Ski touring in Mount Yotei

Mount Yotei stands alone on the Niseko plain, so symmetrical it looks like a child's drawing of a volcano, and it is the great backcountry objective of southern Hokkaido. There are no lifts and no queues — just a five-or-six-hour skin up from the road, through the same impossibly light snow that has made the region famous.

The reward at the top is a choice. You can ski straight back down the outside, or drop into the summit crater itself — a huge bowl of untracked snow — climb back out, and then descend the flank all the way to where you started. Standing on the rim of a volcano with a run waiting inside it is a rare thing in skiing.

This is avalanche terrain with no patrol and no safety net. Carry the gear, understand the snowpack, and take a guide — they are widely available in Niseko and Kutchan, and on a mountain like this they are simply the sensible call.

Avalanche terrain with no patrol. Guides are the sensible option and are widely available in Niseko and Kutchan.