FURANO
Ski & Snowboard Resort Review
Furano, JAPAN is located in central Hokkaido and is one of Japan's largest ski and snowboard resorts recieving 8 meters of dry light powder each season.
Furano Skiing and Snowboarding Terrain
The mountain is divided into 2 linked zones, the Furano Zone and the Kitanomine Zone. The terrain consists of long groomed winding wide trails, challenging steeps and open ungroomed powder fields. T he lift system is fast and efficient and while Furano does attract crowds on weekends, midweek it stays relatively uncrowded.
Advanced Skiing and Snowboarding
The famous fast Men’s Downhill run starting at the top of the Furano Zone is fantastic after a fresh snowfall and a guaranteed leg burner!
For powder head to the ungroomed Freakozawa terrain under the 3km long Kitanomine Gondola for excellent powder turns and awesome tree skiing and snowboarding.
The upper Furano Zone has fast trees lined runs above the Ropeway, while the runs on the skiers/snowboarders far left hand side are fantastic for speed giant carving turns after a snowfall.
Intermediate Skiing and Snowboarding
Intermediates will love the long wide rolling cruisers of varying steepness. The longest intermediate runs are 3.5km long with most of them groomed top to bottom nightly.
Beginner Skiing and Snowboarding Terrain
There are two ski and snowboard schools at Furano located at the base of each zone, and three beginner gentle areas located on the lower zones.
Furano Skiing and Snowboarding Mountain Guides
Free guided tours are available at Furano with volunteer local guides meeting international visitors at the lift base before taking them on a guided mountain tour. The bilingual guided tours cater for all levels of skiers and snowboarders in both large and small groups. As well as showing you every aspect of the resort the guides can give you some local history lessons, recommend restaurants and bars and let you know about up and coming events in Furano.
Furano Night Skiing and Snowboarding
Night skiing and snowboarding is open until 9pm every day at Furano.
Furano Terrain Park and Halfpipe
There is a small terrain park in Furano and a World Cup size competition halfpipe will be created for the 2007/2008 season.
Other Activities at Furano
There are a lot of activities available other than skiing and snowboarding ranging from; hot air ballooning to a height of 1000 meters, ice hole fishing, snowmobiling, 4WD motor bikes and snow carts, snow rafting, tubing, parasailing, horse riding, paragliding and hot spring tours.
Be sure to have an onsen, a Japanese style bath filled with natural hot spring water, nothing soothes your aching muscles better. The Ryounaku Onsen is located at the highest point on Hokkaido and has an outdoor onsen that has spectacular views of the mountains, shuttle buses can take you there from the town.
Furano Restaurants
In town there are over 80 restaurants, snack shops, cafes and bars as well as souvenir shops, specialty food stores, bakeries and a jam factory where you can make your own jam.
More About Furano
Your Furano Ski & Snowboard Resort Reviews
Marcus L, USA , March 2006 I've ridden a few resorts in Japan, happo one being a personal favourite, but was keen to test out Furano. Came away satisfied but still don't know if I would rush back. The snow was great with a dusting of fresh powder on top but most of the off piste was unaccessable. The ski patrol likes you to stick to the groomers and pistes and not venture off. They are really quite strict with the out of bounds, the patrollers seem to watch you like hawks!.....and I thought the Italians were strict! Anyway overall it's a good resort with heaps of intermediate runs with some advanced areas and as usual the Japanese are welcoming and friendly.
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Statistics |
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Elevation |
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Average
Snowfall |
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8
meters |
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Lifts |
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10 |
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Trails |
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Terrain
% |
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Halfpipe |
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1 |
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Terrain
Park |
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1 |
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Resort
Website |
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