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Rusutsu

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Rusutsu

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Elevations:

Top:
 994 meters
 3261 feet
Vertical:
 994 meters
 3261 feet

Number of Lifts:

17 lifts:
  4 gondola(s)
  7 quad chair(s)
  6 double chair(s)

Contact details:

Ph: +81-136-46-3111
Website: Click here
 

Resort Rundown

Rusutsu is a purpose built resort situated an hour and a half away either from Niseko, Sapporo and New Chitose Airport.
Covering 1,700 hectares of terrain and 3 mountains East, West and Mt Isola.
Serviced by 17 gondolas and covered lifts, 37 runs making 42km of total length, including a 3,500meter leg burner. There is plenty for every one of all levels and let me tell you the tree riding is simply awesome.
Rusutsu is split into two areas. A gondola that transfers you across both areas splits the East and West Mountains.
checking out West Mountain from the Centre Base Station Location: Rusutsu, Japan
The East Mt area is composed of two mountains, Mt Isola at 994 meters and East Mt at 868 meter’s. This covers the better and larger terrain available.
West Mountain is at 715 meters and is where the resort facilities are all available including Hotels, Resort Convention Centre, Amusement park and Snowboard Park.

Since the only accommodation is the Hotel and Rusutsu 25 floor tower, the lifts rarely get crowded, as there is no satellite town nearby, the normal crowds are Japanese families or high flyers and this normally means that everyone skis on piste leaving the trees to the powder hunters.

Visitors to Rusutsu arrive on Tuesday’s and Friday’s with a busload of powder junkies from the Deep Powder Tours gig at Niseko to enjoy the glorious tree runs.

Free Riding

When the powder falls here at Rusutsu, which is quite often the riding to be had is wicked.
The groomed runs are long and steep and are fast in the mornings, the track will be covered up again by the time you get back up to the top of the mountain if it is snowing.
Go hard and fast down ‘Steamboat 1 and Steamboat 2’ and the Isola Grand is a long leg burner.

The trees are perfect, the spacing and the gradient allows fast powder turns breaking out into open powder fields and then back into more trees. The Powder quality is light and dry, rooster tails soaring over your head as you carve up the untracked white stuff.

Mt Isola is the pick of the terrain available the trees runs off Isola Quads 1, 3 and 4 are epic. There are very little roped off areas and the atmosphere is casual and fun. Just don’t drop into the trees to skiers right of the Isola gondola as this entails a hard hike out in deep snow.

East Mountain only has a handful of runs and is more a connection to Mt Isola, though the run out back to the base underneath the East #2 Gondola is long and wicked, even at 3.30pm is untracked and deep.

West Mountain is smaller with some nice short steep runs and to be had check out ‘giant’, ‘tiger’ and ‘natural’ and enjoy the tree runs and the views of the Hotel and East Mountain.

An afternoon will be more than enough on West Mountain though as it is quite small.

There is two bowls off to the skier’s left of West Mt, which is out of bounds and would require some hard hiking by the look of it.
Being on a day trip doesn’t allow this really as an option and seriously there is no real need as on both occasions I have visited Rusutsu I have had enough powder inbounds in the trees to last me a season.

Free Style

The 100 Meter long halfpipe and fun terrain park are located on West Mountain the skiers left of the ‘family' chair.

Rusutsu is a free riding mountain, there is some drops and natural hits in amongst the trees but to be honest I didn’t even bother, its all about the powder turns at Rusutsu. 

Weather

It snows a heap here, maybe not quite as much as nearby Niseko but more than enough, both visits I have had here I have ridden fresh two foot deep light dry snow.
The weather can move in quite quickly and visibility up high can turn nasty quickly, but this is the beauty of the trees here, there are lots of them and visibility and protection is good. Steamboat Cafe , the perfect place to recharge for morew powder riding Location: Rusutsu, Japan

Lunch

Drop into the Steamboat Café at the base of the Isola Quad #1 or at the Mt Isola Base Station at the bottom of the Isola Gondola to recharge the batteries, other options are the East Mt Centre Base station or over at the mall at West Mt.

Accommodation

Best bet is to stay in Niseko at cosy pensions and lodges and book through www.deepowdertours.com and use their Tuesday and Friday bus tours to rip up Rusutsu for big powder days.

If you heap’s of cash and want to treat your partner to some luxury then splurge out and stay on the mountain.

Rusutsu Resort Hotel & Convention offers various types of rooms from all-suite Rusutsu Tower, resort hotel rooms of the North and South Wings to Log Houses and Cottages. Besides accommodations, a wide variety of cuisine and gifts is available, while the Indoor Gym, Convention and Seminar Halls are ready to take larger-scale events as well.

Reservation & Inquiry:
Rusutsu Resort Reservation Center
13 Izumikawa, Rusutsu-mura, Abuta-gun, Hokkaido 048-1711
Phone +81-136-46-3111

Nightlife

The hotel has a bar or two but all the action is to be found back at Niseko with plenty of bars poping up all over the village for late night entertainment.

Contact

Get in touch with Glenn and Dale at www.deepowdertours.com, based in Sydney, Australia

The guys were the original operators into Niseko and the surrounding locales and discovered Niseko and the legendary powder since 1996 and have enjoyed bring the joys of deep powder riding to satisfied customers ever since.

Thanks

Thanks to the crew at Deeppowdertours.com for another wicked time at Rusutsu.


























Last updated on 18 March 2006.

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Rusutsu

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