Why Japan’s famed Snow Country should be your clients’ next ski holiday

The ski-weather lottery is a risky game to play. You can cross your fingers and hope for a bluebird day as much as you like but, ultimately, Mother Nature will decide the fate of your time on the slopes. Today, as I throw open the curtains ready to take on the Japanese ski resort of Myoko, I breathe a sigh of relief: I’ve hit the jackpot. One cup of coffee and a traditional tamagoyaki omelette later, we’re crunching our way to the gondola, a carpet of fresh powder underfoot and the sun a glinting, glimmering orb in the spotless sky.

Our cable car is a hive of excited activity: enthusiastic plans for the day’s runs are shared, last-minute suncream is applied and endless photos are snapped as we’re carried higher up the mountain, the extent of the valley’s unbridled beauty revealing itself below. At the top of the piste – helmets fastened, goggles secured and words of encouragement shared – we’re ready.

A sign directs us to our first run of the day, aptly named ‘Be Free’. I don’t need to be told twice – I shuffle forward and slip over the edge onto a wide, cruisey blue that winds and weaves through mini, snow-blanketed mounds and groups of cypress trees that look as if they’ve been dusted with icing sugar. With only a few fellow revellers, it’s as though we have the slope to ourselves, and that promised sense of freedom tastes oh so sweet. This is what ski dreams are made of.