Yu Sato

I am an JMGA mountain and ski guide born in the local village of Obihiro in Hokkaido. Mountains have always been close to me, as I started climbing mountains when I was 8. My mountain passion extended to backcountry skiing since 2006, around which time I also started guiding in the mountains.

I decided to become a mountain guide because not only did I like being in the mountains as a climber but I got more joy out of sharing the experiences and excitements with the people I climbed with. I just really enjoy it when others are also having a fun time!

I guide and enjoy both skiing and telemark skiing, but I prefer telemark skiing for its higher versatility in the mountains. Telemarking lets you enjoy the mountains in a different mindset to skiing. Even though it is more challenging to ski on them especially on more technical terrains but I embrace the challenge it offers. I also find it much easier to hike up on my telemarks than on my skis.

In the summer, my favourite guiding is long mountain traverse routes whilst in the winter my guiding activity includes backcountry skiing, snowshoe trekking, and ice climbing in Hokkaido. The beauty of guiding gin the winter is that one is not confined to ‘hiking routes’ like in the summer. My guiding fields of choice are places near Sapporo, Niseko and Daisetsuzan (Asahidake) area for backcountry skiing, but mostly I guide long routes on less crowded, more local mountains. It is my guiding policy, to not guide "slack country skiing", where we need to stick to the sides of ski resorts and is crowded with people. I feel there is more value add for me to take groups away from the crowds in less known areas best suited for the day’s condition and the weather. As for popular areas, I do guide Mt Yotei (on the sides with less people), and Asahidake area but there isn’t much peak hunting to be done in Hokkaido.

My passion is to guide my clients to less populated areas, let them discover new areas and new kind of fun. I want visito