Haruka-yama
春香山43°07′ N 141°06′ Eintermediate+800 m907 m
A short tour from the Otaru–Sapporo boundary climbs an easy ridge to 907 metres, and the best turns wait on the slope behind a university hut that closed in 2022.
Photo Rob Thomson (hokkaidowilds.org) · Publisher's own site · CC BY-SA 4.0 and others, credited in the gallery
Read the terrain
A forest road shared with snowmobiles leads to a wide, featureless ridge above about 700 m. The best skiing is the open slope behind the old Ginreiso hut.
Watch for these hazards
- Whiteout on the broad ridge when Siberian winds blow in; easy terrain still catches beginners out
- Snowmobiles on the forest road
- Navigation on the featureless upper ridge
Pick a route that suits the dayルート
Katsuraoka route via the Ginreiso hut桂岡コース
800 m ascent · intermediate
Climb from the Katsuraoka trailhead up the forest road and the broad east ridge to the summit, then ski the slope behind the old hut. Hokkaido Wilds rates it 5/10 over 12 km.
Southern route from the Helvetia Hütte forest-road gate
intermediate
The summer trail from the south starts at the forest-road gate near Helvetia Hütte. Winter route details were not verified.
Follow the published lines in 3D立体地図
4 trip reports
What riders report from the hill山行記録
2018-01 · Hokkaido Wilds trip report
In a report published in January 2018, a New Year party climbed in wet snow above freezing and met a gale on the Zenibako ridge near the hut, which held more than 25 people that night. Space out under the clear-cut slopes around 250 m after heavy snow, and watch your bearing on the broad ridge above 700 m.
Read the source2019-01 · Hokkaido Wilds trip report
In a report published in January 2019, the climb to Ginreiso took about two and a half hours, and the slope behind the hut held the best snow the author had seen there. About 20 cm fell overnight, and two of the party skied six laps before leaving at 11:30.
Read the source2016-01-03 · Hokkaido Wilds trip report
Cars park by the gate on an unofficial verge, and Otaru plows can bury them after a storm, so bring a shovel. Snowmobiles use the forestry road and leave it icy low down, and the summer trail just below the road skis better.
Read the source2012-04 · Hokkaido Wilds trip report
In a report published in April 2012, the author puts the summit about 40 minutes on foot from the hut and the ski back down at about ten. The trailhead is half an hour's drive from Sapporo.
Read the source
You can reach Haruka-yama by train from Sapporo. The trailhead sits above Katsuraoka on the Otaru side. A taxi from JR Zenibako covers the last 2.8 kilometres, and the climb gains about 800 metres on an easy east-facing line. Tokai University's Ginreiso hut sat just below the top and was the only hut in Hokkaido with a year-round caretaker. It closed at the end of March 2022.
The approach follows a forest road that snowmobiles use, then climbs a wide ridge with little to steer by above 700 metres. Hokkaido Wilds warns that these gentle foothills near Sapporo catch beginners out when a whiteout rolls in on Siberian wind. The slope behind the old hut gives the best turns of the day. A second approach comes up from the south past the forest-road gate near Helvetia Hütte.
Quick answers about Haruka-yamaよくある質問
How long is a tour on Haruka-yama?
A typical tour on Haruka-yama climbs about 800 m and takes 5 hours.
When can you ski tour Haruka-yama?
The touring season on Haruka-yama runs december to April.
Do you need a guide for Haruka-yama?
Experienced, equipped groups tour Haruka-yama on their own, though a local guide finds better snow.
Where do you check avalanche danger for Haruka-yama?
Read the day's bulletin from Japan Avalanche Network (https://nadare.jp/) before every tour on Haruka-yama.
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