseko today.  However having seen the weather forecast, we couldn’t resist seeing the resort covered in fresh snow. We had also arranged a meeting with the General Manager of the Resort.  He would obviously have heard of our 'crime' of off piste skiing outside of his resorts boundaries, so we weren’t too sure how he would take us.  The meeting got off to a good start with us explaining what we want to do with the Freeride Camps, how we usually work with other resorts in other countries and how we would work with him to make it safe and reputable.  We proceeded to show him the good press and media exposure we had from the UK.  He was impressed.  So much so, that he agreed to approach the government himself, to put forward exclusive permission for backcountry skiing for the Warren Smith Ski Academy.  This was better than we could ever have hoped for.

That day we followed the correct channels and went to the police to apply for permission to ride off piste.  We filled in the documents which even went as far as to ask you to fill in every piece of emergency food you have. Once up the mountain, the patrol escorted us right up the final lift and then opened the barrier to the areas off piste.  It was like opening the doors to heaven.  There was not one track in sight, and with at least 60cm of fresh powder, we were delighted!  The patrol kept his eye on us for a while and made sure he stayed there long enough for anyone not to follow.

Warren and I looked at each other in disbelief.  This was truly the best!  We joyfully bounced about in the lightest powder I had ever experienced, quite often not being able to see where we were going as it was so deep and gasping for breath on each turn.  It was a good feeling to be skiing with the confidence that it was the safest off piste terrain we had ever skied.  Again we were skiing through Silver Birch trees.  It was still overcast and snowing, but with all that powder puffing up in the air all around us, there was no way you could tell what the weather was like in the photos.  We got what we came for.

There was line after line to choose from.  Eventually when we didn’t have any more height, we started to traverse through the forest by a stream.  Without a person in sight or any evidence of anyone ever being there, it was a truly special day.  We arrived back at the resort with smiles on our faces and happy to hang up the skis for the day.

15/02/08 We headed up on the workers lift on the following morning to get fresh tracks. It was still snowing!  Once at the top, we traversed over to the next ski area named Hirafu, which is the centre and main town of Niseko.  It was insane!!  So much powder!  There was no work involved in finding a line; every piece of the mountain was the line.  We got a few runs in before the hoards of powder hungry Aussies hit the slopes.  We were surprised at the amount of Australians in Hirafu.  Everyone I spoke to was from Sydney.  It was a playground that day.  We headed up into the trees again, and saw many people doing the same thing, yet, because the snow was so deep, you didn’t notice the tracks by any previous person.  It was heaven.

The Japanese are keen on their night skiing.  The whole ski area is lit up with pretty lights leading down the line of the pistes into the resort.  Warren and I decided to try out the night skiing in Hirafu again as we had had such a good day there.  There is a free shuttle bus which drives you around as the top lift is not open at night to connect the different resorts.  The bus ride was no longer than 20 minutes.

16/02/08 Cat Skiing
Talk about getting the most out of the trip.  Not only did we finish skiing at 9pm the night before, but we were about to start again at 6.30am.   We were going to sample the Cat skiing that is readily available at the resort.  For 10,000yen (approximately £40), you can get yourself up on the Cat for around three trips before the lifts open.  It had continued snowing, so there was still even more fresh powder.  Unfortunately it was a white out and wasn’t the weather for filming or photography. 

The flight back was beautiful and the view out of the window was spectacular.  We were also bumped up to business class and were the only 2 people in the business class cabin, so Scott our air host was our man the whole flight.  We ate and drank loads, watched some great movies and left the powder behind.  Roll on February 2009.  Come and join us!

For more information on the Warren Smith Ski Academy Powder Camps, click here.