YTL Hotels has announced two new all-season chairlifts and a new ski run at its Niseko Village resort on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, due to open in time for the 2016/2017 ski season commencing in December 2016.
The Village Express will be the first of its kind for a major ski resort in Japan, combining both eight-person gondolas and six-person chairs on the same 816-metre-long line. The lift also features a mid-point station beside the main Village hub, providing easy access to the shopping and dining outlets.
For guests staying at the boutique Green Leaf Niseko Village or the luxurious Kasara Niseko Village Townhouse, the new 250-metre pulsed Upper Village Gondola will link to the top of the Village Express, and provide easy access to a beginner’s ski area on the Green Leaf Village mountainside. Both lifts will run all season.
Two beginner-level Magic Carpet surface lifts have also been announced, along with a completely new 1.2-kilometre ski run. The course will begin at the Green Leaf Niseko Village and Kasara Village Townhouse, and will run down the fall line of the mountain, alongside the central Village retail and dining complex. The run also features a new ski-over bridge, providing access to the Hilton Niseko Village, with no impact to the current road system.
These new infrastructure developments will further facilitate the overall accessibility and experience of YTL Hotels’ Niseko Village resort, which recently announced the addition of the new Ritz-Carlton Reserve, a luxury 50-room hotel due to open in Niseko Village in 2020.