Yakebi Ski Area Terrain

Yakebi Ski Resort is one of the Shiga Kogen ski areas. Yakebi Shiga Kogen is inter-connected with Okushigakogen at the top where the connection is flat, and near the base on skiers left. Yakebitaiyama is also inter-connected with Ichinose Yamanokami on the southern side near the West Building of the Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel.

Yakebi is slightly busier than other Shiga ski areas, and not just with big school groups that are typical of other Shiga Kogen ski resorts. On weekends there are sometimes queues for the gondolas, but relative to big profile ski resorts in North America or Europe or even Nozawa Onsen, Yakebitaiyama is incredibly uncrowded.

Note that the terrain ratings provided are just for Yakebitaiyama, whilst Shiga Kogen overall rates higher considering it offers a large range of terrain.

Lifts

Yakebi Shiga Kogen has 2 gondolas, 2 high speed quad chairs of which one has a hood, and a slow double chair and a magic carpet. A few chair lifts have been retired.

The #3 quad lift above the East Building has night skiing, which provides access to a beginner and intermediate run and short black piste.

Early Tracks operates on the #1 Gondola (East Building) for 40 minutes prior to regular operations on weekends and holidays.

Lift Tickets

You can purchase a Shiga Kogen All-Mountain lift pass which covers all the ski areas, or save a few yen by purchasing a lift pass for just Yakebi. Children 12 and under ski free for just Yakebi ski resort.

Yakebi Snow

According to Yakebitaiyama Prince Resort, the ski area has “platinum snow”, whatever that is! The top elevation is just shy of 2,000 metres, so it’s much higher than other Nagano ski resorts (see the Nagano snow statistics to compare elevations) and the snow is usually primo in winter. The aspect of Yakebi is predominantly southeast so when the sun comes out and temps warm up, the snow quality isn’t as amazing as some of the other Shiga ski areas. Many off-piste lines are northeast facing whilst some steep pitches have a south aspect and can be super sketchy, both with respect to snow quality and stability.

Thanks to the high altitude, the Yakebitaiyama snow season operates from early December to early May.

Beginner Skiing Yakebitaiyama

Novice children may want to start in the family snow park next to the West Building which has a magic carpet. The next progression is a big leap to the green run off the double chair and then the hooded quad chair. These green runs are steeper than your average Japan beginner slope.

For the Intermediate

Yakebi Shiga Kogen has a handful of nicely groomed intermediate runs that vary in pitch.

Terrain Park

Yakebi Ski Area has a terrain park that’s usually set-up to include a couple of jump lines, rails and boxes. In the past it had a quarter pipe, but maintenance of the park seems to have been a very low priority of late.

Advanced Skiing On-Piste

Like a lot of Japanese ski resorts, the advanced piste runs aren’t likely to keep you excited for too long. The Olympic Run is sometimes groomed and provides fast turns. Other runs are left to bump up.

The Yakebi Wall is made out to be some extreme run and whilst it’s certainly got some pitch (average of 32.5 degrees and maximum of 39 degrees), it is unlikely to make you too nervous.

Off Piste & Sidecountry Skiing

Yakebi has one official tree run whilst the rest is considered off-piste.

Along with Okushiga, Yakebitaiyama has the best fall line tree skiing of Shiga Kogen, which may be part of the reason that it tracks out faster than other parts of Shiga, along with it being close to the main lodging villages.

The upper areas have some decent pitch which mellows out towards the base, so on a powder day, you may need to punch out an egress track for some lines, whilst other lines terminate in no-mans-land. You should have avalanche gear and avalanche savvy to enter these areas.

Guiding is available with Japan Powder Culture Tours as part of multi-day packages, or single day backcountry guiding is available with Ride Shiga.