Yubari Ski Resort Terrain

Other than a big bunch of school kids, the Yubari Ski Resort is usually deserted. It feels like your own private ski resort.

By Japanese standards the Yubari Ski Resort (Mt Racey) is medium sized, which on an international scale makes it rather small. It won’t take you long to scope out the ski area.

Lifts

Mt Racey Ski Resort has 4 lifts. One of these is an old retro gondola that looks a bit like an egg, which runs the full vertical of the ski hill. Thankfully they’ve fitted racks on the gondolas that fit fat skis and snowboards.

A quad chair services the main beginner area which lines up with a fast quad chair to service the quintessential intermediate racey runs.

A double chair (that’s not too slow) services all the terrain out to the lookers’ right of the Yubari Ski Resort including lots of tree skiing.

The double chair to lookers’ left has been retired, which is a shame. The great terrain off this lift is still accessible from the gondola, but you have to return to the base and mingle with the school kids to do laps.

Night skiing used to be pretty good, but the tightening of the purse strings has put an end to night skiing.

Yubari Snow

Yubari Ski Resort receives approximately 8 metres of snow on average per season, and the quality is generally somewhat typical of central Hokkaido powder, although the elevation is somewhat lower than most of the main Hokkaido ski resorts.

Most of the courses at Yubari/Mt Racey have a favourable northwest facing aspect, although the far skiers’ right double black diamond run is southwest facing and the snow can be horrid. As to be expected, the aspects are rather varied in the off-piste areas.

Beginner Skiing Yubari

Mt Racey Ski Resort is ideal for beginners, which may be part of the reason it’s sometimes inundated with school kids. If the government ever stopped the schools’ skiing subsidies, then Yubari Ski Resort would be in even more financial trouble.

For beginners, there’s a dedicated quad chair lift that services a couple of mellow, wide-open trails. More confident beginners can take the next quad lift up and take long lap around the outskirts of the resort.

Ski Mt Racey For the Intermediate

The Yubari Ski Resort is renowned for race training and it’s not just because it’s called Mount Racey! The ski area has a handful of intermediate rated slopes, and the wide Dancing Line slope typically has race poles set up.

Terrain Parks

The Mt Racey Ski Resort used to have a kids’ terrain park and another park with lots of jumps, and boxes and rails, but this looks to have been retired.

Advanced Skiing Yubari – On-Piste

Yubari Ski Resort has several black runs. Some of these are traditional cut piste, whilst others are “nature” courses with a smattering of trees such as the short Racoon Line that hits a maximum gradient of 45 degrees for a moment.

The Carving Line is a long, reasonably challenging run, although it’s not particularly aptly named unless you’re good at carving down moguls!

Off Piste & Sidecountry Skiing and Riding

There are negligible fences and ropes at Yubari, and seemingly no whistle happy ski patrollers, so you can probably go for it in the trees.

Off the top are some very steep short lines through the trees as well as some rocky outcroppings that are ridiculously gnarly unless there’s good snow cover. The upper skiers’ right zone provides some good tree skiing of varying spacing, and just to the skiers’ right of the Carving Lines are some lovely trees. Further down, either side of the Thrilling Lines are some cheap thrills.