Okushigakogen Terrain & Snow

Okushigakogen Ski Resort is spread across two zones with two main base areas. As you drive up the road, the first is the day trippers base at the OkushigaKogen Gondola and this zone has a couple of beginner trails (that require an initial descent on an intermediate trail), a terrain park, and a couple of intermediate and advanced trails. The larger base has the hotels and pensions and is serviced by double chairs, and is a better choice for beginners.

Okushiga Kogen is connected to Yakebitaiyama Ski Resort and then onto the many other Shiga Kogen areas. The connection to Yakebi is at the top of the ski area and is reliant on the top lift being open. The link is uphill/flat and it becomes rather tiresome, so you may not want to do it too often each day. It’s also possible to enter Okushigakogen from Yakebi further down the hill.

Considering that Okushiga Kogen is the most northern of the Shiga Kogen ski areas, it tends to be rather quiet, especially mid-week, and it’s not swarming with school kids. Crowds only tend to appear on holiday weekends.

Lifts

The 6 lifts at Okushiga Kogen Ski Resort consist of 2 high speed double chairs with safety bars (one of which rises from the hotels base), a gondola (it’s rather squeezy and you might only fit 2 people in if you have to take your fat skis in!), and 3 other pair lifts. Thankfully the beginners’ chair has a safety bar (you can’t take this for granted in Japan!). One of the slow pair lifts services the terrain park, although it doesn’t always seem to run if the park isn't operational.

Lift Tickets

You can purchase a lift ticket for just Okushigakogen, or for a little more, you can get a Shiga Kogen all-mountain pass.

Okushiga Kogen Snow

Shiga Kogen overall is renowned for its excellent snow quality due to the high elevation, and as one of the higher Shiga ski areas at 2,000 metres of top elevation, Okushiga Kogen is no exception. Some of the slopes have an easterly aspect, whilst the runs down to the hotels are north-east facing and some of the sidecountry is north facing, so the aspect contributes to great snow quality.

Okushiga Kogen also scores well in the quantity stakes and is thought to get an average of 12 metres of pow per season. With snowstorms coming in from the north and northwest, it tends to trap a little more snow than the more southerly Shiga ski areas.

Okushigakogen is also a little more exposed, and during storms the gondola and other lifts may go on windhold, necessitating a shuttle bus to get to other parts of Shiga Kogen.

The Okushigakogen season generally runs from early December to early May.

Beginner Skiing Okushigakogen

Small children can learn in the kids’ park at the hotel base where there is a magic carpet. Next, beginners have a fabulously wide run above the ski-in ski-out hotels.

Specially for kids, the Forest Trail adjacent to Course #1 is a wide tree run that has plenty of adventure.

From the gondola base, beginners would need to go down an intermediate slope before accessing a couple of green runs, so only confident beginners should start their day there.

For the Intermediate

Intermediates have a few decent slopes including the steep-ish “course no. 2 Expert” which is groomed.

Terrain Park

The Okushiga Kogen terrain park was not operational for the 2023-24 season.

Advanced Skiing Okushiga Kogen

Like most Japanese ski resorts, experienced riders will get bored very quickly with the on-piste action.

Off Piste Skiing and Riding

The resort has thinned the trees in places, whilst in other spots the tree skiing can be rather narrow. For steep pitches, there are lines that funnel down towards the former terrain park and one area is littered with cliffs.

Off-piste riding at Okushiga Kogen is particularly good for those with good route finding experience, or those on a guided tour.

Backcountry

You can skin up to Ryuoo from Okushigakogen which is just over the crest and takes about half an hour, or there are various fun backcountry lines. Ride Shiga offers a range of backcountry ski and snowboard trips.