Sapporo-dake

Sapporo-dake rises to 1,293 metres inside Shikotsu-Toya National Park, south of Jozankei. The trailhead is near Hoheikyo Dam. It has a large car park and a box for your registration slip, and the hot spring at Hoheikyo waits a couple of kilometres down the road.

A taped summer trail follows the Hiyamizu stream up to Hiyamizu Hut at about 850 metres. The route crosses the water many times, and early in the season those snow bridges can be thin. There are no markers above the hut. A gully of about 100 metres opens into a bowl, and a broad ridge just above the trees leads to the top. Most of the descent faces north, so the snow keeps well after a cold spell.

Hokkai Gakuen University owns the hut. It sleeps 30 for ¥350 a night on the first and third weekends of each month, and you need to book by phone. A night there turns the summit into an easy morning. The western slopes behind the hut can slide, and in cloud the open top makes it easy to set off down the wrong side.