Gotcha, I see where you’re coming from.
Hakuba’s wave came later than Niseko, it’s only been the past 7,8 seasons or so that things really picked up, plus we’ve been hammered with 3 shit seasons out of the last 6, so it’s been a mixed bag, and while there’s been douchery for sure, it doesn’t seem to be as bad as Niseko.
Lift tickets, food, and accom is still pretty affordable here. The old-school pre-foreign tourist businesses will still have their Japanese clientele, but we’re still not in a great place. One of the smaller hills will close for sure this season, with probably some other businesses doing the same.
It was nice to have powder laps in the after, I agree.