Zao Onsen Ski Resort Overview
蔵王温泉スキー場Zao Onsen Ski Resort is the largest ski resort in the Tohoku region. It is known for juhyo, the 'snow monsters': Maries' fir trees that Siberian winds encase in ice until they stand as towering sculptures. Its 14 areas run from 780 m to 1,661 m, an 881 m vertical drop, and the village below is a hot-spring onsen town.
Resort Location
Location of the resort on the map of Japan.
Resort highlights
- Access
- Night skiing Gondola access Terrain park
- Snow
- Cold, dry snow
- Terrain
- High alpine Beginner-friendly
- Onsen
- Open-air onsen Family onsen Ryokan stays Onsen nearby
- Season
- Long season Late closer
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.
Here the modelled cloud and the station’s measured sunshine disagree by more than the cut allows, so the figure is stated as a range.
EstimatedThey gather at the end. More than half of them arrive in March. Across the 39 resorts tracked here, a typical winter holds between 2 and 11 clear days.
Checked against sunshine measured at Yamagata.
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 3,243 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 2.8° to 18.8°.
EstimatedLifts
Every active lift, ranked by the riders it carries uphill in an hour.
30 active lifts carrying skiers uphill.
EstimatedRiders per hour (estimated)
Night Skiing
Night Skiing →1 lift runs at night, 17:00 to 21:00, and at other hours on other nights.
Getting Here
Getting Here →One recommended public-transport route from each gateway city.
3 gateway cities with a confirmed public route.
Measured- Sendai → Zao Onsen (bus): board:Sendai — Sendai — (Yamako Bus Zao Onsen Line, 85 min) — Zao Onsen
- Airport train + bus (via Sendai): Sendai Airport — (Sendai Airport Access Line, 30 min) — Sendai — (Yamako Bus Zao Onsen Line, 100 min) — Zao Onsen
- Shinkansen + bus (via Tokyo/Yamagata): Tokyo Station — (Yamagata Shinkansen (Tsubasa), 150 min) — Yamagata Station — (Yamako Bus Zao Onsen Line, 40 min) — Zao Onsen
Videos
Videos →Riders’ own words from their videos, each with its timestamp.
6 rider clips from confirmed videos.
Creator-sourced-
“今、17番ゴンドラに乗ってる。 樹氷原のコースの真ん中あたりまで行く。 山頂から滑って 내려てきて、ちょうど中腹あたりです。 それから2号ロープウェイに乗り継ぎます。 17号ロープウェイの下あたりにあります。 ここが「楽園スキー場」のメインとなる2本のコースです。 最初に横切るのがグリーンコース。 もう1本は左手側のブラックコースです。 グリーンコースのほうは、 あとで下山するときに改めてお話しします。 ブラックコースのほうは自分では滑っていないので、 ここではざっくり紹介しておきます。 蔵王には「三大壁」と呼ばれる壁があります。 これはその中でいちばん易しい壁です。 一番きついところでも最大斜度は28度です。 ブラックコースとしてはそこまで難しくありません。 全体的にけっこう短め。 見た感じ、安全そう。 黒コースをちょっとだけ攻めてみたいなら、”
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“I headed towards Zao in despair, but they remained almost intact and I was able to see Snow Monsters after all. I heard Kurohime parking lot is empty and has the best access to the top of Jizo Mountain, and Kurohime Quattro is empty and fast.”
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“大森クワトロを乗るとその後1本、え、 黒姫コネクションコースっていうところを 、え、滑ってもらうと最初に乗った黒姫 クアトロにたど取りつくことができます。 え、なのでレンタルが必要な方はこちら からのスタートも、え、検討してみて ください。ということで、え、本日のご 視聴ありがとうございました。この動画が 良かったなと思ったら高評価よろしくお 願いします。チャンネル登録もぜ非して くださいね。ではまたお会いしましょう。 バイバイ。”
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“You can see that hot water is flowing through the canals. There are many courses at Zao Onsen Resort. We chose Chuo ropeway for our first course. This is a newly built cafe at the end of Zao Chuo Ropeway.”
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“この連絡コースを抜けた先、右手に見えて くるのが 座線スキー場最大のシャドウを持つ横倉の 壁3°です。が 後ほどこも滑りたいと思います。これはね、横倉ゲレンでは座王の山頂へ向かうザ王ロープの 36 駅があるエリアです。中間部はこのようになだらかな面なんですが、この先最後は少しになっているので、走際は注意してください。”
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“するだよ イエこちらザ坂と言われておりますコース でござい ますなのでちょっとザしようかなすは えっと今日言いたい残も間違いなくこれ でしょうこの 動画2回目 です本当はさっき1本上に上がっ て撮影したんだけどみんなと一緒に取れて なかったの よというわけで2回取っております今回の”