Glaciers are in retreat, global weather patterns are going haywire and the Earth's climate is the warmest it's been in a millennium. Nonetheless, every winter, as regular as clockwork, winds from Siberia howl across the Sea of Japan, siphon up moisture, and dump it on Hokkaido as some of the world's heaviest precipitations of snow. One such place that never suffers from any shortfall in the snowfall is Niseko, a collection of ski resorts in southwestern Hokkaido that is blanketed each winter by over 15 meters of the white stuff.

Complaints about too much snow, though, are seldom voiced in Niseko, basking as it does in its reputation as offering some of the finest conditions for powder skiing to be found anywhere in the world. Attractive though Japan may be as a place for skiing, it doesn't appeal to all skiers. Intermediate and advanced skiers frequently bemoan the lack of challenging slopes. Niseko suffers from no such dearth, offering more mogul runs and steep terrain than practically any other Japanese resort. And with its 57 runs on terrific snow, a vertical drop of 960 meters, 38 lifts and almost 50 km of groomed slopes, Niseko is Hokkaido's biggest ski resort.

Size, of course, isn't everything: Niseko also happens to be Hokkaido's prettiest ski resort. Dominating the Niseko landscape is the spectacular cone of Mount Yotei -- known for obvious reasons as the "Fuji of Hokkaido." And the attractive scenery of the Niseko area is one of alpine meadows, swift-flowing green rivers and spacious woodlands of pine and silver birch.