The food is a mix of western family favorites and Japanese dishes.
When I visit the Grand, it still smells of new cars and shines like a brand new facility, although you get the feeling that the perkiness of the staff throughout the resort in their smart blue slacks and white sneakers will never fade.
Club Med is a French brand that retains its continental feel even here in Hokkaido. We’re just an hour outside of Sapporo, in the heart of the Hidaka Mountains, but staff still greet families in English, American TV shows play on the big screen, and kids can eat pizza and nuggets from the buffet while their parents sip Sauvignon Blanc.
A DJ spins records at the lunch buffet and a barista serves flat whites from 8am. The comforts and pleasures of home are easily accessible.
This is my first time staying at Club Med and I quickly realise that it is like being on a cruise ship that is going nowhere.
There are three buffet meals a day as well as snacks and drinks.
There are three buffet meals a day, as well as snacks and unlimited drinks. There is live entertainment every night, with comedians, magicians, acrobats and more. There is also a sense of familiarity among guests, as this is not a huge resort and there is nowhere else to go, so you always see the same people.
In fact, this is one of the highlights for this solo traveler who feels a little uncomfortable traveling alone in a family-friendly ski resort: It’s not just the kids who can socialize and make friends. The adults can too.
I meet her at my snowboarding lesson. This is Club Med, which means the holiday is all-inclusive, and that includes ski passes and daily lessons with qualified instructors, starting at the first lifts and lasting well into the afternoon.
So you spend the whole day on the mountain with other Club Med guests who are staying at the same hotel, of course, and who you bump into at the bar or buffet in the evening. It only takes me a day to round up a crew of snowboarding friends, as I join a group from Brisbane who have left their kids in their own lessons and are spending the day whizzing around the Kiroro terrain at their own pace.
If you want, there is local culture here.
This terrain is tight by European or North American standards, but about what you’d expect in Japan. There’s one gondola and six chairlifts serving a mix of easy, intermediate and challenging runs. There’s plenty of off-piste to explore, but also enough groomed terrain to keep it interesting when snow conditions aren’t conducive to tackling the trees.
Back at Club Med, where tonight they’re building a champagne tower, which apparently happens regularly: they balance a whole bunch of champagne glasses on top of each other and then pour Moet & Chandon over them. Everyone gets a glass.
Spend your days skiing or snowboarding.
Tonight, the pouring is done by an energetic member of staff. She stands at the bar, grabs a microphone and implores people not to work so hard in real life, to spend more time with family, get their priorities straight and do the important things, before knocking over a bottle of Moet and starting to pass around glasses.
I later learn that this employee is Merlin Chelliah, the general manager of the hotel. The next day I spot her behind the counter at the lunch buffet, preparing murtabak.
That’s how it is at Club Med: It’s a kind of cult. Among the dedicated staff, but also among the loyal guests. One day I’m sitting next to an American woman in the gondola who tells me that 24 hours after her stay here, she’s already booked a vacation for her family for next year.
The Asian specialty restaurant Ogon.
“You get discounts if you book early,” she reveals.
I don’t know how I didn’t know it existed for so long. Everyone is having a blast. The kids are running around, going crazy and enjoying every second. The adults who can put their kids to bed and rush back to the dance floor knowing their little ones are safe are even crazier and having fun too.
If you want, there is local culture here: an onsen bath with all the traditions that go with it, Japanese guest rooms with tatami floors, a specialty sushi restaurant and another yakiniku place offering fine local cuisine.
But most people are just in Kiroro to play and have fun – and I wish my children could be here and have fun.
The author travelled as a guest of Club Med
The details
Remain
All-inclusive stays at Club Med Kiroro Grand include accommodation, lift passes and ski and snowboard lessons, all food and beverages (with premium food and beverages extra), access to the kids’ club for children aged four to 17 and daily live entertainment. Childcare facilities are available for two to three year olds at an additional cost. Room rates start from $4928 for a couple for seven nights and $7868 for a family of four for seven nights. See clubmed.com.au
Fly
ANA offers flights from Sydney to Sapporo via Tokyo Haneda. See ana.co.jp. Qantas flies from Melbourne to Sapporo in codeshare with JAL. See qantas.com.
What’s new in the Asia-Pacific ski scene?
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Much more is happening in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Thredbo Alpine Coaster
If the weather isn’t playing along this winter, there’s good news in Thredbo: the resort will be unveiling its new Alpine Coaster, a 1.5km track that participants tackle on small sleds that can reach speeds of up to 40km/h. This is an all-weather, all-season attraction. thredbo.com.au
Skiing on a glacier in New Zealand
New Zealand heliski experts Inflite are offering the opportunity to ski the Tasman Glacier, New Zealand’s longest glacier, this season, with an incredible eight to ten kilometres of terrain per descent. The six-hour experience includes a scenic flight over Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park and two descents on the glacier. See mtcookskiplanes.com
Mount Nekoma in Japan
At the start of last season, Hoshino Resorts opened Nekoma Mountain, a combination of two ski resorts in Fukushima – Alts Bandai and Nekoma Ski Park – now linked by a connecting lift. It features night skiing, a terrain park, 11 lifts and high-quality accommodations. See hoshinoresorts.com
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Mount Perisher’s six-seater
Say goodbye to Perisher’s ‘Mt P Double’, a creaky two-seater chairlift built in 1961 that has been decommissioned. In its place will be a high-speed six-seater lift, the Mt P 6, which will take skiers and snowboarders to Australia’s highest point (2042 metres). It is scheduled to open in 2025. See perisher.com.au
The six-seater of the Remarkables
Not to be outdone by its cousins across the ditch, Queenstown resort The Remarkables is opening a new high-speed six-person chairlift – but it won’t be in operation until the 2024 season. The Shadow Basin chairlift will open up nearly 50 more hectares of lift-accessible terrain. See theremarkables.co.nz
