The Hakuba Kashimayari Snow Resort is not particularly large but it’s spread out across multiple faces and you have to look at the trail map a few times before it makes sense. The Nakatsuna base at 830m elevation has two beginner and an intermediate slope above it that faces east to south east. From the mid-mountain Central Plaza 1130, the slopes head up in three different directions. The small Kurosawa slope faces southeast, the West Mountain (1,335m top lift) provides a few sort-of-steep runs with a northeast aspect, whilst the main area heads up towards North Mt (1,550m top lift) with mostly south facing slopes.

Like a lot of small Japanese ski resorts, the terrain is mostly suited to beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders, and there is a little bit of tree skiing for advanced riders.

Lifts

Kashimayari Snow Resort has just OK lift infrastructure considering the size of the terrain.

Of the 8 lifts, there are 3 quad chair lifts (only 2 go at a decent speed) and 5 pair lifts, some of which are complete dinosaurs. The word on the street is that the top lift (which services the best terrain) barely ever runs, with reasons provided such as mechanical failure and general suspicions that even if they could pay the maintenance costs that they wouldn’t want to pay the operational costs. Like a few other ailing Japanese ski resorts, they don’t seem to get it that less visitors will come if they shut down lifts. It seems a particular shame considering there are thousands of Hakuba international tourists who would enjoy the terrain that the top lift provides. Oh well, there’s always skinning!

Night skiing used to be rather remarkable because a decent amount of terrain was illuminated, including some fun trees. However it seems that the night skiing area has been shrunk somewhat.

Lift Tickets

Lift tickets are pretty cheap at Kashimayari. It’s also included on the Hakuba Valley lift pass, although the price per diem for the HV pass is significantly higher. Unlike other Hakuba ski resorts where you need a Hakuba Valley pass to ride some of the buses for free, at Kashimayari the shuttles are free for everyone (using the ski resort).

Kashimayari Snow

The statistic for the average Kashimayari snowfall per season is 9.5 metres, which is less than the more northern Hakuba Valley ski resorts, but still very respectable on a world scale.

As a generalisation, the snow quality is very good without being exceptional. The top elevation at 1,550m is about average for a Hakuba ski resort, although if the top lift is closed the uppermost altitude is only 1,335m. As to be expected, the Kashimayari snow quality varies significantly depending on the elevation and also the aspect, of which there are many at Kashimayari. The best snow is usually found on West Mountain.

Kashimayari Skiing for the Beginner

Like a lot of Japanese ski resorts, Kashimayari is well suited to beginner skiers and snowboarders. There are beginner runs off most of the lifts, so there’s no shortage of choice.

For the Intermediate

With 45% of the trails dedicated to intermediates, there’s also a bit of variety for intermediate riders considering the small-ish size of the ski resort (there are about 6-7 courses). If it’s open, Course 10 offers spectacular views over Lake Aokiko and has a nice pitch. Runs off the no. 5 pair lift offer lovely snow quality and a fraction more pitch than the other runs, whilst the Ipponbuna Downhill Course is a decent length run to get up a bit of speed, although it can suffer from some slick conditions (which adds to the pace!).

Terrain Park

Kashi is renowned for having a fun terrain park, but nothing was set up when we visited.

Advanced Skiing On-Piste

As is rather common with Japanese ski resorts, there isn’t much in the way of advanced piste terrain at Kashimayari Snow Resort. There are two black runs, which could be described as 1.5 runs considering they run in parallel for part of the way. Typically they are covered in moguls, although when we visited the sticks poking through were more prevalent than bumps.

A downside of this terrain is that you have to repetitively ride a slow lift, but at least it has the best snow on the hill.

It looks like there used to be a black course or two under the no. 6 lift, but these are no longer “operational”.

Off Piste Skiing and Riding

Along with some of the other Hakuba ski resorts, Kashimayari has started to allow off-piste skiing in small designated areas. These legit tree skiing zones are located off lift no. 5 and provide reasonably short fall line tree skiing with a nice pitch. Similarly to Goryu, the area is so small that it doesn’t take too many riders to rip up the fresh. Of course, when it’s midweek and not holiday season, you might be one of only a handful of riders.

There are a few non-legit areas where you could discretely play in the trees. Some of the best zones are off the top lift.

Sidecountry

Kashi still has a bit of sidecountry, but opportunities diminished significantly when Aokiko Ski Resort next door closed down.