Shirai-dake and Asari-dake

Shirai-dake sits at the south end of a horseshoe ridge that curls around Sapporo Kokusai from Asari-dake. With Yoichi-dake the two peaks make up the Yoichi Three Peaks, and Sapporo skiers have toured them since the Taisho era. The tour starts in the Kokusai car park. You walk past the bottom of the gondola through the staff parking and head up the Shiraidake-sawa stream.

The lower half winds through a gully with two creek crossings and a steep-sided traverse around 730 metres. A third of the way up the forest thins into old white birch spaced wide enough to ride. The summit ridge meets you at about 1,100 metres, and the top is twenty minutes of flat walking from there. Ski the upper half of the north side, then keep off the gully floors on the way out.

Kokusai's terms ban riding outside its managed area and hiking up its pistes. Climbing from the top lift toward Asari-dake is frowned upon, and the ridge from Asari-dake to Shirai-dake takes about two hours anyway. Guided groups do run tours onto Asari-dake from the gondola top after lodging an entry notice at the resort. Asari-dake's broad summit has a long history of parties walking in circles in blizzards.