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Hello! I am off to Niseko in Feb and have a 9 year old daughter who wants to learn boarding....are there any decent snowboard schools at Higashiyama? I have seen schools in other areas of Niseko but not many (any?) in the Higashiyama area. Thanks!

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Maybe through the Prince Hotel. They may have a school. But I'm really not sure.

 

Worse comes to worse Hirafu is a quick trip down the road and there are several schools there.

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When I stayed there, there were about 3 million school kids being taught on the slopes and they took the gondola up. Some of these kids were first timers and they took the gondola up???

 

The English speaking instructors are at Hirafu. The 8:45 shuttle is usually the school run for English speaking kids to Hirafu. You'll have no probs getting lessons for your kid there.

 

Oh, yeah, all the school kids I saw at Higashiyama were learning ski. Guess they're more traditional.

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Great thanks for the info! How long does the shuttle bus take to get to Hirafu from Higashiyama? Sounds like this is the place to go...and concurs with what I have found on the web.

 

Thanks again this forum has been excellent \:D

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the schedule is 8:45 Prince lobby entrance. Shuttle has a bus stop sign and arrive at Hirafu car park at 9:00. Pretty punctual.

 

Get your all mountain passes in the rental shop or hotel reception counter first, show it as you board then you ride free on the shuttle otherwise you'll get hit for 500yen each.

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Open. Open. and once again Open.

 

If the Prince gondola didn't run, they might as well close the hotel.

 

The knackered one is called the Higashiyama Gondola and it's been out of action for a number of seasons. It's way over to the left as you look up the hill.

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I'm at the prince hotel now and my wife took a lesson thru the higashiyama ski school yesterday. They have a desk inside the hotel lobby where you sign up for lessons. You need to sign up between 8:30a - 9:30a to take lessons that day. I didn't check if they have English language instructors (my wife's japanese), but they do have both ski and snowboard lessons. The Prince Gondola is open and works like a champ...in 9 min you are 75% of the way to the top of the mountain.

 

On the quality of the instruction - my wife (beginner/intermediate skiier) really improved her skill after the lesson and was practicing for the rest of the day - excellent instruction! She went for the 2 hour private lesson - 13,500 yen.

 

If you want to ensure they have english instruction - you should probably contact the hotel in advance. I think there are also local business that sepcialize in english instruction.

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If they have reasonably priced kids snowboarding lessons from the Prince that would be perfect!! So is it good snow right now? And are there big queues for the lifts?

 

Must be a long ride in the Gondola if it takes 9 minutes!

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I just left and it was snowing like crazy. If this keeps up, there should be some nice pow tomorrow morning. I can't remember waiting in a single queue the whole time I was there - even on Sunday.

 

Not sure about the pricing for kids lessons, but they do have them.

 

The gondola ride is 9 min and takes you up 2,660m...not too shabby....

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