Muikamachi Hakkaisan Ski

After driving in from Tokyo on Friday and staying at the Muikamachi Hutte, we set out for a day of snowboarding on Saturday at the Muikamachi Hakkaisan Ski resort (六日町 八海山スキー場).

This was our first time snowboarding in the immediate area, although we have visited a couple of the ski resorts a little bit further south in Niigata (like Joetsu Kokusai, a 40-minute drive away). To be honest Hakkaisan hadn’t really been on my radar at all, but we recently remembered that one of our friends had recommended it, so we thought this time we would check it out.

The main feature of this ski resort is the 7-minute gondola trip that takes you to the top. From there, you can enjoy a long, 5.5km winding course all the way back down. This is rated as a beginner course - but I wouldn’t have liked this if I was an absolute beginner to snowboarding, as it is quite narrow (maybe fine for beginner skiers, though).

For our ability level though, it was perfect!

The winding course intersects at times with a larger intermediate slope if you want a change of pace, although it was a bit too steep for us so we mostly just did repeated runs of the winding course.

Also the views from the top of the gondola were amazing. There were a handful of non-skiiers that bought a return gondola ticket just so they could come to the top with their camera and take some photos.

The town of Muikamachi is famous for producing Hoshihikari rice - which is generally considered the yummiest variety of white rice you can eat in Japan. So you can see the town in the distance with the little snow-covered rice fields.

Also, even though it was the Saturday of a 3-day weekend, it was decidedly not crowded, and while you might have to wait a bit for the next gondola to arrive (since there are just 2 of them that go back and forth) we were always able to get on the gondola when it came. And it felt like we had the slopes mostly to ourselves.

I would take a guess that this is because Hakkaisan requires a car to get here (presumably there is a bus as well, though) and I don’t think it’s quite as well-known as other ski resorts in the area with train access.

The ski resort takes its name from Mt Hakkai, which is a popular mountain to hike in the area (for locals, at least). I assume having the gondola must make it quite easy. I haven’t had the chance to climb it yet, but I have climbed the nearby Mt Makihata since its on the list as one of the Hundred Famous Mountains of Japan. I will have to come back to Mt Hakkai sometime and give it a hike.