For US people, Niseko gives you two days for free with Mountain Collective (you have to go to some office to get them) and then half off. At half off it was about $30 a day to ride all 4 mountains, i.e. super cheap.

Niseko Day 1: Annupuri and Niseko Village

my partner in crime, Arturo

ticket prices were quite cheap by US standards (got 2 free days with mountain collective and half off for the last 3 days)

lots of side country gates

gate 11 by niseko village was also fun

riding pizza box chairs on the way back to Annupuri :)

doesn't feel super safe, but better than a tow rope

the Annupuri G1/G4 gates were nice, but you quickly get to a valley with tracked terrain

Niseko Day 2: Grand Hirafu and Hanazono

morning gondola line

windy day with rotor cloud on top of Mt Yotei

beautiful day

gates were open, G5 took you to the Hanazono base

this was the posh base for people with too much money :)

2 or 3 chairs to go back up and cross back to Grand Hirafu

with 2 chairs only and a short hike, this side country took you back

this was the posh base for people with too much money :)

2 or 3 chairs to go back up and cross back to Grand Hirafu

with 2 chairs only and a short hike, this side country took you back

When it was sunny, it looked nice:

Side country run with good snow, still:

Niseko Day 3: Grand Hirafu Mostly Shut Down Blizzard Day

not many pictures, visibility was not good due to wind, it was kind of a blizzard

Nice side country with powder faceshot:

Niseko Day 4: Windy Grand Hirafu and Hanazono

morning gondola line, although it went faster due to less wind and higher gondola speed

the gates were weird, some closed ones were routinely ignored while others were really a good idea to respect

the work to get that powder was not really worth it, and it was not very steep in most places

beautiful views

but the weather turned quickly again

Two nice sidecountry runs, one with sun, one with show falling:

Niseko Day 5: Better weather, all mountain

lnie for the top lift

The avalanche gate near the top had some really good warning cartoons. They were poetic sounding (maybe even haikus in japanese?), and they should actually be more advertised, The warnings on getting stuck in crevaces and riverbeds, were wery on point, especially at Kiroro where you can really get in trouble when you go side country:

you could hike all the way to the top, but it was a 45mn hike that didn't feel worth the time and effort

being able to take gate 4 for the first time, was nice

After that, I went back to Niseko Village and gate 11, which is alledgely a triple black diamond, but didn't feel that hard:

makes for a nice picture, though ;)

Nice clouds to end the day:

farewell niseko, we had a great time

One sidecountry run off gate 4 that finally opened:

And a loast one from gate 11, the supposed to be triple black diamond that was only single black:

Rusutsu gives you 5 free days if you have an epic local pass, but those 5 days are consecutive

Rusutsu Day 1: Great Bluebird

nice drive to Rusutsu

I didn't know the terrain so well, my first ride down the gondola, I was afraid of getting stuck at the bottom, but actually it was fine

always hard to gauge if it will be downhill the whole way, I was worried the gondola line had an uphill section lower down

ran the gondola line a few more times, it was excellent

While I really like flow bindings as they are easier to get in and out, they fail in too many different ways. Thankfully I learned my lesson and carry an entire spare emergency binding in my backpack:

kind of sucky that such a thick cable can snap

there you go, emergency backup binding installed

will fix this later, spare cables were ordered and sent home for when I get back

Back on the slopes to esplore the rest of the resort:

Rusutsu Day 2: Windy Post Storm

snowy drive to rusutsu, but the roads stayed open

only a few lifts were open in the morning, Mt Isola was too windy

people showed up for the pow day, thankfully we already had a ticket thanks for our epic pass and skipped the ticket line

eventually Mt Isola opened up

And the tree runs on the correct face of Mt Isola (way from sun and wind) was also quite nice:

and after a bunch of rides, it was time to get back. Yes, there was night skiing, but that didn't really seem worth it after the great powder we had all day:

Defintely got lucky with Rusutsu, great snow even if the terrain isn't super steep in many places.

For our last day in Hokkaido snow, Kiroro has just gotten a lot of snow, and it was a godo time to visit to enjoy the powder. It was reaosonably busy, but even if the parking lots were full and we had to go to overflow, the resort didn't feel very crowded and never had to wait long for a lift:

the weather alternated between sunny and snowing, all day

I wasted some time trying to see how to register for the sidecountry gates, as was required last time I came, but that was 7 years ago, and now they ask you to register with some Hokkaido backcountry office on the internet which seemed fairly time consuming if you just wanted to do the in resort sidecountry as opposed to exiting in places where you'd end up way out there.

the maps are worth paying attention to, lots of tree areas and powder fields

yes!

The first run down the chair was very good:

the gondola to the other peak had a short line and did take 15mn up each time

beautiful trees

anti wind gates

did I say nice trees? :)

Seems that most people didn't really register and just took the side country gates in a way that you end up in the resort at the end, but in one of them, if you turn the wrong way, you could end up in unhappy places (like snow hike out which could take hours)
You definitely have to pay attention to this map once you get out, especially for teh elevation linea and the river in the middle that you can fall into if the snow collapses:

I did have my beacon :)

some signs, but no real warnings about the river that will try to swallow you at the bottom

the hike at the top of the gondola can be as long as you want it to be, but make sure to drop on the left side

While the side country was good experience, it also could get you in trouble, especially as you end up on top of a river with multiple holes, some big, and others where the snow could collapse and you fall in the river, no good:

it was very easy to end up in one of these, they were almost everywhere

After 6 different side country runs, the day was over, and time to get back:

Defintely a great experience, but it's a no screw around zone, you can really get in trouble once you go side country at Kiroro