Takasu Snow Park

Takasu Ski Resort in Gifu is incredibly trendy with snowboarders and is renowned for its half pipe, super pipe, and terrain park features. Interconnected with Dynaland Ski Resort and on the same lift ticket to form Dantotsu, both ski resorts are popular with inhabitants of the Kansai region as well as tourists visiting Kyoto, Osaka and Kanazawa. 

Pros and Cons of Takasu Gifu

Pros

• Compared to the many pee-wee Japanese ski resorts, Takasu Snow Park is a decent sized ski area when combined with Dynaland next door.
• Takasu has very good pipes and terrain parks.
• Takasu Ski Resort is close to Nagoya and there are bus tours to Takasu from Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto.
• The 15 person gondola is pretty funky.
• There are other ski resorts in the area that can be accessed off a multi-ski-area lift ticket (Takasu Mountains).

Cons

• Weekend warriors come out fighting hard, and the slopes and the roads to get there can be incredibly busy.
• The Takasu snow is OK, especially for pipe and park riding, but don’t expect super dry Japow. Combined with very limited tree skiing, this isn’t a top priority powder hound destination.

Takasu Ski and Snowboard Terrain

Takasu Snow Park is modestly sized with 12 courses, 600m of vertical (7,60-1,550) and 4 lifts, including a groovy mega gondola. Takasu is interconnected with Dynaland Ski Resort via the upper slopes and together they are referred to as Dantotsu.

The courses (ie the piste) are spread evenly across the ability levels, and as is common in Japan, the black runs are not super challenging, unless of course the moguls become chest high. The Challenge trail supposedly has a maximum gradient of 40 degrees, but it’s a mystery regarding where it hits such a steep pitch and the average slope is only 12 degrees so it’s not really much of a “challenge” for advanced riders.

In an attempt to be powder hound savvy, Takasu Snow Park has opened up a few small tree courses, but these become a mess of moguls pretty quickly. Elsewhere, off-piste skiing is banned and usually policed whereas the side country is more feasible and there are some tasty treats skiers' left off the top of the gondola that end up at the base. 

Takasu Snow

In classic Japanese style, the statistic for the average snowfall per season for Takasu is not cited, but if the numerous snow guns are anything to go by, then it probably isn’t a lot compared to the Niigata and Nagano ski resorts. The top elevation isn’t particularly high, but at least the slopes face northeast to east so the snow quality is better than at Dynaland next door.

Where is Takasu Gifu?

Takasu Snow Park sits on the eastern slopes of Mt Dainichi, 39km north of the city of Gujo in the Gifu Prefecture. By road, Takasu Ski Resort is:

• 115km north of Nagoya
• 120km southeast of Kanazawa
• 222km northeast of Kyoto
• 271km northeast of Osaka
• 362km west of Tokyo

You either have to self-drive to get to Takasu Snow Park or take one of the tour buses from Nagoya train station or a night bus from Osaka or Kyoto.

Other than the potential for highly trafficked roads, the drive to Takasu is easy and it’s just 10 minutes (11km) from Tokai Hokuriku Expressway "Takasu IC".

Ski Resorts Nearby

A joint Takasu Mountains lift ticket is available that covers Takasu as well as the neighbouring ski resorts of Dynaland, Hirugano Kogen, White Pia Takasu and Washigatake. A free shuttle bus operates between Takasu Snow Park, Dynaland and Hirugano Kogen.

Accommodation

Takasu and Dynaland are mostly frequented by day trippers, but if you want to stay overnight there are various hotels near Takasu Snow Park, including Hotel Villa Montsaint which is 500m from the base of Dynaland.

Accommodation Near Takasu

Ski Resort Facilities

Take your polarised sunglasses because someone got way too excited with the exterior paint colours on one of the base buildings – it’s garishly colourful! The interior of one of the cafeterias also makes your eyes hurt!

The base facilities are all-inclusive and your eating needs are definitely catered for, from classic Japanese ski resort cafeteria fare to an Italian café, crepe shop and ice-creamery. There are plenty of lockers for the day trippers, equipment rentals (expect to pay a lot of yen), a gift shop, two ski schools, a snowboard school (weekends only), and a kids’ play room.

To take in the views, Takasu Terrace at the summit has a BBQ restaurant and a beach café that serves beach burgers and tropical drinks…….things that make you go hmmm.