Backcountry Guiding

3 & 5 day backcountry tours and private daily guiding with a focus on quality not quantity. Our guiding services are limited and book out fast

Avalanche Training

We are licensed providers of Canadian Avalanche Centre AST & CRS courses and offer them on a regular basis throughout the season

Free Magazine

Our own in-house high quality Hakuba Mountain Life magazine is available for free. Sharing the spirit of our mountain life in Hakuba with you


Avalanche Course Testimonials

"Excellent well run course. Would recommended it to anyone interested in learning more about avalanches and staying safe in the backcountry."

"You won't realise how valuable this course is until you have done it."

"The course structure exceeded my expectations and we covered more subject matter than I anticipated. This was largely due to Damian's time management and ability to deliver the material in a way that was both efficient and engaging. Highly recommended to anyone looking to improve or start their knowledge base on this topic."

"Damian is a wealth of knowledge about how to ski safely in the backcountry. His passion and enthusiasm for the sport combined with a sensible, rational awareness of its risks make him the perfect person to learn this important information from. Thank you Damian for giving me confidence (but certainly not over-confidence) to understand avalanche risks!"

Read more testimonials here

Hakuba Backcountry About MountainLife
MountainLife is a very small and very focused backcountry operation providing certified AST avalanche courses and backcountry guiding for the small number of visitors to Hakuba who want an emphasis on ski touring provided by a dedicated Hakuba local. We do not offer resort side country guiding and we are not for everybody.

About Damian - owner and guide
Hi, I live year-round in Hakuba, farming in summer and skiing backcountry here for the other 6 months a year (over 100 days every season - check out my blog!). I am a Partner member of the Japan Avalanche Network, an Active Member of the Canadian Avalanche Association, an avalanche instructor, and hold current 80 hour Wilderness First Responder training and CAA Avalanche Operations Level 2 qualifications. However, it isn't about me, it is about you and the terrain.

Mountain Safety
Mountains are inherently dangerous, and they change day to day and sometimes hour to hour. MountainLife is more conservative than most. Please do not book us hoping exclusively for a day in Hakuba's big steep terrain. We play it extra safe, some might say boring. And that is ok with us.

Zero Hyperbole Marketing
Hype and fluff in marketing is designed to manipulate your emotions, so too are unbalanced representations of reality: only focusing on the glowing positives and neglecting to mention or consider anything not so wonderful.

In the mountains you do not last long if emotions dominate your risk decision making. This fundamental truth is taught in introductory and advanced avalanche courses.

If emotions lead to bad mountain decisions, then they must also lead to poor consumer decisions. I want customers to book with MountainLife based on reason, not emotion. So you wont see us using any hype or misrepresentations common in the so called "snow industry". If you do see any hyperbole coming from MountainLife.jp then let us know as it only leads to loss for you in the short term, and eventual loss for me in the long term.

- damian