The forest
What grows on Niseko United
Mostly deciduous: broadleaf woods and larch. They stand bare through the winter, so you can see a long way into them.
Read from the national vegetation survey. The survey records the cut pistes as open ground, so the ski area shows up on its own.
Where this mountain sits among the others on JapowDB
Its forest stands barer in winter than 39 of the 40 mountains on JapowDB.
01
Sight range, level by level
This is the mountain seen from the side. How far you can see into the trees changes with height.
| Height | What you can see through | Bare |
|---|---|---|
| 1,186–1,305 m | | 49% |
| 1,068–1,187 m | | 64% |
| 949–1,068 m | | 77% |
| 830–949 m | | 97% |
| 712–831 m | | 98% |
| 593–712 m | | 100% |
| 475–594 m | | 93% |
| 356–475 m | | 92% |
| 237–356 m | | 94% |
| 119–238 m | | 98% |
Each reading is a share of that band's own forest, not of the mountain, and a band holding too little forest to state one is left blank. The pale bar behind the section is how much ground sits at that height, so a swing over a sliver of mountain does not read as a headline. No treeline is drawn — the survey describes stands, not a line.
02
What stands beside each run
Each run is scored on the band 35 to 90 m either side of its centre line, which is the forest you look at from the piste. Runs are ordered by how much of that band you can see through in winter.
| Run | The band either side | See-through |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Garden 816 m | 90% | |
| Legend of Shinya 584 m | 87% | |
| Miharashi 1,165 m | 85% | |
| Hanazono Park 735 m | 84% | |
| Colly's Folly 581 m | 81% | |
| Rinkan 620 m | 81% | |
| Pure Magic 187 m | 79% | |
| Silver Dream 2,512 m | 78% |
The other 65 runs
| Run | The band either side | See-through |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday 3,496 m | 77% | |
| Koguma 217 m | 75% | |
| Cruiser 894 m | 75% | |
| Stairway to Heaven 812 m | 74% | |
| Mango Salad 562 m | 73% | |
| Merchen 388 m | 71% | |
| Final Fling 698 m | 70% | |
| Yard Sale 329 m | 69% | |
| Renraku 283 m | 68% | |
| Konayuki 678 m | 66% | |
| Shaky Knees 362 m | 64% | |
| Parallel 636 m | 63% | |
| Green 1,512 m | 60% | |
| Setsuzoku 344 m | 60% | |
| Dabesa 1,356 m | 60% | |
| Silver 333 m | 60% | |
| Jagaimo 244 m | 60% | |
| Banzai 562 m | 58% | |
| Misoshiru 601 m | 57% | |
| "S" ji 497 m | 57% | |
| Utopia 455 m | 57% | |
| Shirakaba 1,668 m | 56% | |
| Center 947 m | 56% | |
| Namara 701 m | 56% | |
| Onsenzawa 296 m | 52% | |
| Snorkel 562 m | 52% | |
| Youtei Sunset 1,147 m | 51% | |
| Panorama 675 m | 50% | |
| Boomerang 280 m | 49% | |
| Nekko no Kabe 208 m | 49% | |
| Large 713 m | 49% | |
| Juicy Fruit 823 m | 48% | |
| Enchantment 646 m | 47% | |
| King area access pass 403 m | 47% | |
| Junior 983 m | 47% | |
| Next Stage 650 m | 46% | |
| Unforgettable 281 m | 46% | |
| Konbu 301 m | 46% | |
| Ukairo 717 m | 45% | |
| Junkyard 378 m | 44% | |
| Super 1,569 m | 44% | |
| Zangi 312 m | 43% | |
| Paradise 627 m | 42% | |
| Ni-kabe 533 m | 41% | |
| Superstition 1,022 m | 39% | |
| Wonderland 775 m | 39% | |
| Ageimo 776 m | 38% | |
| Don't Bliink 211 m | 38% | |
| Kokutai 666 m | 37% | |
| Jumbo 1,038 m | 36% | |
| Make Sense 282 m | 35% | |
| Beginners access 451 m | 32% | |
| Challenge 335 m | 31% | |
| Champion 527 m | 29% | |
| Fukayuki-rinkan 480 m | 27% | |
| Joppin 301 m | 24% | |
| Dynamic 1,082 m | 23% | |
| Furiko 646 m | 22% | |
| Family 1,948 m | 19% | |
| Ritz Ski Run 117 m | 17% | |
| Sennoki 863 m | 16% | |
| Boyo 751 m | 14% | |
| Alpen 528 m | 6% | |
| Kogen 510 m | 5% | |
| Hinode Ski Run 190 m | 3% |
Each figure is a share of the surveyed ground in a band 35–90 m either side of the run. The run itself and the rest of the mountain are outside it. The survey resolves about 25 m on the ground and the band is only a few cells wide, so the figure covers what the band is made of and cannot single out one tree, gap or line of sight. Runs the survey barely covers are left out. The survey has no treeline and no stem-density data.
03
What actually grows here
The survey sorts every polygon into one of its vegetation zones, then names the stand within it. A mountain usually falls into five or six zones, each holding many named stands.
| Vegetation zone | Share of classified ground | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Beech-zone regrowth ブナクラス域代償植生 | 47% | |
| Natural subalpine conifer forest コケモモ－トウヒクラス域自然植生 | 17% | |
| Plantation and farmland 植林地・耕作地植生 | 15% | |
| Natural beech-zone forest ブナクラス域自然植生 | 8% | |
| Subalpine conifer-zone regrowth コケモモ－トウヒクラス域代償植生 | 6% | |
| Other その他 | 5% | |
| Alpine natural vegetation 高山帯自然植生域 | 1% | |
| Riverside, wetland, salt marsh and dune 河辺・湿原・塩沼地・砂丘植生 | 1% |
The named stands underneath
The survey’s own community names, largest first. These are proper names for stand types, and the survey publishes them only in Japanese.
- シラカンバ－ミズナラ群落 31%
- ササ－ダケカンバ群落（北海道） 12%
- ダケカンバ群落（V） 7%
- 畑雑草群落 6%
- ササ群落（II） 5%
- ダケカンバ群落（III） 5%
The other 42 communities
- エゾイタヤ－ミズナラ群落 5%
- 緑の多い住宅地 4%
- オオヨモギ群落 4%
- カラマツ植林 4%
- ササ群落（V） 3%
- トドマツ植林 2%
- ササ－シラカンバ群落 2%
- ササ群落（III） 1%
- ハルニレ群落 1%
- ゴルフ場・芝地 1%
- 牧草地 1%
- ハイマツ群落 1%
- ダケカンバ群落（Ⅳ） 1%
- アカエゾマツ植林 1%
- ヒメヤシャブシ－タニウツギ群落 1%
- ササ群落（IV） 1%
- 硫気孔原植生 1%
- コケモモ－ハイマツ群集 0%
- 開放水域 0%
- 市街地 0%
- ススキ群団（V） 0%
- その他植林（落葉広葉樹） 0%
- 外国産樹種植林 0%
- 伐採跡地群落（V） 0%
- その他植林（常緑針葉樹） 0%
- ヤナギ高木群落（IV） 0%
- シラカンバ植林 0%
- 造成地 0%
- イソツツジ－ハイマツ群集 0%
- ツルコケモモ－ミズゴケクラス 0%
- 放棄畑雑草群落 0%
- 路傍・空地雑草群落 0%
- ヤナギ低木群落（IV） 0%
- ヨシ群落（代償植生） 0%
- 放棄水田雑草群落 0%
- エゾマツ－トドマツ群集 0%
- オオヨモギ－オオイタドリ群団 0%
- ミヤマハンノキ群落（北海道） 0%
- シナノキンバイ－ミヤマキンポウゲ群団 0%
- ヒルムシロクラス 0%
- ヤチダモ植林 0%
- 河川敷砂礫地植生 0%
Every share is of the ground the survey classified on this mountain, which is more than the forest and more than the ski area. The zones are the survey’s own; the English is a gloss and the Japanese is the source term. Zones are ordered by area, and area has no bearing on how well a zone skis.
04
How natural this vegetation is
The survey grades every polygon on a ten-point scale of how little people have changed it. Level 1 is made ground with almost nothing growing on it; level 10 is natural grassland and alpine heath. The scale measures human interference only. Natural fir sits at 9 and is a wall you cannot see through; a larch plantation sits at 6, evenly spaced and good to ski.
| Level | Share of classified ground | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Natural grassland and alpine heath | 6% |
| 9 | Natural forest | 21% |
| 8 | Regrowth close to natural forest | 5% |
| 7 | Secondary forest | 40% |
| 6 | Plantation | 7% |
| 5 | Tall secondary grassland | 5% |
| 4 | Short secondary grassland | 5% |
| 3 | Orchard, tea and mulberry field | 0% |
| 2 | Farmland and green residential land | 11% |
| 1 | Built-up and made ground | 0% |
A fraction of a percent of the classified ground carries a code outside the ten levels. It is left out of the rows above.
Every share is of the ground the survey classified on this mountain. The scale records human interference only; a higher level does not mean better skiing. Levels this mountain does not have are left out.
National vegetation survey, 2024 edition, Biodiversity Center, Ministry of the Environment, Japan. Processed by JapowDB; the Ministry did not produce this version.
This mountain's polygons were walked in 2021. The edition is dated 2024; the fieldwork is older.
Each cell is about 25 m across, roughly the size of a small clearing.