Madarao Mountain Resort Overview
斑尾高原スキー場Madarao Mountain Resort in northern Nagano is a cult favourite for powder enthusiasts, receiving some of Japan's heaviest snowfall thanks to its position directly in the path of Siberian weather systems crossing the Sea of Japan. The mountain is celebrated for its dense birch and beech glades — arguably the finest tree skiing in Honshu — and its relaxed, uncrowded atmosphere. 27 courses spread across 75 hectares cater to 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 →How deep the snow gets, and when — averaged across recorded seasons.
Typical base at the deepest half-month.
MeasuredClear skies
How much of a typical winter here is actually clear, and when those days fall.
They are spread through the season, with March the strongest single stretch. Across the 41 resorts tracked here, a typical winter holds between 2 and 11 clear days.
Checked against sunshine measured at Shinano. This resort does not have its weather cell to itself — 3 of the resorts in the fit read the same one.
How a winter day is classified
A winter here means December 1 to March 31. A day is Clear at or below 30% modelled cloud cover, Partly Cloudy from 31 to 79%, and Overcast at 80% and above. A day carrying 5 cm or more of falling snow is Snow before any cloud value is read.
Cloud cover comes from the ERA5 reanalysis archive for this resort’s weather cell. The check comes from hours of sunshine measured at the nearest reporting station, which sits lower down the valley.
How closely the modelled cloud tracks the station’s measured sunshine, over the 3,242 winter days both sources hold a value for. Below the cut, the figure is stated as a range instead of a count.
The classification describes sky cover over the resort’s weather cell, not visibility measured on the hill. A resort can sit in cloud at altitude on a day its cell reads clear.
Mountain
Mountain →How much the pitch varies across this mountain — the gap between its gentlest run and its steepest, ranked against the other mountains here that carry pitch data.
Its runs range from 3.9° to 29.9°.
EstimatedLifts
Every active lift, ranked by how many riders it moves uphill each hour.
9 active lifts carrying skiers uphill.
EstimatedRiders per hour (estimated)
Lift Tickets
Lift Tickets →What an hour of skiing actually costs, across every ticket length.
Cheapest cost per hour among the compared passes.
MeasuredGetting Here
Getting Here →One recommended public route from each gateway, all leading here.
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 →What riders actually said on camera, timestamped to the moment.
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”
-
“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”
-
“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”
-
“>> 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.”
-
“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”
-
“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。”