The Village Express, an 816-metre long high-speed detachable lift, comprises of 17 six-person chairs and 17 eight-person gondolas on the same line for ultimate comfort with an hourly capacity of 1,866 passengers per hour.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – YTL Hotels’ commitment to the development and constant improvement of the overall experience at Niseko Village in Hokkaido, Japan has taken a significant stride forward with the unveiling and commencement of operations of two new state-of-theart ski lifts today. The all-season lifts, both unprecedented construction designs for a major ski resort in Japan, will provide seamless accessibility to the new beginner slopes, along the entire Niseko Village base area including the heart of the village where the shopping and dining hub is located, in line with YTL Hotels’ innovative master plan vision. The new lift system also ensures complete ski-in ski-out access for existing hotels and future developments such as the Ritz-Carlton Reserve, reducing wait time for skiers to hit the slopes with its high capacity.
Dato’ Mark Yeoh, Executive Director of YTL Hotels said, “We are extremely pleased to have delivered on our promise to continually invest and improve the infrastructure of our ski resort. These lifts are a key component of YTL Hotels’ long-term development plan to ensure that the entire Niseko Village development is truly ski-in ski-out. The launch of our new lifts are hot on the heels of Niseko United and Hilton Niseko Village’s winning streak at the 2016 World Ski Awards for Japan’s Best Ski Resort and Japan’s Best Ski Hotel respectively for the fourth consecutive year. Niseko Village being the largest integrated all-season resort within Niseko United serves as a testament that Niseko keeps getting better.”
The Village Express, an 816-metre long high-speed detachable lift, comprises of 17 six-person chairs and 17 eight-person gondolas on the same line for ultimate comfort with an hourly capacity of 1,866 passengers per hour, whisking skiers to the mountaintop in only 3 minutes and 20 seconds. A midpoint station has been constructed beside the heart of the village nearby Two Sticks, a lively fastpaced Asian dining spot, for easy accessibility to shopping, entertainment and dining outlets.
Constructed by Nippon Cable, the state-of-the-art Village Express is the first gondola and chair mixed lift in Japan, the only lift with a single glass bottom gondola cabin and the first six-person chair within a major ski resort in Japan.
The Upper Village Gondola, a 250-metre pulsed gondola, has four fixed-grip cabins with an hourly capacity of 426 passengers. The lift provides access for skiers from Kasara Niseko Village Townhouse and The Green Leaf Niseko Village properties to a beginner level ski area located on The Green Leaf Niseko Village mountainside. The Upper Village Gondola lift will additionally provide access to the top of the Village Express lift for easy connectivity around the central village, restaurants, shopping and hotels. The pulsed gondola will be another pioneering move for YTL Hotels as it will be the first ski lift of its kind to be constructed at a Japanese ski resort.
Both the Upper Village Gondola and the Village Express lifts will be operational until 10pm during the winter season for guests’ transportation convenience between their accommodations of choice within Niseko Village and the heart of the village for an evening out. Skiers can take advantage of the lifts’ operational hours to enjoy an expanded night skiing sessions. The new all-season lift infrastructure will also give travellers more convenience during summer for sightseeing and activity offerings within Pure at Niseko Village, our nature and adventure park.
The new 1.2-kilometre ski terrain that cuts through the heart of the village was also ready on the first day of the season alongside both the ski lifts. The ski run with its deep base of powder snow takes skiers past restaurants, cafés and retail outlets including the base of Hilton Niseko Village. Niseko Village is reminiscent of some of the world’s greatest ski resorts with its connectivity between the mountain, the lodgings and the heart of the village yet retains a quintessential Japanese character with iconic concepts, designs and eateries.
Shiau Wee Long, Chief Executive Officer for Niseko Village said, “We couldn’t be happier with the reaction from skiers who have used the lifts to access the mountain as well as those who are using the lifts to get around our mountainside village. The lifts make the ski experience at Niseko even better with its fast lift times and extremely well located stations, plus they offer stunning views of Mount Yotei. Niseko Village has become renowned as the best place to ski in Asia driving us to continually improve the resort every season and never rest on our laurels. We also opened a thermal pool at The Green Leaf Niseko Village this season that is reminiscent of our award-winning sister property, The Gainsborough Bath Spa in the United Kingdom. Each year we must strive to keep the bar high and keep improving.”
AirAsia X, the low-cost, long-haul carrier, offers daily direct flights at affordable fares from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Sapporo Shin-Chitose / New Chitose Airport (CTS), the gateway airport to Niseko. Daily scheduled coach services are available from the airport during winter, conveniently stopping at the entrances of every accommodation within Niseko Village with a journey time of approximately 2.5 hours.
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