Suginohara is a must if staying in the Myoko area of Niigata. Holding Japan’s longest course (8.5km) and second most vertical decent (1124m), a day or two here is more then enough to get the thighs burning and tally up an respectable record on your tracking app! Pair that with one of the largest area parks, some steep tree runs from the top and you have some memories that your going to be thinking about for a while to come. Akakura Onsen has multiply shuttles leaving from the main bus stop (opposite the post office) daily to get you to ‘Sugi’ which in 2020 was 500 ¥ each way.. The longest run from top to bottom has it’s flat moments (towards the lower section) that as a boarder becomes a bit of a nuisance having to unbind and walk or skate to continue down, this wouldn’t be a problem for skiing folk. This is not a bad warm up, as Sugi is not a large area you do pass through and see a lot of areas of interest during your decent. Another thing to note is that the chair at the bottom of this course is up there with the slowest I’ve experienced, but is necessary to get the elevation to return to the gondola and return to the top. The lift line at chair #3 (Chair to the higher lift access point) which opens late does grow very quickly on a powder day so would suggest to get there early and wait it out as from the top there are only 3 main trails (unofficially 4 if you include following the chair line... shhh) which do get churned up pretty quickly. That’s also to be said with the tree’d area here. Peak area is sort after after a storm and the people know where the fresh is. There is still some pow stashes to be found amounts the trees before lunch but find them early rather then wait for later... they will be gone! Good thing is that because of the incredible amount of snow this resort receives, you won’t have to wait long for a mountain reset if you miss out.
The park, though large in area, most of the features are more on the smaller side of the scale of gnarly and are spread out sparingly around. This park is fun!! Nothing over the top, nothing to extreme, just a fun place pass though, hit some rails and boxes and move on through. Note: once through the park take chair#2 to move on with your day. If you miss this lift there is no way to get back up without boarding/ skiing to past the base, to take chair#1 (slow chair mentioned earlier) to get back to the gondola. It will take you a good 40+ minutes to reach peak again if you miss this chair..
Suginohara with its amazing views (on a clear day you can see Mt Fuji!!), steep tree runs up high, fun park and leg destroying peak to base run is a great day trip or 3 from Akakura but save it for after a storm cycle where Akakura’s pitch maybe a little to mellow for anything over knee deep pow. This resort is well suited to particularly intermediates and newly experts but all will leave with smiles on their face as with a gondola for the beginners and terrain for all abilities no one in your group will leave here after a powder day trip disappointed.
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We came here for our first day of riding/skiing in the area after a big snowfall. It was highly recommended.

Truthfully we were a tad disappointed as the runs are very low angle. Even pointing our powder boards straight down the fall line from the top chair on the actual runs it was hard to maintain speed in the deep powder in the morning.

It did not seem that there was much tree skiing accessible without ducking ropes which we prefer not to do out of respect for the ski area.

We did not see any gates to access any side country. Perhaps we missed them?

That said, the runs seem perfect for beginners and low level intermediates.
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spent 4 days at suginohara with different conditions. 1st 2 days were mainly groomer days as rain /freeze had set the mountain in bullet proof ice but the pistes had been well maintained and were fun - not what we were there for but... the last 2 days the snow began and wow tracks were reset pretty much every lap. some great off/sidepiste just don't ride the lift lines as the ski patrol don't like that. lifts were decent with a couple with hoods and a gondola that went 2 3rds of the way up and no queues at all.a decent amount of vertical,easy access side country with great on mountain food shacks.
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The mountain is quite small but has good terrain for beginners and intermediate & not many black runs, plenty of trees and slack country skiing, there wasn't quite enough snow around when I went at the beginning of January so quite a few sticks and bamboos were showing but you could tell the tree areas would be awesome when fully covered with snow and become more open.

The crowds are very minimal even on powder days I was surprised to arrive on time of the lift opening and no one at the gondola line and thought we were too early but they had already been open for 10 minutes and on a powder day, plus all the locals seem to have enough for the day after lunch eating a huge bowl of Raman noodles and go home which makes the place deserted by then.

Also has a bit of a terrain park but nothing fancy.

I definitely would be coming back again next season and check out more smaller resorts around the area.
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On a good day, "Suggy" may be the best of the Myoko fields (with the possible exception of Seki). First tracks off the top lift are well worth queuing for. The field has more vertical than the other Myoko fields (for some reason it was exempt from the height restrictions imposed on other fields in this national park area). The piste is a lot of fun on days where there is no new snow to play in (don't worry there won't be many). Be careful to head to skiers left at the middle lift though, or you will get stuck at the road, with a long walk back, or an excruciating slow double lift from the accommodation area nearby.

There is some awesome off piste to ski at this field, but there is also a not inconsiderable avalanche risk. Don't take it for granted. Best to get a local or a guide to show you the safe way into the "side bowl" for instance.

It can be very crowded here in the weekends, or around new year, but most of the skiers will be sticking to the piste and the lifts are pretty fast, with not much of a wait.

Kids ski free here, with an adult - and there are often deals where you get a free meal with your ski pass.
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Powder is great, light and fluffy and abundant. Runs further up the top are open to wind and can get icy, also this resort seems to attract lots of people that think they can do black runs but cannot and just get in the way. Has a very long 8 and a half km run which is great for carving and racing, you can get lots of speed here.
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We’ve been to Suginohara a couple of times and scored powder days both times – it snows a lot in Myoko!

This is our favourite of the Myoko ski resorts considering the fun little tree skiing and the sidecountry, which offers more pitch than that found at Akakan. With good lifts (that are toasty for blizzardy days) it’s easy enough to do quick laps of the powder.

A few of the little on-mountain eateries are rather cute and a nice place for a bite and some atsukan on a cold day.

We'd highly recommend heading here for at least a day or two whilst in Myoko.
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