--- title: Niseko Lift Upgrades Add Capacity At Village And Hirafu date: 2026-10-14T12:30:00+09:00 author: Chris Pickering canonical_url: "https://uchijapan.com/news/niseko-lift-upgrades-winter-2026-27" section: News --- [Resort News](https://uchijapan.com/news/resorts)# Niseko Lift Upgrades Add Capacity At Village And Hirafu Oct 14, 2026 - [ ](mailto:?subject=Niseko%20Lift%20Upgrades%20Add%20Capacity%20At%20Village%20And%20Hirafu%20on%20Uchi%20Japan&body=https%3A%2F%2Fuchijapan.com%2Fnews%2Fniseko-lift-upgrades-winter-2026-27 "Share by Email") - [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fuchijapan.com%2Fnews%2Fniseko-lift-upgrades-winter-2026-27&title=Niseko%20Lift%20Upgrades%20Add%20Capacity%20At%20Village%20And%20Hirafu&description=Niseko%20Village%27s%20first%20Mori-no%20Gondola%20stage%20and%20Grand%20Hirafu%27s%20four-seat%20Ace%20%233%20lift%20are%20planned%20to%20add%20capacity%20for%20winter%202026%2F27.&caption=Uchi%20Japan) ![Niseko Gondola and Hilton Niseko Village](https://d1g90p0r985xbs.cloudfront.net/properties/_480x270_crop_center-center_60_line/Niseko_Gondola_and_Hilton_Niseko_Village.jpg)Niseko Village and Grand Hirafu are preparing two lift upgrades for winter 2026/27. We look at what opens this season, what remains for 2027 and how the new capacity may change everyday movement around Niseko United. Two lift projects are due to change how visitors move around Niseko United this winter. Niseko Village plans to open the first section of its new eight-passenger Mori-no Gondola during the 2026/27 season, while Grand Hirafu is replacing the two-seat Ace #3 chair with a four-person lift. Both projects target familiar pressure points rather than adding a separate mountain area, so their value will depend on how effectively they improve circulation when the resort is busy. At Niseko Village, the Mori-no Gondola is planned as an approximately two-kilometre link from the resort base towards upper terrain. Construction is being divided into two stages. The first section, replacing the existing Mori-no Chair, is scheduled to reach an intermediate station at about 670 metres this winter. A second section is expected to continue to roughly 930 metres in 2027. Until that upper section opens, visitors should treat the 2026/27 project as the first part of a larger system rather than the finished connection described in the long-term plan. The move from an exposed double chair to an enclosed eight-person cabin should be most noticeable on cold or windy days, and for families carrying equipment. It will also alter the arrival experience at the Niseko Village base, where accommodation, restaurants and the existing Niseko Gondola already concentrate traffic. Niseko United says the completed project will improve access to popular terrain and support the resort's year-round ambitions, although year-round operation remains a future direction rather than a service confirmed for this opening stage. Grand Hirafu's Ace #3 project is smaller in physical scale but important to the way people cross the mountain. The chair sits above the Ace Gondola and helps visitors progress towards the upper lifts and the link towards Niseko Village. Niseko United puts the old lift's hourly capacity at 1,029 passengers and the replacement's at 2,400. That is more than double, but the practical result will also be shaped by weather, neighbouring lift operations and how traffic arrives from the gondola below. The replacement makes unusual use of equipment removed elsewhere on the mountain. Chairs, towers and electrical components from the former King #3 lift are being reused for Ace #3 after King #3 was rebuilt as a six-seat lift for winter 2025/26. Reuse does not remove the need for engineering, certification or new works at the Ace line, but it gives the project a different character from a complete new-build and reduces the amount of serviceable infrastructure discarded during the wider modernisation programme. Together, the two projects reveal where Niseko United is directing capital: enclosed access from a resort base, greater capacity on an important mid-mountain route and a gradual replacement of older equipment. Annupuri has separately announced a full gondola replacement ahead of winter 2028/29, with planned hourly capacity rising from about 1,440 to around 2,800 passengers. These are phased commitments, and the published dates should still be read as targets until each lift is commissioned. For anyone booking this winter, the useful questions are operational rather than architectural. Niseko Village visitors should check whether the first gondola section has opened for their dates and where it finishes. People staying in Hirafu should look at the current trail map and lift status before assuming the new Ace #3 removes every queue or guarantees an easier inter-resort crossing. On days when upper links close, buses remain an important part of moving between the four Niseko United areas. The strongest case for both upgrades is therefore straightforward: they put more carrying capacity into routes that visitors already use. They do not create a completely new Niseko experience in one season, and the Mori-no project will remain incomplete until its second stage. If the planned winter openings proceed, however, they should make two everyday journeys warmer, quicker and less dependent on ageing lifts, while setting up further changes across the linked resort over the next several years. [ How Much Snow Will Fall In Japan This Winter? ](https://uchijapan.com/news/japan-snowfall-predictions-2026-2027)