Backcountry skiing warning: Japan prone to avalanches

A curiosity to explore the world, push boundaries, and look at a view in awe motivates backcountry skiers.

They seek out fresh lines, unhackneyed views, and in Japan, the best powder snow in the world.

But with seeking, comes risk.

Two New Zealanders including 21-year-old Isabella Bolton were killed in an avalanche in Japan's Hokkaido region on Monday.

They were in a group of six, exploring the backcountry of Mount Yotei (1898 metres), when the avalanche struck at an elevation of 650-700 metres.

The past few years have seen more people exploring backcountry terrain each winter season, both foreign visitors and Japanese nationals. But with increased numbers, there have been more accidents involving avalanches.

The 2021 winter season saw eight backcountry fatalities. In 2023, there were six deaths in January alone.

This season is no different.

"We've had multiple avalanche incidents, involvements and deaths this season in Hakuba, Myoko and other areas, including Hokkaido this year," Evergreen Outdoor Centre founder Dave Enright said.

Enright, born in Canada, has called Japan home for 30 years. He has worked in ski patrol, and runs his adventure company in Hakuba on Japan's mainland, offering backcountry tours and avalanche skills courses.

He said this season, backcountry deaths have occurred on both guided tours and among those skiing and riding recreationally.

"Japan is not generally regulated for any outdoor guiding whatsoever - There is a ski guide association but not all people guiding have done that course. And there's not a lot of mentoring going on once people have received any qualifications."

The backcountry skiing industry in Japan is only about two decades old.

Enright decided to teach people about the danger of avalanches after three New Zealanders died in the Hakuba mountains in 2000.

"I was involved in the search for these guys and it hit me that I had to do something to help people not get killed in avalanches."

Since first starting his business in Japan, he said he has seen an increase in inbound visitors, many lacking depth in skiing and mountain experience, yet still signing up to his avalanche courses.

Emergency response different in Japan ski resorts

Kiwi backcountry ski guide Pete Ozich has worked in Japan and New Zealand for 15 years as a guide. He also runs avalanche safety courses.

He said that in New Zealand, if someone out skiing in the backcountry sets off a personal locator beacon (PLB) because of an avalanche, injury or being lost, everyone responds. Competing tour companies will sacrifice a day out for their clients to fly their helicopter to the person who's fallen down a crevasse or has hit avalanche terrain. Ski resorts will send out their ski patrol. Everyone works together, as quickly as possible, and the rescue is free.

But in Japan, the situation is different.

Most PLBs are illegal to use. Ski resorts explain to visitors if they "duck ropes," they're skiing at their own risk - with a hefty fine if search and rescue do get sent out.

Only five mountainous areas are covered by its official national avalanche advisory website. The Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory said no avalanche warning had been issued for the Mount Yotei area on the day the two Kiwis died.

Weather conditions in Japan can easily result in surface avalanches, where a fresh layer of snow slides down frozen snowpack underneath. Yet, Enright said many people are coming to Japan without knowledge of the Japanese snowpack, only hearing reports that the snow doesn't slide and it keeps on falling.

"Yotei is a volcano, it's probably the steepest terrain in the area 30-45 degrees. It's alpine, it's hit by wind. You stay out of the gullies, you stay more to the ridges and out of areas where the snow won't collect and bury you.

"There will always be avalanches. It's situational awareness, people's risk adversity, it's the ability of a professional body to put out (avalanche risk) bulletins and for people to understand how to read those bulletins and take proper precautions when they're out there, and when you're out there checking the snowpack and terrain," Enright said.

Ten people from two different groups were caught in an avalanche at the back of Tsugaike Kogen ski field this season.

"None of them were majorly injured or dead, which was a miracle, but you shouldn't have that many people caught in the same avalanche on the same slide. Something definitely went wrong with the way those groups are managing their movement in avalanche terrain.

"The mountain is the mountain, it will avalanche when it wants too. It doesn't discriminate on your race or qualification."

For the past ten days, due to unstable snow, Ozich and his guides have been skiing under 30 degrees in the mountains of Nagano prefecture.

"We were hearing about an avalanche fatality almost every day during that period.

"It's an unusual snowpack for the area, so people need to adapt."

The frustrating thing for Ozich is that he shared his knowledge about the unstable snow with as many people as possible but he struggled to think of places where people would get the message other than Facebook. There's no official website where people can submit real-time snow observations.

"There were four fatalities and maybe up to 10 hospitalisations from that snowpack avalanching, of people who probably didn't see the post or pay attention."

Both Ozich and Enright agree that responsibility for safety lies foremost in the hands of the individual.

"People are challenging themselves too much. They think they're going to be doing all these great lines, they think their airbag will save them, that having a beacon, probe and shovel and practising in the parking lot a few times will save them, wearing a helmet," Enright said.

But things can and do go wrong.

"And the thing that's going to save them is reading the terrain."

Staying on low-angled slopes if you don't have experience and going on higher angles only when you know the snowpack is well-bonded and there are no signs of instability, previous avalanches or other red flags.

NZ expert adds his voice to warnings

An experienced ski guide is warning of the dangers of backcountry skiing as it becomes more and more popular.

Peter Bilous - head of Otago Polytechnic's avalanche safety programme - said there was an increasing trend, especially in Japan, of people wanting something more challenging than a patrolled skifield.

"Anecdotally, I've seen more and more people in the backcountry all over the world."

He said people needed to research the local conditions, and advised them to go out with a qualified guide.

"Be prepared for the worst, but hope for the best. People should always know what to do in case of an emergency, and should have contact numbers in their phone and know the protocol for a rescue," he said.

"Often people neglect the value of getting educated about avalanche danger. I've been doing this for 30 years and there's still conditions that challenge me."

Bilous said conditions in Japan were generally safer for backcountry skiers compared to New Zealand, but people should always be vigilant.

"A big difference is that Japan gets a lot of snow, it just snows constantly. In New Zealand we get a lot of wind, it's exposed to the alpine and it's a lot more common to have dangerous conditions in New Zealand frequently. We have weather patterns that set up for weak layers in the snow quite regularly," he said.

In an interview from 2002, Enright was asked how he thought the Japanese winter sports industry would evolve.

"I hate to say it but there will also be an increase in accidents in the backcountry and out-of-bounds areas at resorts - and a high ratio of these will probably be foreigners."

Twenty years later his prediction is coming true.

Additional reporting by Anna Sargent