Rusutsu Resort is a ski resort in Hokkaido consisting of three mountains: West, East, and Isola. Rusutsu is popular with many skiers, as there are 37 courses laid out on the slopes of each mountain, with a wide variety of slopes, natural topography, slope orientation, etc.
At the same time, Rusutsu is known to have strong support from many filmmakers. Its location and scale stimulate creative minds.
Let's take a video example.
For this reason, we decided to ask Takeya Yamagishi, a 20-year-old resident of Sapporo, to skate around Rusutsu for three days and create a movie clip. He is a professional skier who has recently been focusing on video production.
He had been aiming to be active both domestically and internationally as a freestyle skier since junior high school, but due to repeated injuries, he retired from the competition scene.He only showed his extraordinary quality in the video shoots he started at that time. Instead, they wanted to express skiing through videos and photographs, so they decided to take the plunge.
Left) Hirobumi Ishikawa,
born 1981. He faces the mountain at his own pace and keeps aiming for big lines with his eyes on the tiger. Director of BUMPS Mountain Club. Sponsor/K2 SKI, BCA, STRAFE Outer Wear, HESTRA, revolt Instagram＠ hiro___ishikawa
Right) Takeya Yamagishi,
born in 2004. Active in the freestyle competition scene until 2021. Currently, he is fighting every day to work with professional riders and produce videos at a high level. Sponsor/LINE Instagram＠ tatsu_yamagishi
Yamagishi is currently active as a LINE SKI professional rider. What kind of results will the videos he creates have two viewpoints: the rider's perspective of what can be done in what places, and the producer's perspective of how to express that?
This time, Yamagishi's partner is the experienced Hirobumi Ishikawa. We spent three consecutive days creating a video that brings out the charm of Rusutsu. A lot of it depends on the weather and circumstances, but let's take a look at the situation.
[Day 1] Powder hunting called location hunting
February 20, 2023, first day of shooting. According to information from the ski resort, about 10 cm of fresh snow had accumulated since the day before, and there was a strong wind, so we could expect the wind to reset in some places. The crew gathers and meets each other in time for the start of the gondola. Speaking of which, neither Yamagishi nor Ishikawa know much about Rusutsu.
"You won't know what kind of mountain it is until you climb it. Let's make today a location day."
Yamagishi said with a smile. Beside me, Ishikawa nods with his eyes fixed on the mountaintop. It seems that the freshly snowed slope appears to be beckoning to them ahead of their gaze. I immediately went on a powder hunt called location scouting.
First, let’s get an overview of the ski resort.
Rusutsu is made up of three mountains and has a total skiing distance of approximately 42km, which is not large enough to be skied in one day. Ski resorts have the following characteristics:
West Mt. is located on the far right of the map with Mt. Yotei in the background. It's in front of the hotel and easy to access. The lower part is popular with families and beginners due to its gentle slope, but there are also places on steep slopes where you can enjoy single-slope runs and tree runs. There is also a night game, so you can enjoy the powder at night.
East Mt., which accesses Mt. Isola at the back left of the map, has a gondola that allows you to ski long distances. Starting from the gondola summit station, there are courses along ridges with great views, courses with medium slopes that are slippery, and the steepest slopes on the site at 40 degrees.
Mt.Isola is located at the back of the ski resort. Starting with a long run course of 3,500m, there is a combination of courses along ridges and streams that thread between them, creating a rich variety of slopes.
Furthermore, all areas other than the course within the ski resort boundaries (dotted yellow line) are open to the public as a self-responsible area. The terrain varies, including the direction of the slope, slope, density of trees, streams, chutes, mash, and logs.
As expected from Hokkaido, the snow is nice.
After getting off the East Gondola Route 2, you first slide into the bowl-shaped terrain on your right. The slope has a beautiful surface, probably due to the snowfall and wind, and the rounded topography looks really interesting.
First, Ishikawa traces the terrain as he descends, then Yamagishi seems to have found a spot where he can jump out, and he slides down to the confluence point, interweaving with jumps.
Judging by the fluffy snow that was thrown up and continuing to drift, it seemed like there was enough light snow accumulated. Rusutsu experiences snowfall when cold air from the northwest passes through to the Pacific Ocean. Niseko, which is in the foreground, is close to the ocean and sheds snow that contains moisture, but Rusutsu, which is beyond Mt. Yotei, is more about quality than quantity.
If the cold air moves in from the west, there will be a lot of snowfall. In addition, Rusutsu is influenced by the weather on the Pacific side, and the cold air from the north collides with it, so even though the altitude is not very high, snow regularly accumulates due to such weather conditions.
powder and terrain hunting
After confirming the quality of the snow, the two began sessions traveling through the mountains of East and Isola in search of places with unique terrain. Let's follow with photos from here.
The two of them stayed on the slope until the ski lifts closed, checking out the topography of the mountain, the amount of accumulation in the trees, and how the light was entering as they skied.
Yamagishi took out his camera at key points and tested it while measuring the distance from Ishikawa, preparing for filming the next day.
Yamagishi has a satisfied expression on his face, and it seems like he already has an image in mind for the video.
[Day 2] Ski the spots you set your sights on on the first day as much as time allows.
On the second day, the conditions were clear and sunny with not a single cloud in the morning. Since there is no snowfall, you can focus on the course to your heart's content.
Many of Rusutsu's courses are not flat, and there are many places where the terrain is clearly visible. People tend to focus on the tree area, which is open to the public at their own risk, but the great appeal is that there are many courses where you can ski long distances non-stop.
Among them, the exhilarating feeling of sliding down courses over 2km without stopping, such as the East Tigne Course on a ridge with a great view, Isola Long Run, Steamboat B Course, and Heavenly View Course, is irresistible.
If you aim for a time when there are few people around, you can draw lines as you like, such as speeding up or drawing wide turns.
The Isola C and D courses, where you can enjoy turns according to the undulating terrain, and the Heavenly Canyon course, which has uncompacted snow and is dotted with playable terrain, are also interesting. From a topographical perspective, you can't miss the ``Furikosawa Course,'' which is located between East Mt. and Mt. Isola and has an extremely gentle slope with an average slope of 7°.
The course runs along a stream flanked by steep slopes on both sides, and there are wall terrain on both sides, which you can ski by connecting them.
Some have artificial kicks that allow them to fly, and some have banked shapes that make it easier to turn and hit. Even on gentle slopes where you don't have much speed and tend to just drift, if you use these items, you can add speed and incorporate tricks, making it many times more interesting.
If you constantly look around the course to see if there are any interesting spots, you will notice features that cannot be seen from the course map.
Regardless of the age difference between the two team members at BUMPS, a free ski shop in Sapporo, Ishikawa understands his intentions and skis in accordance with Yamagishi's desired image. It was almost the first time we had a one-on-one session, and it was hard to imagine that we were going to be making a video, let alone making a video, so we were able to breathe perfectly.
The second day was blessed with perfect weather, and Rusutsu-like materials were steadily accumulating.
[Day 3] People gather at Rusutsu when the timing is right
The third day started with a cloudy sky, but a little fresh snow seemed to have fallen in the middle of the night, and the slopes reset again.
On the last day, we decided to walk around the course to see if there were any materials or interesting items that were missing in the video. While skiing for the past two days looking for items to use on the slopes, I came across an area that I hadn't visited much.
That is the deepest area of Isola. Both Heavenly Canyon and Heavenly Spirit are advanced courses with uncompacted snow, and some slopes are as high as 29 degrees. The sparse spacing between the trees makes it easy to slip, and the zone is filled with items that are easy to use for action, such as mash, logs, and cliffs.
As I skied around the Heavenly area, I noticed that the snow piled up on the steep slopes was thick with mash and logs, making it easy to fly.
Yamagishi creates an approach, thinking that the landing area is wide enough to make a big jump possible. While checking the safety of those around him, Yamagishi ruminates on images of success.
On the count of 3, 2, 1, slowly advance from the approach towards the kicker, paying attention to the snow quality and body position.
A backflip that slowly spins around after jumping out. The distance is about 20m. Riding smoothly according to the landing. The jump was so clean that the film crew, including Ishikawa, had to laugh.
After completing the jump, the film crew was about to tour the area a little more when they saw a familiar face coming from the lift.
This is a group consisting of Junpei Endo and Yu Sasaki, who had temporarily returned from Canada.
They seemed to have heard that fresh snow had fallen, so they came out for a tree run and some terrain. I took the opportunity to have a light session in the Isola area. When the timing is right, people flock to Rusutsu.
Video completed, check out the results of 3 days
We asked the two to look back on their photo session.
Let's start with Takeya Yamagishi, the photographer and rider.
``This time we were blessed with good weather, and it was an exciting three days. There were so many good things about Rusutsu that I couldn't narrow it down...lol. Hmm, I wonder what it is. We went into the forest right away. It was nice that there was a lot of terrain without lines. Also, the scenery was beautiful.
It was my first time skating properly with Hiro-kun, but it was really cool. Watching my seniors' backs made me want to ski a little harder. I've been focusing on parks so far, but I thought I'd like to do a turn like Hiro-kun.''
On the other hand, Hirobumi Ishikawa is impressed with his partner's potential.
``Everything was good this time, but I especially felt good on the slopes with compacted snow.You see, with powder, you can't make mistakes because it's a video, so there's a sense of tension.
Rusutsu's compacted snow slopes are wide and the grooming is beautiful. I had heard rumors that the slopes were laid out in a slightly banked manner along the terrain, so I felt that they were thinking about the skiers.
Also, there are definitely a lot of people, but it's this big so it's nice to spread out. There were times when I was the only one filming, so it's good to find those locations and times.
Tateya? Isn't that a shocking statement? I've never really seen a skater skate before, but I never expected it to go this far. There's an age difference between me and Tateya, but the great thing about skiing is that you can do a session without feeling that way.''
This is the finished image.
The theme of this video is to explore the appeal of Rusutsu from the perspective of Takeya Yamagishi, a skater and photographer.
The video is packed with not only the quality of the snow, but also the beauty of nature, the great scenery, the rich natural terrain, and the appeal of the slopes with compacted snow.
However, the three areas spread across two mountains cannot be captured in just three days. Anyway, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on not including West Mountain. In other words, it would be difficult to ski this wide Rusutsu in about three days.
Ski resort conditions change depending on snowfall and weather. No matter what the conditions are this winter, Rusutsu is sure to have a wide range of slopes that can only be enjoyed at that time.
Information
Rusutsu Resort
13 Izumikawa, Rusutsu Village, Abuta District, Hokkaido 048-1711
Official website: https://rusutsu.com/
Official SNS: Instagram ｜ Facebook ｜ X (Twitter) ｜ YouTube