Madarao Snowboarding Trip!

Jan 5, 2018
4 min read

What a great ski trip this was! Went with a group of friends to Madarao Ski Resort in Nagano prefecture (although it was on the edge of Nagano and practically in Niigata). It was a super perfect trip!

We (me and 3 other ALT friends) set off on Friday night (Jan 5th) after the others had finished work (I had taken annual leave) and had dinner at a ramen place before setting off. We used the toll road since it would be faster, and drove for 2.5 hours before arriving at our accommodation, a lovely little lodge (they call them pensions here) very close to the ski field. The drive there was very smooth cause of the toll roads, and even when we got off onto the snowy roads, the winter tires really held up and it was fine! The pension was really lovely and I’m so glad that my Japanese friend helped us find and book it. It was so super cheap!!! It was only ¥24,000 for 3 nights stay, dinner and breakfast for all those nights/days, AND 2 days worth of ski lift passes. Insane! Plus the food was really nice (high quality AND quantity), rooms were clean and comfortable, and the bathrooms (shared) had a bath so you could have a nice soak after a long day of boarding.

On Saturday 6th we woke up at 7:30am, had breakfast at 8:00am, and then ended up walking to the ski field cause it was that close! Only a 5 minute walk, even though the pension owner told us it would take 10 minutes. Met up with my Japanese friends who had kindly driven all the way up from Kansai to ski with us! Exchanged our lift tickets from the pension for the pass, and then we were off! The snow was super great – Japan’s powder snow is seriously unbeatable, and such a huge difference from NZ’s icy slopes. Madarao was pretty big and we spent the 1st day exploring the left hand side of the mountain. The courses were very nice, just right for my level, and I was able to practice my turns, and even attempted some wheelies at the end! There was one powder run that we went on that wound in and out through trees which was really fun (the snow was INSANELY powdery and soft!!!) UNTIL I got stuck deep in the powder snow! It was so deep and fluffy that I could not get myself out, so I had to unstrap and walk out of the powder area with my board before I could finally strap on again and board down! That was a full on workout to get out of the powder haha. I also love how Japan’s ski fields have proper restaurants with affordable (when compared to NZ’s ski resort restaurants) and delicious meals. I had udon for lunch and a crepe for dessert on the first day! We skied/snowboarded all the way till closing time at 17:00 before walking back to the pension. Dinner was served at 19:00 so some of us washed up before then. Dinner was nabe and it was really nice! Hotpot at the end of a day in the snow is really just the best.

On Sunday 7th we woke up at 7:30am and had breakfast at 8:00am again. Breakfast was the same courses as yesterday (soup, rice, egg, sausage, salad, apple) but with some slight changes – yesterday’s soup was seaweed soup, but today’s was chicken noodle soup! Slight changes like that made the menu so delicious. I still can’t believe that we had all that for just ¥24,000…just still cannot process it! After we got everything ready we walked to the ski field again. Today was absolutely perfect conditions (it had snowed yesterday in the afternoon). We warmed up on the nice slopes on the left hand side first before going to explore the right hand side of the mountain. The courses up here were much steeper and harder and all advanced courses, so we split up – the other 3 went back to the gentler slopes while us 3 explored all the advanced runs! They were so super fun and even more great POW up here!!! Because it was advanced too, there were less people around so we had a great time enjoying the POW and trying to find and board all the courses. We sadly only found the most FUN COURSE EVER at the end of the day when we were going down back to the gentler slopes since only those lifts were open. But that course!!!!!! We all regretted not coming to this side of the mountain earlier, because it was a half pipe that wound in between trees, and it was naturally made/formed, and super soft powder snow, so it was just so much fun sliding up and down the half pipe! We all couldn't get over how fun it was. If only Madarao was a bit closer, I would come back in a heartbeat to enjoy that half pipe run! We stayed on the slopes till just before closing time before going back up and returning the rental gear. After that we said goodbye to my friends as they were heading back home to Kansai tonight. We walked back to the pension and had a lovely dinner again at 19:00.

On Monday 8th we had breakfast again at 8:00am, packed up everything, and checked out of the pension. We shovelled the snow that had collected everywhere around our cars, and worked to get all the snow off the cars before setting off to the Snow Monkey Park! It was only a 40 minute drive away so it wasn’t too bad at all. We were really lucky with the weather today, because it was clear weather all the way up until after we finished lunch and were heading back home! We saw some poor skiers/snowboarders skiing in the rain (it was pretty warm out today) which didn’t look enjoyable at all. Anyway, the snow monkey park was pretty cool but it was pretty similar to the monkey park at Arashiyama back in Kyoto. The monkeys here had thicker fluffier coats though, and we were pretty sure we saw the alpha male because all the monkeys screamed and ran when this one big as one came down with his gang. All the baby monkeys were so cute also! We had lunch at this soba place where it’s also unlimited rice and tempura! Stuffed ourselves full, fuelled up, and then drove home.