Do You Need a Ski Instructor in Hokkaido? An Insider's Honest Take
Do you need an instructor for a Hokkaido ski trip? I’ve taught for seven years and ridden four winters in Hokkaido, so here’s the inside view. The short answer: three kinds of people get the most out of it, and two kinds can skip it.
Three kinds of people who should book one
First: complete beginners
Take me as the example. My first time skiing, as a student with no money, I planned to learn from videos. The only thing online back then was a grainy old TV tutorial, and I watched it several times, full of confidence. The result? It took me an hour just to figure out how to put the board on, I strapped the bindings in the wrong place, then I couldn’t stand up at all and floundered on the spot for two hours. In the end I meekly hired an instructor, and it cost me half a month’s living expenses.
Why doesn’t self-teaching work? Because when people are scared they follow survival instinct and do whatever feels safest, and those moves are almost always the opposite of correct technique. Once a wrong movement sets in, fixing it is harder than learning from zero, and the risk of injury is higher. A blank page is the easiest thing to teach. An instructor gives you the right way to use your body, and with the foundation laid correctly, everything after comes twice as easily.
Second: people coming back after a long break, and intermediates stuck on a plateau
These are really the same group: they can ride, but the form is off, and the more they ride the more it feels wrong and the more it sets in. Fixing technique needs another pair of eyes. An instructor finds what you should practise and what you should change faster than anything else, so the practice that follows actually counts.
Third: families with kids
Hand the kids to an instructor and two things happen: parents relax, and parents finally get to ride properly themselves. Once the kids’ level catches up with the adults, the whole family rides together. For the details, see skiing Niseko with kids.
Two kinds of people who can skip it
First, experienced riders who’ve lapped every run at their home resorts. Learn the layout and you’ll be fine, though be careful off-piste.
Second, people who’ve just finished a block of lessons and need to digest them. Drill what you learned until it sticks, and your next lesson will be far more effective. Don’t worry about outgrowing your instructor. Instructors are desperate for you to get good, because then they can take you powder hunting (really, it’s the instructor who wants to go powder hunting).
The ending
The money you spend on an instructor doesn’t buy someone to ride alongside you. It buys your time. This winter’s ski trip may carry a whole year of anticipation, and we want you to spend it well and enjoy it.
The Japow Academy has fourteen instructors this season across Niseko Moiwa, Rusutsu and Kiroro, with free transfers to Rusutsu and Kiroro for guests staying in the Niseko area. Contact us any time and we’ll match you with an instructor until you’re happy.
- Next in the series: How to pick a reliable instructor, and what a day should cost
- Meet the team: Our instructors