Hachimantai Resort Panorama is the sister and neighbouring resort of
Hachimantai Resort Shimokura. The two ski resorts share a common lift ticket, and whilst they are located adjacent to each other, the slopes are not interconnected. Whilst the tree skiing at Shimokura can be a bit of fun, the Panorama Ski Resort isn’t really a powder hound spot because it’s incredibly mellow. Hachimantai Panorama is ideal for families and beginners who won’t need ski or snowboard lessons.
Pros and Cons of Hachimantai Panorama Ski Resort
Pros
- The Hachimantai Panorama Ski Resort is ideal for beginners and the slopes are uncrowded, so novices can learn in peace without the fear of crashing into other skiers or snowboarders.
- A high-speed quad chair lift allows fit beginners to get lots of laps in.
- The snow is usually of high quality.
- The Hachimantai Mountain Hotel and Spa is located at the base area and has lovely onsen baths and offers a nice Japanese cultural experience. This hotel could be used as a base to explore various nearby ski resorts.
- The Panorama ski area is reasonably protected from the elements compared to some other Iwate ski resorts.
- You can go snowcat skiing with nearby Hachimantai Cat Skiing.
Cons
- There is negligible terrain on offer for riders other than beginners and low-end intermediates.
- The ski resort is tiny (which is not that unusual for a Japanese ski resort).
Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- The resort is very child friendly with mellow slopes and lots of family activities, however without international ski school and other English niceties, it’s unlikely to attract too many western families (with the exception of the Misawa air base folks).
Hachimantai Panorama Ski & Snowboard Terrain
The Panorama side of the Hachimantai Resort has 7 courses, 460 metres of vertical (540 - 1,000m) and 4 lifts, including a high speed hooded quad chair lift.
The trail stats specify a spread of terrain for different ability levels (40% beginner, 40% intermediate and 20% advanced), but they are not indicative of reality. There are no advanced runs, and the supposed red runs are best described as beginner slopes. As an indication of how mellow Panorama ski resort is, the steepest point of the “steepest” run is only 20 degrees and the average gradient is 12 degrees.
Where is Hachimantai Resort Panorama?
Panorama is located at the foot of the imposing Mt Iwate, 12.5km southwest of the town of
Hachimantai in the northern part of the
Iwate Prefecture (
Tohoku Region,
Honshu), and 39km northwest of the Morioka train station on the Tohoku Shinkansen line.
Hachimantai Resort Panorama is very close to its counterpart
Hachimantai Shimokura Ski Resort, which is only 2.3km by road to the west. Free shuttles interconnect the two ski resorts.
Hachimantai Panorama Accommodation
Right at the base of the ski resort is the ski-in ski-out
Hachimantai Mountain Hotel and Spa. This reasonably deluxe resort hotel has lovely indoor and outdoor onsen baths, sauna and massage services. It’s also rather family friendly. The Hachimantai Mountain Hotel & Spa offers western twin rooms with private bathroom; some with a tatami sitting area where additional guests can sleep.
Other options include
Hachimantai hotels or
Appi accommodation.
Iwate Accommodation Listings
Facilities
The Panorama ski area has OK ski resort facilities such as a little cafeteria and rest area, or you can retreat to the hotel for lunch. Panorama also offers family friendly activities such as tobogganing, nature walk tours, snow tubing, banana boating and snowmobiling.
In the evenings you can have dinner at the hotel restaurant or you can go for a 10 minute walk to the Northern Grande Hachimantai restaurant which serves up Italian food along with beer, wine and Japanese sake. You can also head there for happy hour drinks from 3-5pm.
Onsens
This area is littered with amazing onsens including an in-house onsen at the Hachimantai Mountain Hotel. Here are few of those...
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