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List of National Backcountry Guide Clubs

This guide introduces backcountry guide clubs across Japan, run by professional guides holding international mountain guide or JMGA (Japan Mountain Guide Association) certifications.
Unlike managed ski resorts, the backcountry is fraught with risks. Going alone should be avoided as a general rule, and friends or acquaintances accompanying you won't necessarily avoid danger.
Guide clubs provide support not only for those who have never done backcountry skiing before, but also for those who feel anxious or have obstacles when going to unfamiliar places. If you're going backcountry skiing, use a guide club.

Guide Club List and How to View the List

The guide club introduction focuses on JMGA-certified guide clubs. We have collected and organized various information to provide as much detail as possible about the guide clubs

Number of guides, qualifications, guide ratio

The ratio is a guideline for how many guests there should be for one guide. For ski and snowboard guiding in mountain areas, the ideal ratio is one guide to six guests. Within this range, you can see what guidelines each guide club has

When you look at this together with the number of guides, you can see the maximum number of people they can accept for a tour. Also, the areas they can guide vary depending on their qualifications. For detailed guidelines on this, see the JMGA website

rental

We have listed the rental equipment items for each guide club. The details are mainly divided into four categories: safety gear, backpacks, skiing equipment, and climbing gear. Please check your belongings against the gear you own

The actual tour content

This report details the activity time, cumulative elevation gain, average hike time, and slope characteristics for three different types of tours: first-time participants, those with backcountry experience, and the most difficult level.
Activity time includes all time spent on the snow, including ascent, skiing, and breaks. This information provides a general overview of the characteristics of each guide club.

If the activity time and hiking time are long for the first time participant, it is possible to predict a route without lift access, but if the hiking time is short and there is a large cumulative elevation change, it is likely that a tour will use a lift. This is also largely due to the regional characteristics of the guide club's location

At first glance, there may not seem to be much difference between a first-time tour participant and one with BC experience. First-time participants receive an explanation of the conditions in the field, ample hiking time, and more rest periods, so the time spent on snow is not that different from that spent with BC experience. However, the difference is the hiking time and elevation gain. Since the itinerary usually involves repeated sliding and climbing, the hiking time and elevation gain increase

By the way, a total elevation difference of 600m is like skiing from the summit to the base of Marunuma Kogen, and 1000m is like skiing from the top to the bottom of Happo-One Ski Resort

INDEX

Hokkaido

Tohoku

Hakuba

Shinetsu

Yuzawa

Kanto

Toyama

Chukyo and Kansai

INDEX