We’ve visited Madarao many times over the years and have seen it change from a Japanese ski area that was relatively unknown by international visitors and was a pioneer in the glading of trees, to a village that’s mostly owned by foreigners, and a ski area that’s owned by a Singapore company, Patience Capital Group (PCG). We may need lots of patience to see whether PCG will spend some much-needed money on the lift infrastructure, or whether land acquisition and real estate in the Myoko area may be more of a priority.

We arrived in Madarao in late February towards the end of a horrific period of weather in Honshu that saw warm temperatures and rain. Thankfully snowy weather had started but the snow that fell was not enough to cover the glacial conditions underneath. On our first day we pretty much needed to stick to the groomed runs because the black mogul runs were heinous. It was surprising that they even had these runs open considering how dangerous they were (incredibly surprising considering the low threshold in Japan for closing a run). We weren’t looking too pretty trying to get down the “powder” covered blue-ice moguls, but watching a couple of patrollers try to tackle one run was really entertaining.

Then came the holiday weekend. We knew it was going to be busy, but perhaps were not quite prepared for how bad it was going to be. The day started with a 45 minute wait at the ticket office because the online kiosks to purchase a lift pass were not working and there were only 2 people selling tickets. Then the rest of the day was spent dealing with the frustration of standing in lift lines. There were lots of Japanese people having a nice holiday but any ski resort with good lifts and processes could have coped with the numbers.
We posted a video of the very inefficient lift operations on our forum here:  The lift lines don’t look that long but the waits were loooong. There were no singles lanes or organisation to put 4 people on a quad chair or 3 people on a triple, and a culture that it’s OK to go up as a solo or in pairs. The old lifts frequently stopped and the lifts were running really slowly despite there being no wind, possibly because they couldn’t load the antique lifts too much. If the chairs were fully loaded, they ran continuously and at full speed, the lift lines would have been negligible. Sadly this is all too common across many of the ski resorts in Japan, with a lack of processes to gain lift capacity and little investment in lift maintenance.

The snow was a little better over the weekend, but if you watch the Instagram video of the poor snowboarder in the trees, it was still a case of dust on crust.

The village has continued to develop, and similar to last year, there were some good options for dining and drinking. Special mentions go to the informal cocktail bar at Snowball Chalet, Mister Daruma for its spectacular food and drinks and service, and Chill for the yum shared plates.

It’s good that the Madarao Village appeals to lots of international guests, and as often happens, it has lost some of its Japanese charm in the process.

We were incredibly lucky to snag a last-minute room at Alp Bach Madarao. This is a delightful European inspired lodge that is owned and hosted by a lovely Japanese family (and their dog!) with ensuited rooms at a very reasonable price.

We used to rate Madarao as the best value ski resort in Japan but that is no longer the case. Food and drinks are spendy and accommodations at the foreign owned lodges continue to climb. Of course it’s all relative, and compared to North America it’s pretty cheap!

You can see how we rate Madarao across various categories on our Honshu ski resort ratings.
See our video here

We skied in Mararao in the Nagano region of Japan the resort was small enough that we could get to know it over a few days and big enough to provide challenges for all 24 of us in the group.
We stayed at the main hotel which was well located and comfortable with a nice onsen.
Plenty of fun and tasty food offerings in the village at a reasonable price.
Would definitely go back again
See our video here

Not very crowded with great food options. Top spot in Japan
See our video here

This 2023 visit in mid February was in stark contrast to previous trips where it had absolutely puked with snow in Madarao, hence our coining of the term “Madapow” back in 2014 (one of the elderly pension owners still calls me Mrs Madapow – cute!). Whilst Madarao is renowned for snow dumps of epic proportions, on this visit its low elevation played out and not even its favourable aspect could rescue the snow quality. The temperatures had warmed up in Nagano and Niigata, and only the higher slopes and backcountry at nearby ski resorts had any half decent snow. Waist deep powder at Madarao was not meant to be this time.

The Madarao village has continued to transform since we last stayed there. More westerners have bought up old pensions and renovated them, so whilst the average quality of Madarao accommodation has increased, the prices have gone up significantly. A huge pro of the inflow of international ownership is that the offerings for dining and drinking in the village has improved, so the evening’s entertainment no longer consists of sitting in the lobby of your hotel drinking beers from the vending machine. Chill served up some of the best gyoza we’ve ever had - kimchi, pork and cheese – yum! And a special mention goes to Mister Daruma for the impressive food and cocktails.

Whilst the village has developed, the ski area itself has not. The number of lifts has continued to shrink and there were many reports of the single chair lift not opening on weekdays, possibly due to Covid related staffing issues. Madarao now has new investors, and even though they specialise in real estate investment management, hopefully they will put some money into maintaining and enhancing the ski area and not just building condos, but that might just be wishful thinking.

You can see more on our thoughts on the pros and cons on the Madarao overview page and see how we compare it to other ski resorts on the Honshu ski resorts ratings.

See our video here

As three intermediate skiiers and boarders we had a great time at Madarao for five days.

By day five we'd got a bit bored, but for us battlers it was enough to keep us amused for that long. The trees are easy to get into and out of no matter your skill level. The powder days everything in bounds got tracked out pretty quickly but you could find little stashes if you hunted.

The majority of our time there we barely waited in any lines, especially in Tangram. That's a massive difference compared to our other week in Nozawa where you were often in a line.

The nightlife is pretty much limited to one fun bar full of Aussies and there are a few other spots for food but we mainly cooked at our accom. We got food from the supermarket in Iiyama as there's just a small store in Madarao itself
See our video here

The Powderhounds coined the term "Mad-a-Pow" some years ago when we first caught a bad case of Mad Pow disease, and on our visit in the 2017-2018 season it lived up to the hype of its slogan. The pow was absolutely mad! It snowed 1.5 metres in 2 days, so if you have a look at the video it’s no great surprise that the face shots just kept coming thick and fast and the GoPro was often caked in powder! To some it seems like a sin to say this, but there was almost too much snow.

The powder was soooo deep on that first day at Madarao that it was initially difficult to find slopes that were steep enough to maintain momentum, but it was oh sooo worth the effort. By day 2, the snow had consolidated a little whilst still being deep, so the tree skiing was divine. Day 3 was absolute bliss.

A major plus of the big snowstorm was that barely anyone was out there making the most of it. We scored line after line of fresh powder. It was peak season but where was everyone? This was surprising considering that on our previous visit (see previous review) we’d noticed the powder chasing crowds were increasing.

Not much has changed with the Madarao ski area since our last visit. They’ve perhaps gladed a couple more trees (and opened up another tree area at Tangram) but none of the lifts have been upgraded.

The village is starting to change a little, and a dozen or so properties have recently been purchased by foreigners (some of the Japanese pension owners are in their 80s). This has the benefit of adding a couple of dining and drinks establishments, but if the foreign ownership grows any further, the village may outgrow the capacity of the ski area.

See the Madarao Ski Resort page for our thoughts on the pros and cons of Madarao and see our Japanese ski resort ratings to see how it fares against other Japanese ski resorts.
See our video here

Been 2 years in a row now. The resort is growing in popularity and there is now a lot of new accommodation options that include bathrooms. Nightlife has also improved with 4 or 5 new bars and restaurants in 2017-18 season.

Skiing is amazing. I've been skiing in Japan for 15 years and this place is so much fun. The patrolled tree runs and crazy good. The resort doesn't look that big on paper but with a combined ticket for Tangram you can easily spend 4-5 days here and not be bored.

The resort is still primarily Japanese with a few white faces scattered around but that is changing as Madarao gets discovered.
See our video here

I had a day at madarao/tangram a couple days after a dump of snow.all the gladed areas were heavily tracked but we still found some stashes in the trees and what i found was good fun. pistes were mostly well groomed but I wasnt there for piste runs. lifts were the usual standard Japanese but there were no queues apart from the pizza box single which was only a 2 min wait. off piste/ sidecountry will be awesome with fresh snow and the resort are happy for you to ride the trees in certain areas marked on the map.
a great little resort which would be awesome with a foot of fresh but you would struggle to fill in more than a couple days without any fresh snow. buses run from other resorts like akakura onsen so worth a day visit at least if youre in the area
See our video here

Visited Madarao second week of Jan 2018 - unfortunately we had 12mm of rain on our first day. The resulting snow base was is pretty bad condition and even after 10cm fresh snow the conditions remained less than impressive. Very slow lifts. The resort itself is small and best suited for beginner / intermediates. We found it a little tedious after 4 days. Lots of sunny days with warm freeze-thaw conditions. Very few people on the hill.
The village itself is very small, few good places to eat dinner but no nightlife.
We stayed at the Mon Aile hotel - very dated, small rooms and poor breakfast offerings given the peice.
Locals very friendly. Lots of Aussies and Kiwis around.
See our video here

When we last visited Madarao we tipped that it would grow in its popularity with westerners and we weren’t wrong. The most obvious change is the number of day trippers arriving at Madarao/Tangram to chase the powder; mostly with tour groups from Myoko Kogen and Yudanaka. So whilst it’s reasonably easy to find fresh powder at Tangram due to the partial ban on off-piste skiing, at Madarao the competition for the untouched powder has continued to grow, thanks in part due to their liberal approach to tree skiing. It’s not only the off-piste where the powder disappears reasonably quickly, but also the sidecountry and the backcountry. But of course it’s all relative. Compared to USA, Europe or Australia, the powder at Madarao still lasts a while and they continue to glade more areas each season, opening up more skiable tree terrain.

For multi-day visitors to Madarao, things haven’t changed too much and it doesn’t feel over-run with gaijin. Particularly for those who stay in one of the inexpensive pensions that are owned and hosted by the locals, you can still experience quintessential Japanese culture and affability.

For more on the pros and cons see the Madarao overview page, and also see the Japan ski resorts ratings to see how the resort compares against others in the land of the rising sun.
See our video here