Yoichi-dake

Yoichi-dake is the highest point in Sapporo city at 1,488 metres, and Kiroro sits in its lap. With Asari-dake and Shirai-dake it makes up the Yoichi Three Peaks. Skiers first stood on the summit in winter in 1920. The standard route today leaves from the lowest buildings at Kiroro and climbs 950 metres over about thirteen kilometres.

The climb follows the resort road and then the line of the summer trail through spaced forest. Above 1,000 metres a long rising traverse brings you onto the main ridge. The last kilometre to the top is exposed and often icy enough for crampons, so most parties ski from around 1,300 metres where the snow is better. The north-facing bowl off the ridge from about 1,350 metres is the prize run. It is avalanche terrain, and Hokkaido Wilds suggests a compression test before you commit.

A clear forecast decides the day here, and in deep winter it rarely comes. Spring gives you firm snow and six hours car to car; in January plan on seven or eight and start in the dark. In 2020 police rescued two riders who had set out from Kiroro for the summit. They turned back in a storm and then lost the way down in fog. Kiroro wants everyone heading out from the resort to leave through a designated gate with a climbing plan already filed with Hokkaido Police. Hiking up inside the boundary is banned, and lift staff have turned away skiers looking for a free ride back up.