It was a very snowy morning as I set off from Akakura Onsen, headed for the twin resorts of Madarao and Tangram. So snowy in fact, that I was told it was unlikely that the buses or trains would be running. Regardless, I packed my bag, put on my helmet and boots and grabbed my board. The first step was to catch the bus to Myoko Kogen station. As it turned out, most of those on the bus were off to primary school, and as such were fairly amused with my presence on the bus and the fact that I was dressed ready to snowboard. Twenty minutes later, and I was at the station asking if there would be any trains today. Luckily, the trains were indeed running and pretty soon I was motoring along to the next station, Kurohime. 10 minutes later, and I was watching the snow fall at Kurohime station waiting for the free bus to Tangram. The comfy little bus showed up right on time (characteristic of almost all transport in Japan!) and we set off up the windy, snowy road to the resort. Snow clearing was still underway and sections of the road were down to one lane while the masses of fluffy white goodness were dispersed. After twenty minutes or so of expert navigation along a windy road we arrived at the base station of Tangram Ski Circus (as it is formally known).
There is a hotel right next to the lifts with a restaurant, convenience store, crepe shop, snow accessory shop, souvenir shop and rental facilities. The Tangram side of the twin resort is the smaller of the two, and offers a good selection of ungroomed runs including the ominously named “skull run”. The lifts are a bit slow, but with practically no-one on the hill it’s not too bad to just kick back and take a breather while planning your next run. There was plenty of fresh snow on the ground and more falling every minute. The only drawback to this was the poor lighting for photography, as you can see in the slide show below. The patrol at Tangram are very strict on out of bounds riding and will surely track you down and cut your pass if you venture off the runs and into the trees. So despite the inviting options visible from the chairlifts, I stuck to the runs (and with heaps of untracked powder available, I could hardly complain!).
After refueling with a delicious “chinese donburi” at the Tangram restaurant, it was off to the Madarao side of the resort. At the entry point to the area, I was greeted by a sign announcing the recent opening of “Airwave II” – an officially sanctioned area for riding in the trees. A fairly large area of nicely spaced trees spread out before me with hardly any tracks in sight despite the fact that it was already after 1 PM. There is a lift placed ideally for doing laps of this area, but it is one of the handful at Madarao that sadly aren’t in operation, making for a much longer loop. As the name suggests, there is another “Airwave” area at the resort, but compared to the newer one, I found it sadly lacking. Firstly, it runs across the fall line, making it more of a traverse than a downward ride. Secondly, although the map shows it running into a green run and back to the lifts, it actually ends up at more of a road with an uphill trek back to the run that takes you to the lift. Disappointed, I went to check out the top of the Madarao side but sadly those lifts were not in operation. So back to “Airwave II” for some fresh pow to wash away the bad taste, and surprisingly there was still some to be found right up to the last lift.
As I made my way to the bus stop on the Madarao side, the lights were coming on for night skiing on a small part of the hill. Most people were heading home, but for the die-hard it’s a great option when the sun goes down at 4:30 and the lifts close at 4 PM. All in all, I think the twin resorts of Madarao and Tangram have a lot to offer for fans of powder or nice intermediate runs, and with some steeper runs and the special “Airwave” tree skiing areas there is quite a bit of variety on offer. Check out the slide show below for a look at the resort from a riders perspective.