The forest
What grows on Zao Onsen Ski Resort
This mountain has both, in separate patches. The deciduous stands drop their leaves and open up for the winter; the conifer stands stay closed.
Read from the national vegetation survey. The survey records the cut pistes as open ground, so the ski area shows up on its own.
Where this mountain sits among the others on JapowDB
Its forest stands barer in winter than 6 of the 49 mountains on JapowDB.
01
Sight range, level by level
This is the mountain seen from the side. How far you can see into the trees changes with height.
| Height | What you can see through | Bare |
|---|---|---|
| 1,706–1,840 m | | 10% |
| 1,572–1,706 m | | 10% |
| 1,437–1,571 m | | 27% |
| 1,303–1,437 m | | 63% |
| 1,169–1,303 m | | 97% |
| 1,035–1,169 m | | 96% |
| 900–1,034 m | | 82% |
| 766–900 m | | 65% |
| 632–766 m | | 59% |
| 498–632 m | | 64% |
Each reading is a share of that band's own forest, not of the mountain, and a band holding too little forest to state one is left blank. The pale bar behind the section is how much ground sits at that height, so a swing over a sliver of mountain does not read as a headline. No treeline is drawn — the survey describes stands, not a line.
02
What stands beside each run
Each run is scored on the band 35 to 90 m either side of its centre line, which is the forest you look at from the piste. Runs are ordered by how much of that band you can see through in winter.
| Run | The band either side | See-through |
|---|---|---|
| Nakamori Course 1 276 m | 89% | |
| Chuo Course 2 321 m | 88% | |
| Chuo Course 1 649 m | 86% | |
| Kurohime Connect Course 764 m | 78% | |
| Kurohime Course 2 1,020 m | 77% | |
| Sunrise Course 1 400 m | 77% | |
| Ohira Course 2,249 m | 76% | |
| Chuo Course 6 358 m | 75% |
The other 46 runs
| Run | The band either side | See-through |
|---|---|---|
| Kurohime Super Giant Course 1,630 m | 72% | |
| Mikaeri Course 253 m | 70% | |
| Ohmori no Kabe 30° 309 m | 69% | |
| B course 435 m | 68% | |
| Katakai Triple 430 m | 68% | |
| Hyakumanin Course 3 413 m | 66% | |
| Chuo Course 5 459 m | 62% | |
| Ohmori Course 1,753 m | 61% | |
| Chuo Course 7 535 m | 61% | |
| Takatori Course 699 m | 61% | |
| Hyakumanin Course 1 1,728 m | 60% | |
| Diamond Valley 1 589 m | 59% | |
| Chuo Course 3 444 m | 58% | |
| Yokokurano Wall 38° 358 m | 57% | |
| Nakamori Course 2 599 m | 56% | |
| Chuo Course 8 348 m | 56% | |
| Diamond Valley 3 662 m | 56% | |
| Diamond Valley 2 336 m | 53% | |
| Hahnenkamm A Course 532 m | 53% | |
| Hahnenkamm C Course 721 m | 51% | |
| Sunrise Course 3 557 m | 50% | |
| Yokokurano Course 4 570 m | 49% | |
| Chuo Course 4 381 m | 47% | |
| Ryuzan Course 3 634 m | 44% | |
| Uwanodai Course 2 519 m | 44% | |
| Hyakumanin Course 2 401 m | 43% | |
| Utopia Course 5 241 m | 43% | |
| Renraku Course 974 m | 39% | |
| Omori Course 1 656 m | 38% | |
| Sailor Course 470 m | 37% | |
| Omori Course 2 340 m | 33% | |
| Utopia Course 4 283 m | 33% | |
| Shobunuma Course 366 m | 31% | |
| Uwanodai Course 1 985 m | 31% | |
| Yokokurano Course 2 903 m | 30% | |
| Sunrise Course 2 354 m | 30% | |
| Ryuzan Course 1 308 m | 30% | |
| Utopia Course 3 437 m | 30% | |
| Paradies Course Detour 819 m | 29% | |
| Ryuzan Course 2 630 m | 28% | |
| Yokokurano Course 1 1,120 m | 23% | |
| Yokokurano Course 3 380 m | 8% | |
| Zangezaka Johyogen Course 1,539 m | 2% | |
| Utopia Course 1 653 m | 1% | |
| Uwanodai Course 3 336 m | 0% | |
| Utopia Course 2 260 m | 0% |
Each figure is a share of the surveyed ground in a band 35–90 m either side of the run. The run itself and the rest of the mountain are outside it. The survey resolves about 21 m on the ground and the band is only a few cells wide, so the figure covers what the band is made of and cannot single out one tree, gap or line of sight. Runs the survey barely covers are left out. The survey has no treeline and no stem-density data.
03
What actually grows here
The survey sorts every polygon into one of its vegetation zones, then names the stand within it. A mountain usually falls into five or six zones, each holding many named stands.
| Vegetation zone | Share of classified ground | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Beech-zone regrowth ブナクラス域代償植生 | 38% | |
| Plantation and farmland 植林地・耕作地植生 | 23% | |
| Natural beech-zone forest ブナクラス域自然植生 | 17% | |
| Natural subalpine conifer forest コケモモ－トウヒクラス域自然植生 | 10% | |
| Alpine natural vegetation 高山帯自然植生域 | 8% | |
| Other その他 | 2% | |
| Riverside, wetland, salt marsh and dune 河辺・湿原・塩沼地・砂丘植生 | 2% | |
| Subalpine conifer-zone regrowth コケモモ－トウヒクラス域代償植生 | 0% |
The named stands underneath
The survey’s own community names, largest first. These are proper names for stand types, and the survey publishes them only in Japanese.
- オオバクロモジ－ミズナラ群集 20%
- チシマザサ－ブナ群団 13%
- スギ・ヒノキ・サワラ植林 12%
- ブナ－ミズナラ群落 8%
- オオシラビソ群集 7%
- カラマツ植林 5%
The other 51 communities
- コケモモ－ハイマツ群集 5%
- 牧草地 3%
- オクチョウジザクラ－コナラ群集 3%
- ススキ群団（V） 3%
- 火山荒原植生 1%
- 高山ハイデ及び風衝草原 1%
- ナナカマド－ミネカエデ群落 1%
- 伐採跡地群落（V） 1%
- 緑の多い住宅地 1%
- ヒメヤシャブシ－タニウツギ群落 1%
- アカマツ群落（V） 1%
- チシマザサ－クマイザサ群落 1%
- 畑雑草群落 1%
- ウラジロヨウラク－ミヤマナラ群団 1%
- 高山低木群落 1%
- アカマツ植林 1%
- ササ－ダケカンバ群落 1%
- オニグルミ群落（V） 1%
- 開放水域 1%
- アカマツ群落（IV） 1%
- 水田雑草群落 0%
- 硫気孔原植生 0%
- イタドリ－コメススキ群落 0%
- クロベ－キタゴヨウ群落 0%
- ミヤマハンノキ群落 0%
- ジュウモンジシダ－サワグルミ群集 0%
- 市街地 0%
- 放棄水田雑草群落 0%
- 放棄畑雑草群落 0%
- ウダイカンバ群落 0%
- コマクサ－イワツメクサクラス 0%
- 雪田草原 0%
- ニセアカシア群落 0%
- 自然裸地 0%
- 路傍・空地雑草群落 0%
- 造成地 0%
- ツルコケモモ－ミズゴケクラス 0%
- ケヤキ群落（IV） 0%
- コメツガ群落 0%
- タニウツギ－ノリウツギ群落 0%
- ササ群落（II） 0%
- ヨシクラス 0%
- オオヨモギ－オオイタドリ群団 0%
- モミ植林 0%
- ヤナギ低木群落（IV） 0%
- 工場地帯 0%
- ササ群落（III） 0%
- ハンノキ群落（IV） 0%
- ヒルムシロクラス 0%
- ミヤマナラ群落 0%
- 河辺一年生草本群落（タウコギクラス等） 0%
Every share is of the ground the survey classified on this mountain, which is more than the forest and more than the ski area. The zones are the survey’s own; the English is a gloss and the Japanese is the source term. Zones are ordered by area, and area has no bearing on how well a zone skis.
04
How natural this vegetation is
The survey grades every polygon on a ten-point scale of how little people have changed it. Level 1 is made ground with almost nothing growing on it; level 10 is natural grassland and alpine heath. The scale measures human interference only. Natural fir sits at 9 and is a wall you cannot see through; a larch plantation sits at 6, evenly spaced and good to ski.
| Level | Share of classified ground | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Natural grassland and alpine heath | 4% |
| 9 | Natural forest | 32% |
| 8 | Regrowth close to natural forest | 8% |
| 7 | Secondary forest | 25% |
| 6 | Plantation | 18% |
| 5 | Tall secondary grassland | 4% |
| 4 | Short secondary grassland | 2% |
| 3 | Orchard, tea and mulberry field | 0% |
| 2 | Farmland and green residential land | 6% |
| 1 | Built-up and made ground | 0% |
1% of the classified ground carries a code outside the ten levels. It is left out of the rows above.
Every share is of the ground the survey classified on this mountain. The scale records human interference only; a higher level does not mean better skiing. Levels this mountain does not have are left out.
National vegetation survey, 2024 edition, Biodiversity Center, Ministry of the Environment, Japan. Processed by JapowDB; the Ministry did not produce this version.
This mountain's polygons were walked in 2000 and 2015. The edition is dated 2024; the fieldwork is older.
Each cell is about 21 m across, roughly the size of a small clearing.