Aomori Prefecture
The Aomori Prefecture is the most northern prefecture on the main island (Honshu) of Japan in the Tohoku region. The Aomori ski resorts boast some big snowfalls due to their proximity to the Sea of Japan. Even the City of Aomori receives huge amounts of snow and snow removal is almost a full time job for the locals during winter.
Aomori Ski Resorts
The Aomori Prefecture skiing consists of about a dozen ski areas that are mostly visited by the locals, so like many of the other
Tohoku ski resorts, the Aomori ski resorts have very little skier traffic.
The famed
Hakkoda is mostly known for its backcountry skiing terrain, which is partly serviced by a ropeway (cable car), and some routes drop onto the road, so access to a vehicle opens up a lot of low-effort lines. Big storms buffet Hakkoda, so in the peak of winter there are times that the ropeway is closed.
Hakkoda Accommodation
Aomori Spring Ski Resort (formerly Naqua Shirakami) is a relatively unknown powder gem that has fantastic sidecountry trees, great beginner terrain, and exceptional terrain parks and half pipes (which are rare in Japan). Mt Iwaki (the Mt Fuji of Tsugaru) also provides some spectacular backcountry touring when weather permits. The ski-in ski-out
Rockwood Hotel at the base of Aomori Spring Ski Resort is a deluxe hotel which has a lovely onsen.
Aomori Spring Accommodation
Near Hirosaki,
Iwaki Hyakuzawa Ski Area is very close to Aomori Spring as the crow flies. It's just over the back of Iwaki-san (Mt Iwaki) on its south eastern flank. The ski area's elevation is reasonable, but it's best visited when temperatures are frigid considering its sunny aspect.
The small
Owani Onsen Ski Resort is also best visited when the snow is primo considering its top elevation is only 533m. At least it has some reasonable pitch by Japanese standards.
The other Aomori ski resorts have moderate to low elevation and may not be that exciting for powder chasing fiends.
You could use the little onsen village on the fringes of
Kuroishi as a base for a few days. It's close to Hakkoda and also in close proximity to Aomori Spring and Owani Onsen.
Hirosaki is another option for a city to base yourself.
Travel to Aomori
Aomori Airport receives flights from Sapporo New Chitose, Tokyo Haneda and Osaka-Itami as well as Seoul-Incheon (Korea) and Tianjin Binhai (China). You can
search for flights here.
It’s also really easy to get to the Aomori Prefecture via bullet train, with a trip from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori station taking just over 3 hours. The Shin-Aomori train station is also connected to Hokkaido (via undersea tunnel) and the train trip to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto takes one hour. The trip onto Sapporo takes another 3-3.5 hours, which will reduce over time as the Hokkaido Shinkansen further develops.
Whether you’re on a guided multi-day tour or a DIY road trip (you can
rent a car at Shin-Aomori train station), some of the Aomori ski resorts can be combined with time at the
Iwate ski resorts.
Appi Kogen is 134km south of Hakkoda and from there, many of the other Iwate ski areas are pretty close.