Snowsure: 4.9
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Kiroro Resort is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Kiroro Resort Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
January 15, 2024
Nikita from
Japan - Nagano
Nikita from
Japan - Nagano
Hopefully, this will help someone:
2023/2024 update.
2023 - I skied Kiroro Jan 2023 after a huge snowfall, bringing 50-60cm of snow. If the top lift is not open, there is literally nothing to do on the resort. Like nothing. Also, they sometimes close top lift due to wind.
2024 - I skied Kiroro in Jan 2024 and this year, December, was not really good in terms of snow base. So 12th Jan conditions were so-so, small trees and bushes everywhere, barely couple runs where you can connect several turns in a line. Not a line that I'd say was worth the visit.
January 13, 2024
Pippa Beak
Pippa Beak
We have skied Kiroro for the past 14 years; however, due to covid and a family illness have not been back to our home in Niseko for 4 years.
We were excited to ski Kiroro yesterday on a big powder day, started with a great cappucino and some Dan Dan noodles for lunch.
Sadly, since Club Med seem to have taken over, our Kiwi owned coffee shop has gone replaced by the worst watery machine coffee we have ever had. And the lunch restaurant, food was inedible. I wondered why it was pretty empty when we entered. And a waffle surrounded sausage...what are they thinking?
And no longer having to register as we excited the gates...
Such a shame as it was an amazing Japanese skiing experience and now not so.
February 09, 2023
shane from sydney
shane from sydney
October 19, 2021
Adam Hill
Adam Hill
I have skied Kiroro four times in the last six seasons prior to Covid and the conditions rarely disappoint. Unfortunately, the tourists have also discovered it and my last experience there in Feb 2020 was extremely busy, especially off-piste. I hope it doesn't become another mini Niseko but I doubt it.
February 10, 2021
Finley Johnson from
Japan - Nagano
Finley Johnson from
Japan - Nagano
Probably my favourite Hokkaido resort. Seems to get more snow than Niseko or perhaps it just feels that way with the lesser crowds. Plenty of varied terrain with high quality, wide groomers at various pitches for on-piste skiing. And the backcountry/sidecountry is next level on powder days! Can't wait to get back there as soon as possible!
January 18, 2018
JimmyB from
Japan - Nagano
JimmyB from
Japan - Nagano
Ignore the review saying it's a dangerous resort for back country. Kiroro has some of the best / most monitored back-country in Japan.
They have opened up the whole backcountry so long as you register in the morning and for the most part it's free of charge. There are certain sections where only paying Mountain Club members (1,500 yen per day or 12,000 yen for the season) are allowed before 11am but the vast majority of slack country is open to everyone from when the lift starts. The whole lot is open after 11. You can always find fresh tracks to be had, and the guys in the place where you register are happy to provide advice about where to go and not to go.
Only drawback is the food. It's overpriced because the only local accommodation is a couple of posh hotels. Bring an Onigiri or just ride the whole day and then head down to Otaru for a proper meal.
November 05, 2016
Derek
Derek
I was in Kiroro in February and would say the following about the on- piste skiing. There are some great little bowls and pitches which left me begging for a lot more vertical in the boot to knee deep conditions. There are long flattish sections near the bottom and at the top in some areas. The snow was light and abundant, as the historical statistics suggest. The facilities and both hotels are very good but food is very expensive in any of the restaurants and the only way around it is to eat early in the cafeteria before it closes, and take some snacks for supper.
February 27, 2016
Wilko from
Japan - Nagano
Wilko from
Japan - Nagano
Just like to say how impressed I am with the backcountry reorganising at Kiroro. The Mountain Club and the manning of the gates in the morning by the Mountain Patrol has really put authenticity into side and back country terrain, by registering every individual and group that wants access to this incredible skiing. Making sure every one returns to the resort by signing out at the end of the day saves countless waisted effort by the patrol. For the half hour it takes to register is nothing when you know the resort has your safety in mind. The exorbitant fee mentioned by others is for companies and those that want to complete the registration before 9am. Any individual or group can register after 9am, giving the mountain club members a head start on the lifts. The biggest concern to me is the " Powder Greed" way of thinking that every second counts. Kiroro is the only resort in the area that you can start skiing at 10am or later and still get fresh tracks. Anyone who thinks this is set up for and by corporate greed obviously thinks they are the only ones who like skiing/ riding powder and how dare someone else like it as well. I take my hat off to the Mountain Patrol for looking into the future and acknowledging the fact that every rider wants to ski pow, No wonder it is so crowded now. I love it that's why I'm here and am stoked to see like minded riders enjoying the same. Pow to the People!
January 05, 2016
"Customer" from
Japan - Nagano
"Customer" from
Japan - Nagano
"Authenticity" of the powder experience isn't measured by the chops of the "local" guide's experience ninja, it's the ride down untracked deep pow that provides that. If you'd like to skin up to the top of the lifts at Kiroro to access the gates rather than ride the gondola that the 'corporate' constructed for you there are hundreds of other hills in Hokkaido waiting for you and your topo map. The team at Kiroro are doing their best to avoid the mess that has afflicted other Hokkaido resorts which have become a crazy circus of money hungry guiding "authenticity" and if 100,000 yen per season messes up your business plan when you are charging more than 20,000 yen per punter per day you need to have a good look at your maths. May I suggest you set up shop in the Kamchatka Peninsula or Gulmarg where they have no internet, Facebook or other evil influences which reduce authenticity.
December 23, 2015
Hokkaido ninja from
Japan - Nagano
Hokkaido ninja from
Japan - Nagano
Used to be a secret stash for local guides to take powder hungry people on tours. Now overpopularized by the internet and people talking about it on Facebook, the crowds have more than doubled in the last year and the sidecountry access has been more or less shut off to anyone who doesn't pay an extra fee and sign their life away to be in a special "club" to use the new gated sidecountry system. They have closed access to outside guiding services unless they pay over 100,000 yen for a commercial pass, favoring their own corporate ski school "guides." Long runouts in the bottom, dangerous holes, and valleys that don't all return to the resort can make this a dangerous and cumbersome place without the kind of qualified, licensed backcountry guides that have been guiding there for years and have recently been cast aside due to exclusivity. Same kind of corporate mumbo jumbo that is happening in Niseko, reducing the authenticity of the powder seeker's experience.
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