We assumed Niyama Kogen was going to be a dinky little local ski area and we weren’t wrong. Lots of infrastructure was rusted, possibly because it’s so close to the sea but also its age. A few decayed and defunct lifts were covered in vines, showing evidence of the potential glory of yesteryear, and the little ski area has shrivelled in size. Of course the upside of this withered ski resort was that barely anyone was there, so we scored an unexpected and incredibly fun morning at Niyama Kogen!

It was a powder day, there were perhaps a total of 20-30 people there, and only 3 others who were riding the powder. Japan skiing like it was 15 years ago!

Due to its elevation and aspect, we expected the powder to be a little heavy but thanks to cold temperatures, the powder was divine. Typical Hokkaido powder! And we hit line after line of powder without any interference. We thought perhaps the liftie was unhappy about us jumping off a cornice into an off-piste area, but it turned out he just wanted our attention to give us some lollies (candy not drugs!). After we’d had a good go at the open areas, we hit several tree areas. Some lines were very steep (albeit short) and mostly the trees were very tight and a little too technical.

We stayed at the Hotel La’gent Plaza at the Shin Hakodate Hokuto train station. This deluxe hotel provided incredibly great value (possibly because it was very new) and the massages were very inexpensive. The onsen was rather nice (obviously the outdoor onsen didn’t provide a view, being next to a train station), the buffet breakfast was very good, and the evening dining at the hotel more than adequate. There were also a couple of noodle bars inside the building for inexpensive dining. We didn’t have a car, so the hotel location was ideal to catch trains or get a taxi.

See the Niyama Kogen overview for our thoughts on the pros and cons of this ski area.
See our video here