In partnership with
Hi {{ first_name | default: "there" }},
Two pieces of news, both pointing in the same direction: it's time to start planning your Japan ski trip for the 2026/27 season.
Niseko
THE SEASON IS COMING. AND IT'S DIFFERENT THIS YEAR
On December 11, 2026, United Airlines launches the first-ever nonstop flight from the continental US to Hokkaido — UA234 from San Francisco to Sapporo, three times a week, in a Boeing 787-9 Polaris cabin. Air Canada follows six days later from Vancouver.
For US skiers, this changes everything. The old Japan trip — fly into Narita, overnight in Tokyo, domestic connection to Sapporo, ground transfer to Niseko — is over. From this winter, it's one flight, lie-flat, doors to powder in under fifteen hours.
Hotels know it. Guides know it. Lodging in the prime January–February window is already booking faster than any previous season we've tracked. The best rooms at Sansui Niseko, Aya, the H2 Life portfolio, and the boutique ryokans across central Hokkaido and Hakuba will be gone by August.
If Japan 2026/27 is on your list, the planning window is now.
Today, we're announcing our exclusive guiding partnership with Grip Guides — one of the most credentialed mountain-guiding teams in Europe.
Every guide on our program is IFMGA / UIAGM certified — the highest international standard in mountain guiding, held by fewer than 7,000 guides worldwide. Yoshi, Cveto, and Uroš lead the team. All three speak fluent English and Japanese. Have decades of confirmed Japan experience and know where the snow stays untracked when Niseko fills up.
What this means for you:
One guide team, all winter. Not a rotation of contractors. The same faces who picked you up at Sapporo are with you for the full trip.
Off-piste access where most operators can't go. IFMGA certification opens cat-skiing terrain, heli zones, and backcountry tours that resort-employed guides simply aren't qualified to lead.
Avalanche-trained decision-making. Hokkaido looks gentle. It isn't. Real mountain judgment is the difference between a great week and a search-and-rescue story.
European hospitality sensibility. Twelve years of guiding the Julian Alps, the Dolomites, and the Nordics — applied to Japanese terrain, with the cultural fluency to read a ryokan as well as a snowpack.
We believe this is the strongest IFMGA-led guiding team operating in Japan today. We're proud to be working with them.
HOW TO START
The program runs $15,000 to $25,000+ per guest per week, fully inclusive of lodging, guiding, transfers, most meals, and on-snow logistics. Flights are separate. We cap each week at twelve guests across all groups, so calendar room is finite.
The first step is a 45-minute call. Just you (and up to two co-travellers) and me. No deck, no pitch — a working conversation about your dates, your group, your terrain preference, and the lodging that fits.
It's $250, and if you book within 60 days, the full amount is credited toward your trip.
→ Book your Japan Powder Strategy Session: Book a call here
If you'd rather hit reply with a few questions first, that works too. I read every email.
Looking forward to it.
Miha Grilj
Founder, H.S.C. Japan
[email protected]
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P.S. If you have a Virtuoso, Fora, or Internova advisor you'd like to involve, loop them in — we're advisor-friendly, and the call format works either way.
Season’s Niseko
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