I would wait for HKexpress to have its tickets prices updated later. ANA is not a bad choice if HKExpress doesn't have much discounts. My experience is ANA is less popular among the traditional airlines, hence prices not as bad. However, their promotion prices usually not release until few months before.
Yes we all know how to ski. For beginner skiers, go for skiing around Takayama is a very good option as opposed to paying expensive air fares to Hokkaido at peak season.
I usually ski in Korea. These years, we wanna switch to Japan.