Madarao Mountain Resort Overview
斑尾高原スキー場Madarao Mountain Resort in northern Nagano sits directly in the path of the Siberian weather systems that cross the Sea of Japan, so it receives some of Japan's heaviest snowfall. It has a following among powder skiers. Its birch and beech glades are dense, and the tree skiing is arguably the finest in Honshu. The atmosphere is relaxed and uncrowded, and 27 courses spread across 75 hectares suit all abilities.
Resort Location
Location of the resort on the map of Japan.
Resort highlights
- Access
- Night skiing Terrain park
- Terrain
- Advanced terrain Steep terrain
- Onsen
- Open-air onsen Family onsen Ryokan stays Onsen nearby
Snow Report
Snow Report →Average peak depth and the month it arrives, over every recorded season.
Typical base at the deepest half-month.
MeasuredClear skies
The share of a typical winter that is clear here, and the months the clear days fall in.
They are spread through the season, with March the strongest single stretch. Across the 39 resorts tracked here, a typical winter holds between 2 and 11 clear days.
Checked against sunshine measured at Shinano. The same station validates Tangram Ski Circus. This resort reads the same weather cell as Akakura Onsen Ski Resort and Tangram Ski Circus.
How a winter day is classified
Winter runs from December 1 to March 31. A day counts as Clear when modelled cloud cover is 30% or less, Partly Cloudy from 31 to 79%, and Overcast from 80% up. A day with 5 cm or more of snowfall counts as Snow, whatever the cloud cover.
Cloud cover comes from the ERA5 reanalysis for the weather cell this resort sits in. It is checked against hours of sunshine measured at the nearest reporting station, lower down the valley.
The modelled cloud is compared with the station’s measured sunshine on the 3,242 winter days that have both. When the two agree poorly, the clear-day figure is given as a range instead of a single count.
The classification describes cloud over the resort’s weather cell, but nobody measures visibility on the hill. A cell that reads clear can still leave the upper mountain in cloud all day.
Mountain
Mountain →The spread from this mountain’s gentlest run to its steepest, ranked against the other mountains with pitch data.
Its runs range from 3.9° to 29.9°.
EstimatedLifts
Every active lift, ranked by the riders it carries uphill in an hour.
9 active lifts carrying skiers uphill.
EstimatedRiders per hour (estimated)
Lift Tickets
Lift Tickets →The cost of an hour on the hill, for every ticket length.
Cheapest cost per hour among the compared passes.
MeasuredNight Skiing
Night Skiing →2 lifts run at night, 16:30 to 21:00.
Getting Here
Getting Here →One recommended public-transport route from each gateway city.
2 gateway cities with a confirmed public route.
Measured- Hokuriku Shinkansen (Hakutaka) to Iiyama + Nagaden bus: Tokyo Station — (北陸新幹線, 105 min) — Iiyama Station — (Nagaden Bus, 25 min) — Madarao Kogen
- Direct shuttle from Narita/Haneda: Narita/Haneda Airport — (Nagano Snow Shuttle (JHN Travel), 345 min) — Madarao Kogen
Videos
Videos →Riders’ own words from their videos, each with its timestamp.
6 rider clips from confirmed videos.
Creator-sourced-
“in the country and when it snows powder snow lovers gather here in particular we recommend powder Wave 2 with a maximum slope of 35° and a total length of 800 M it is a tree Run course with trees thinned out at regular intervals making it easy to ski”
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“different tree runs that you could explore that are all designated tree runs which was amazing my personal favorite was crystal Bowl as well as the natural halfpipe so if you definitely come here do check out those two runs”
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“different tree runs that you could explore that are all designated tree runs which was amazing my personal favorite was crystal Bowl as well as the natural halfpipe so if you definitely come here do check out those two runs”
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“>> What chair are we on right now? This little one right to the summit, right? Oh, then we go down Adventure Aisle into the >> We can do any of those trees, it looks like. Who's first? >> Teletubbies.”
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“のこのコースねこのコースまっすぐ行けば忍者つくはずなんで まぁこんな感じでちょっとトラバースしなあかんでワンフットっていうかあるかなあかもしれないですけど こんな感じですね 忍者来たけどさ これ忍者ねこれここ 今日クローズみんなこれ飛ぼうかな思ったけど飛べへんな”
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“ファミリーアドベンチャーコースのカモシカコースになります。はい。後ろを見ると3ラでございます。はい。ちょっと見てくれて。この木の感覚あのとても広くてあのすごくこうコース取りしやすいのでこう初めて釣リーランしたいなっていう方にも練習になるいいコースなんです。”