A wandering guide who caravans through the backcountry across the country.
As the name BC Caravan suggests, it is a guide service with a taste of travel, providing guidance while caravanning through the backcountry. In a narrow sense, backcountry refers to wilderness, back mountains, undeveloped areas, etc., and in a broader sense, it refers to natural environments that humans do not tread on a daily basis.
BC Caravan is a small-group guide service that not only offers backcountry snowboarding and skiing, but also guides people around Japan's backcountry through outdoor activities such as SUP (stand-up paddleboarding), mountain climbing, and camping during the green season.
During the snow season, you can hunt for powder from the end of December to mid-March, and from March onwards, when the weather is more stable, you can enjoy dynamic turns on the big burns that are unique to the backcountry. His stance as a ``wandering guide'' who travels through the backcountry to meet attractive faces all over the country is unique.
BC Caravan's extensive guide menu
``Slide on good snow at the right time, in the right place.I want to share that best moment with the members who are traveling with me.To that end, the guide not only plays the role of a safety manager and guide, but also the ``harmony'' of the team. I am conducting tours as a coordinator. "We are looking forward to receiving guide requests from people who have the opportunity to travel wherever they go," said Naoki Kawada, the company's representative.
He has been a BC guide for 15 years, and has many guiding skills and experience in snowboarding, mountain climbing, canyoning, rafting, and SUP (stand up paddleboarding). Based on his experience of developing routes on his own since he was just starting out as a guide, he collects information and researches, reads topographic maps, and finds tour routes that can be enjoyed to the fullest with guests.
The guide menu developed by BC Caravan, led by Mr. Kawada, includes [Backcountry Guide] for people with backcountry experience in each region during business trips, [Private BC Guide] which is reserved for private use, and other planned tours [ We also have plans such as [Snow Caravan] and [Tateyama Backcountry] in autumn and spring.
What is important
Mr. Kawada says.
``I work as a guide while traveling around Japan's backcountry with the concept of skiing at the right time, in the right place, and on the best snow.I don't have a fixed route to ski, but rather depending on the weather, conditions, and the group members on that day. We choose the best places to guide you.
In addition to maintaining and improving teamwork during activities in the mountains, we always try to maintain a good atmosphere during tours so that the guests who participate can continue to connect with each other in the future.
Backcountry snowboarding and skiing is a travel tool that allows you to connect with the local people and climate. While respecting the local guides of the area, as a visitor guide I work from the same perspective as the participating guests to help make their trip a better experience.
Naoki Kawata
He has been a BC guide for 15 years and has a wide range of guiding experience including backcountry snowboarding, mountain climbing, canyoning, rafting, and stand up paddleboarding (SUP). He is good at finding enjoyable tour routes based on topographical maps, along with prior information gathering and research.
Support: VOLTAGE DESIGN (splitboard), CONTOUR SKINS (climbing skin), Fukunaka Cleaning (wear cleaning service)
[Qualifications, etc.]
・JMGA Mountaineering Guide Stage II
・JMGA Ski Guide Stage II
・JAN Avalanche Worker Level 1
*JMGA: Japan Mountain Guides Association
JAN: Japan Avalanche Network
guide area
| main guide area | Hokkaido: Around Asahikawa and Furano / Nagano Prefecture: Around Hakuba / Toyama Prefecture: Tateyama |
| Other areas | Entire Hokkaido/North Tohoku (around Mt. Iwaki, Mt. Moriyoshi, Mt. Iwate) |
| Representative name (guide qualification) | Naoki Kawada (JMGA Climbing Guide Stage II, JMGA Ski Guide Stage II, JAN Avalanche Worker Level 1) |
| Main guide name (guide qualification) | Naoki Kawada (JMGA Climbing Guide Stage II, JMGA Ski Guide Stage II, JAN Avalanche Worker Level 1) |
| Number of affiliated guides | 1 full-time person (including 1 qualified guide) When support is required, outsourcing to a qualified guide |
| guide ratio | 1 guide: 5-6 guests |
| percentage of guests | Skiing/snowboarding (4 vs. 6) / Men and women (6 vs. 4) |
rental
| snow safety gear | Beacon Probe Shovel (Ant) |
| Backpack | Items that can be attached to skis and snowboards (ant) |
| ski | Skis with tour bindings (pear) |
| climbing gear | climbing skin (pear) snowshoe (ant) |
price
| 1DAY | ◆Hokkaido (Asahikawa/Furano) BC Guide 16,500 yen (tax included) ◆Hakuba BC Guide 15,000 yen (tax included) | |
| other | ◆Tateyama BC Guide 2 days 30,000 yen (tax included) 3 days 45,000 yen (tax included) *In addition to the guide fee, we will ask you to cover expenses such as the guide's lift fee. *All tours are for people with BC experience only, but guides for BC beginners are available as private guides or planned tours. |
Actual contents of the tour
| first participation | BC experience | most difficult | |
|---|---|---|---|
| action time | Approximately 4 to 5 hours (including training) | about 6 hours | Approximately 6 to 8 hours |
| Cumulative elevation difference | 400-600m (depending on the journey) | 600-1200m (depending on the journey) | 1200-1800m (depending on route) |
| average hike time | Approximately 1 to 2 hours (depending on the itinerary) | Approximately 3 to 5 hours (depending on the itinerary) | Approximately 5 to 6 hours (depending on the itinerary) |
| Slope content | A relatively open and slippery slope with an inclination of around 25 to 30 degrees. No climbing back up, maybe once | Open barns and tree runs with a slope of around 30-35 degrees. A tour route that connects by climbing back up 2 or 3 times, or a long line with a long climb. | We will guide you to lines that have long journeys and require good sliding ability. Past examples) Tsugaike - Mt. Korenge south side - Futamata, Tsugaike - Sarukura - Yari Onsen - Futamata, Renge Onsen day trip bathing tour (Tsugaike - Mt. Hakuba Norikura - Renge Onsen - Kijiya), Mt. Yukikura with overnight stay at Renge Onsen, Tateyama day trip W Curl tour (Murodo - Kuranosuke Curl - Yamazaki Curl - Murodo), Raichoso - Mt. Masago - Kuranosuke Valley - Kurobe Dam, Murodo - Shishidake - Miyamadani - Kurobe Dam, etc. *The most difficult tour is for heavy repeaters only. |
Information
| address | 15-chome Nishikicho, Asahikawa, Hokkaido |
| Telephone | 090-1137-8536 |
| Inquiry form: https://www.bc-caravan.com/contact/Reservation form: https://www.bc-caravan.com/booking/ | |
| Web | https://www.bc-caravan.com/backcountry-tours/ |
| SNS | bccaravan bccaravan |
*The information posted is current as of August 2025.
