Whilst many of the Miyagi and Yamagata ski resorts were having a really lean season, Sumikawa was faring relatively well and had a snow depth of 150cm in the ski area.

We headed to Sumikawa, primarily to check out the cat skiing there. Even as we were chatting to the backcountry guides, the information was still getting lost in translation as to what the snowcat skiing entailed. We only figured it out once we did it, and realised it wasn’t cat skiing in its usual form but rather, snowcat access backcountry ski touring.

We headed up in a parade of snowcats and the trip from the base up to exactly 1,600 metres took a while to gain elevation because the lower parts of the ski area are flat as a pancake. Lots of pedestrian tourists got out to get snap happy with the snow monsters, whilst we and the splitboard guide and our Ski Gassan guide put on our skins and headed up the summer road and to the top, where it was awesome to check out the rime covered torii and shrine. It was incredibly windy, so touring to the lake was out of the question and the snow quality at the very top was icy as hell. Thankfully just dropping a little to the leeward side, the guides found some steep lines with windblown powder in between the wind scarred slopes.

Later we dropped to where it benched out and traversed back into the ski area at the base of the 3rd chair lift. It was such a shame that the snowcat didn’t just do multiple laps from the top of the 3rd chair up towards the top to make it “snowcat skiing” and take the uphill work out of the equation for a broader audience, but it was clear that the main purpose of the snowcats was for the snow monster tourists who wouldn’t want to sit on chair lifts.

In addition to getting some nice lines in and earning the turns, we really enjoyed getting to the top of “Mt Zao” to see the rimed up shrine. A day at Sumikawa would be worthwhile to include on a road trip if you’re also checking out some of the Yamagata ski resorts.
See our video here