Tangram Japan
Tangram Ski Circus is a ski resort that is interconnected with
Madarao Ski Resort. Like a Tangram puzzle, you may be puzzled as to what a “ski circus” is. Thankfully the resort is slowly shedding the Tangram Ski Circus nomenclature and rebranding itself to Tangram Madarao Tokyu Resort.
Unlike the massive
Ski Circus Salbaach in Austria, which is named because the 70 modern lifts are arranged around the valley like a circus ring, Tangram is just a tiny ski area with a handful of dated lifts. Thankfully it’s interconnected with the Madarao Ski Resort to provide more terrain.
Pros and Cons of Tangram Ski Resort
Pros
- Tangram Ski Circus is a great adjunct to Madarao and the two ski resorts combined are a decent size (by Japanese standards).
- The Tangram terrain is well suited to confident beginners to mid level intermediate riders.
- The Tangram ski resort is not usually crowded.
- Tangram Madarao Ski Resort has a couple of gladed tree zones which are good for advanced riders.
- Even though it’s not a high elevation ski resort, the Tangram snow quality is often excellent thanks to its northerly aspect.
- The ski area affords great views of Mt Myoko and Lake Nojiri on fine days.
- Like Madarao, Tangram Ski Resort is close to various other Nagano and Niigata ski resorts, so it can make a good base to explore the area.
- A Tangram ski holiday can be very affordable.
- Tangram is family friendly, particularly for those with small children.
Cons
- As a stand-alone ski resort, it’s small.
- Nightlife is quite limited and there is a very small choice of restaurants for dinner.
Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- Westerners have been buying up property in Tangram so there are lodges to support those that want to only speak English. Conversely, some inns and the Tangram hotels have a retained a mostly Japanese flavour and English isn’t spoken by all staff.
Tangram Ski and Snowboard Terrain
The ski resort sits on the northwestern flank of Mt Madarao which is not a particularly high mountain, so there’s no big top (nor are there any clowns!) at the Tangram Ski Circus. It’s a small ski resort, with 520 vertical metres (800 – 1,320 metres), 14 trails, and 5 lifts (2 quad chairs, 3 double chairs).
Tangram Madarao Resort has a small novice area and various trails for confident beginners. There are a couple of short red (intermediate) courses, and a handful of short black runs that won’t entertain advanced riders for very long.
Tangram Ski Resort continues to let go of its formerly conservative approach to tree skiing. There are some small areas for designated tree skiing, and whilst other treed areas are officially not permitted, the patrollers have grown weary of policing this.
Tangram is inter-connected with the
Madarao Ski Resort towards the top of the mountain, and a handful of extra yen will score you a dual resort lift pass.
Where is Tangram Japan?
The Tangram Ski Resort is located on the border of the Nagano and Niigata Prefectures, 5.5km from Madarao via road and 14km southeast of
Akakura Onsen (the main village of the
Myoko Kogen ski resorts). See the
Tangram travel page for more information on location, getting there, and nearby ski resorts.
Tangram Accommodation
There is no real village at Tangram, with the main base area consisting of the large ski-in ski-out
Hotel Tangram and
Hotel Harvest. Hotel Tangram provides western style hotel rooms, a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool, and indoor and outdoor onsen baths. The accommodation is generally inexpensive (except holiday weekends), although meals at the hotel can be rather costly.
Tangram also has a “pension village” that is about 1.5km from Hotel Tangram where there are a few hotels, pensions and western-run lodges. These sit near the #6 chair lift and are either ski-in ski-out or a short walk to the slopes. A couple of the lodges have restaurants and quiet bars, otherwise you’ll need to dine-in at your accommodation.
Tangram Accommodation Listings
Other options are to stay in
Madarao accommodation (Madarao is inter-connected with Tangram) or nearby in
Myoko Kogen accommodation. The towns of
Yudanaka and
Shibu Onsen near the
snow monkeys could also be used as a base to visit Tangram.
Ski Resort Facilities
The base area of Tangram Madarao Resort has a large cafeteria, a lounge, ski and snowboard rentals, a small ski shop selling accessories, and a large souvenir store.
Tangram is rather family friendly, with child care facilities, a kids’ park, and a few kids’ activities such as snowmobiling or snow rafting. Ski and snowboard lessons with an English speaking instructor are available for kids and adults in a private format, and these are reasonably priced for private lessons.