Japan?s Powder Playground
When North Americans think of skiing, they rarely think of Japan. They should.
It is the stuff that skiers? dreams are made of. Feathery white piles of frozen water particles blanketing mountain slopes, bowls and chutes, waiting to reward the faithful with hours of pillowy pleasure. As surely as surfers scour the seven seas for the ultimate wave, skiers and boarders will search far and wide for that holy grail of snow sports ? perfect powder.

On a blustery February winter?s day my brother and I arrive at the ultimate powder playground, made in Japan. It?s called Niseko, the country?s largest and most famous ski resort. Located on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, Niseko encompasses four interconnected ski areas radiating from the same volcanic peak that together span nearly 900 hectares of mellow terrain and a decent thousand metres of vertical.  It doesn?t just snow in Niseko. It never stops snowing. From the moment we check in to our hotel at the base of the mountain until we board the shuttle bus to catch our flight home the flakes keep falling. And falling.
Geography and orography have blessed Niseko, which averages over five meters of fresh snow during a typical January; compare that to Whistler?s average of about a meter. Dry, frigid Siberian winds mop up moisture over the comparatively warm Sea of Japan before reaching mountainous Hokkaido, where water turns not into wine, but into the finest, fluffiest champagne powder fallin...