Hakodate Nanae Ski Resort

The Hakodate Nanae Ski Resort is located way down south in Hokkaido near Hakodate. It’s ideal to visit as part of a Hakodate stop-over between the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu (by train or car ferry). Hakodate Nanae Snow Park (formerly Hakodate Onuma Nanae) is one of those Japan ski resorts that looks pretty lame on paper. Actually it also feels a bit lame when you first have a look around, until you explore further and find a few powder skiing joys lurking beneath its veneer.

Pros and Cons of Hakodate Nanae

Pros

• Hakodate Nanae offer views of the water and Mt Komagatake, an impressive looking volcano.
• Gaijin are few and far between, or absent, so you’ll get a genuine Japanese experience and have very little competition for the fresh powder.
• Hakodate Nanae is uncrowded.
• Lift ticket prices are pretty average for a Japan ski resort, whilst meals and accommodation in the area provide very good value for money.

Cons

• It’s a reasonably small ski resort.
• Most of the piste terrain is only ideal for beginners. Like many other Japanese ski resorts, there is not much on offer for advanced on-piste riders and intermediates are also likely to get bored pretty quickly.

Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective

• Hakodate Nanae Snowpark offers a small amount of off-piste skiing and some fun sidecountry, but the run-out from the slackcountry is very very long.
• You know you’ve found the real Japan when pretty much no one speaks English.
• It’s rather out of the way and it takes a bit of commitment to get there, but this means that not many other powder hounds will make the effort, so more fresh powder for you.

Hakodate Nanae Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Like many other low-profile Japanese ski resorts, Hakodate Nanae is small with only 3 lifts and 8 courses, but it is somewhat sizeable (by Japanese standards) with respect to the vertical which goes from 245-943 metres (698m vertical).

Hakodate Nanae Ski Resort is heavily groomed and best suited to beginner skiers and snowboarders. The trail stats reflect this somewhat - 60% beginner, 20% intermediate & 20% advanced. There is only one “advanced” run, it’s groomed, and it only hits a maximum gradient of 29 degrees, so it would more be more aptly rated as an intermediate run.

Off-piste skiing seems to be tolerated in a few areas but it’s likely that it is officially prohibited. Some of the best in-bounds tree skiing terminates in the gully where the quad chair lift resides, so it’s hard to do it discretely, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained! Hakodate Nanae has some expansive sidecountry that funnels into one mighty long summer road.

Where is Hakodate Nanae?

The Hakodate Nanae Snow Park is located 37km north of Hakodate City (a drive that takes about 50 minutes) and 18km northeast of Shin Hakodate Hokuto Station, the terminal for the Hokkaido Shinkansen (bullet train).

If you have a car, the telephone number for GPS navigation is 0138-67-3355. Otherwise you can get there very cheaply by train from Hakodate or Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. There are irregular trains to Onuma train station (see Japan Travel Navitime for train schedules) and then connecting free shuttles to take you to the ski resort. There are also free shuttles from Onumakogen train station and the Hakodate Onuma Prince Hotel.

Nearby ski resorts include the pokey Greenpia Onuma and Niyama Kogen – both are 16km away from Hakodate Nanae.

Accommodation

There are no on-mountain hotels. The deluxe Hotel La’gent Plaza at the Shin Hakodate Hokuto train station is a convenient place to stay if you are using public transport. This hotel has onsen baths, massage services, buffet breakfast, a restaurant, and ready access to other eateries at the train station.

The Hakodate-Onuma Prince Hotel is a large resort hotel located 13km west of Hakodate Nanae. The hotel has modern western-style rooms, onsen and massages. A free shuttle is provided between the hotel and the ski resort.

The Hakodate Onuma Tsuruga Resort is a 5 star masterpiece, and located 9km west of Hakodate Nanae Snowpark.

Or alternatively you could stay in one of the many Hakodate hotels.

Ski Resort Facilities

The highlight of the ski resort facilities is the modern Peak Café, a small restaurant near the top of the ski area that offers spectacular views on fine days. The café offers coffees (they’re Japanese style ie not the best!) and nice meals that are a far cry from the fare typically found at ski resort cafeterias.

If you really want cafeteria food, you’ll find that at the base along with a cute little ramen bar opposite the gondola station.

Other ski resort facilities include ski school (Japanese language only), equipment rentals if you’re game, kids’ room (if accompanied by an adult), a small retail shop, and locker room.