Ski touring trip to Hokkaido, Japan - Sunday, Jan 20, 2019

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Once you've reviewed the event details, and decided you'd like to join us, you MUST sign up at the bottom of this page.

You are STRONGLY encouraged to read this page in its entirety before signing up.
The Basics:
Event Type: Skiing 
Event Location: Hokkaido, Japan 
Date(s) & Time:   Sunday, Jan 20, 2019 12:00 AM  
Registration Cut Off:   Sunday, Dec 23, 2018 12:00 AM  
Event Duration: 14 days 
Difficulty Rating:   D3 - See Conversion Chart  
Trip Coordinator(s):    

Participant Info:
Who's Invited:   Members Only  
Attendee Screening:   Attendees are Pre-Screened
Maximum Group Size: 5
Maximum No. Guests: 0
Minimum Group Size: 4
Maximum No. Guests Per Member: 0
Number Registered So Far:   4 (View sign-ups, waiting list)
Are Dogs Permitted:   No

Itinerary:
This trip is for the connoisseurs of foreign culture and deep powder skiing - 10 days of back-country ski touring and 12 days of lodging in Hokkaido, Japan. We will be skiing two famous for blower snow zones: Niseko and Furano (15 meters of average snow accumulation between Dec-March). Day trips will take us to volcanoes, alpine terrains and fantastic tree skiing. Access to the skiing will be a combination of lift / cable car and skinning up from the valley bottoms. Wide skis (95-105 mm) will work best in these conditions. Two nice hotels (one with on site spa "onsen") have been booked, we will have two spacious rooms with 2 and 3 beds and on suite bathrooms. We will also have a mini-van for the duration of the trip to take us from the airport to hotels and for daily commute to ski areas. After skiing for 5 days in Niseko area we will take a day off to travel to Furano where we will ski for another 5 days. The cost of this trip is $1,700 based on the 5 participants and includes: hotels, van rental and gasoline. What's not included: meals, several one way lift passes, hot springs entrances, miscellaneous (budget about $50-60 per day) and the flight to/from Chitose, Hokkaido. Typical cost of return flight (Calgary-Chitose) is app. $1300, but every now and then the price drops to under $1000. An extra night in Chitose may be required for late arrivals and to help with jet lag. Once you have been accepted as trip participant, a $600 deposit will be required to secure your spot. The balance, $1,100 will be needed before November 30, 2018. This will be a SELF GUIDED trip, all participants must have an AST 2 (or equivalent) with lots of back-country skiing experience. Trip coordinator is familiar with some ski destinations in Hokkaido, but all participants will be expected to contribute to route finding, safety decisions and daily risk assessment meetings!. Health insurance for the duration of the trip is strongly recommended. A small portion of participants fees will subsidize trip coordinator's transportation related expenses including: gasoline, full protection car insurance, international driving permit, parking, etc. Hotels and van rental costs will be equally shared by all participants and trip coordinator. All costs are based on current (Sept. 2018) prices, in the event of increases in currency exchange or gasoline costs these raises will also be shared by all. For any additional info pls. send a query to abogdan@shaw.ca.
Required Items to Bring:
Gear list will be provided to the participants.

Cancellation/Partial Attendance:
Please review our participant responsibility guidelines!

Once the fees are paid and you can't attend the trip for whatever reason, you will need to find another person to take your place.
*Cancellation Policy*: If a participant is unable to attend a paid course or trip, there will be no refund unless the participant finds a suitable replacement that is acceptable to the trip coordinator. Acceptable waiting list candidates will have priority. It will then be the participant's responsibility to recover funds from the replacement. If the coordinator cancels an event, participants get a refund (less any non-recoverable costs). Note that ACC National does not refund hut fees due to weather, delay, closures, or any other reasons. The Calgary Section of the ACC is a not for profit club and we only charge attendees what it costs us to provide courses or trips.

Trip Feedback
If you have any feedback, positive or negative, concerning this trip or any other, we want to hear from you!
Click here to be directed to our "Contact Us" page and contact the appropriate Chair person or the Section Chair. This is also a simple way to make your section executive aware of any praises, suggestions or problems you may have with any area of the Calgary Section of the ACC.
Thank you for your response.

Registration for this event closed on Sunday, December 23, 2018 at 12:00 AM.