Posted on Jan 19, 2024
0
E
Posted on Jan 19, 2024
0 0
E
2km

Distance

2 hours

Time

150m

Ascent

170m

Highest point

2.5/10
Difficulty
Snow Icon | Hokkaido Wilds
Jan-Feb

Best season

TOPO
Closed permanently in 2003, the old Nakagoya Ski Area 旧中小屋スキー場 is a narrow, suitably-steep, supremely accessible one-run wonder of a ski area in a part of Hokkaido that gets a lot of snow. At only 170m at it's highest, keen skiers with fast transitions will happily get four or five runs in over two to three hours. The woods around the ski area are also home to some (very) short-but sweet tree runs. If you're a beginner just getting your feet wet in backcountry powder skiing, this can be a good place to hone one's skinning and skiing skills.

We visited this route on Jan 14, 2024

Topomap

Route Map

Need to know details

Location

The old derelict Nakagoya Ski Area is at the very southern end of the Kabato mountains 樺戸山 in Tobetsu Town 当別町, just 40 minutes drive north from Sapporo City towards Iwamizawa.

General notes

Nakagoya Ski Area was a one-lift town-run wonder until 2003, when Tobetsu Town closed the ski area for good. The old lift still remains to this day, as does the old bottom lodge. The area gets a huge amount of snow each year, however, so despite it only being 170m high at the highest point, it can still be a nice spot for some laps if you just want some exercise. The steepest part of the downhill run is short, but long enough to get some decent speed and about four or five turns in before it flattens out again. A single skier will track the narrow run out in about five or six laps or so. Once you have a skin track set, the climb back to the top only takes about 15 minutes – the steepness is just suitable for skinning straight up the run. Any steeper, you’d need to kickturn, but as it is, no kickturns are needed. On any given weekend, there’ll likely be tracks on the slope by around 10am, but during the week it’s unlikely anyone will be skiing it.

The ski area used to have two runs – a steep run and a mellow ‘family’ run. The mellow run clearly closed much sooner than the steeper run – it’s now covered in thick regrowth and can’t be skied. The skiable steep run however is still free of trees and is a short but sweet blast.

Hut
None
Route details

From your parking spot (see details on parking below), either head up the spur through the woods from the old onsen, or skin straight up the ski run. If climbing up the spur through the woods, you’ll see quite clearly where another mellower ski run has now been taken over by saplings.

Route Timing
Up | 0.5hrs
Down | 0.1hrs

This old ski area is supremely suited for quick laps. If your transitions are on point, expect to be able to smash out four or five runs in about two hours.

Transport

Public transport:

The old Gakuentoshi-sen 学園都市線 railway (and nearby Motonakagoya station 本中小屋駅) was mothballed in 2020. Now, trains only go as far as the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido 北海道医療大学. Tobetsu Town and Tsukigata Town now runs a replacement community bus (the Tobeeru-go とべ~る号) on weekdays – see the timetable here. It runs nine times a day on weekdays from JR Tobetsu Station as well as the Health Sciences University train station. This bus does not run on weekends.

By car:

Previously, it was possible to park a vehicle at the Nakagoya Onsen 中小屋温泉 car park (location), but as of Jan 2024, the onsen was being demolished. It’s unclear if any car park will remain there. The only feasible parking therefore is at the Nakagoya Parking Area on Route 275 (location). This parking area would take at most three or four vehicles. From the parking area it’s a 600m walk along a quiet side road to the ski area entrance (be prepared to clamber up some high snow banks).

Physical maps
Official Topo Map: Benkebetsu (弁華別) – map no. NK-54-14-5-3

NOTE: The official 1/25000 topo map(s) above can be purchased for 350yen from Kinokuniya bookstore next to Sapporo Station or online (in Japanese).

Aspect
The main aspect skiers are exposed to on the descent and/or ascent is East. Therefore, keep an eye on the weather forecast a few days ahead of your trip to monitor wind, snow, and temperature. Also, since this route is in the general vicinity of the Shiribeshi area, consider looking at the Japan Avalanche Network avalanche bulletins (updated Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays at 8am) or the daily Niseko Avalanche Information website. These may give extra insight into avalanche conditions in the greater area around the route.

Snow and
route safety

The ski area itself is perfectly safe. Some of the surrounding gullies can have steep walls, however, so beware of localized snowpack instability.

Nakagoya Ski Area (derelict) Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

D

0

Hazards

D

0

Navigation

D

0

Totals

25/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy).  More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.

Weather forecast

Windy.com weather forecast for Nakagoya Ski Area
Onsen nearby

Shinshinotsu Village 新篠津村 has a large onsen facility – Tappunoyu Onsen しんしのつ温泉 たっぷの湯 (location, 700yen) – about 20 minutes drive southeast towards Sapporo from Nakagoya. There’s a large attached restaurant with a large array of menu options. They also have accommodation available (Shinshinotsu Hotel 新篠津ホテル). Nakagoya Onsen 中小屋温泉 at the base of the Nakagoya Ski Area is closed, and as of Jan 2024, was being demolished.

Extra Resources
No extra English resources that we know of. If you know of any, please let us know in the comments.

Guide Options

If you’d like to ski this route and/or explore other hills around Sapporo together with a local certified guide, get in touch with either Wataru Nara or Yasuko Kikuchi. They’re both Hokkaido born-and-bred Sapporo-based JMGA-certified guides. They both cut their teeth on peaks including those around Sapporo City and have taken part in major international expeditions. In addition, see a full list of English-speaking Hokkaido Mountain Guides Association (HMGA) guides on the HMGA website here

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Show Full Route Notes Close Route Notes

Route Trip Notes

It was our first weekend back in Hokkaido after a couple of weeks back in New Zealand over Christmas/New Years visiting family and paddling the Whanganui River Journey. We were still feeling slightly jaded from the travel, and wanted something easy and close to Sapporo to ease us into the apocalyptic snow that had fallen in just two weeks in late December and early January.

So, with a recorded 93cm already fallen in the Takikawa/Iwamizawa Plains just north of Sapporo, we lent our gaze in that direction. Yamanomakochan’s map suggested there might be some easy hike-up skiing at an old ski area in Tobetsu Town, so we headed that way for a look.

When we arrived at Nakagoya Onsen, we were sad to see the old place being demolished. We were hoping for a post-ski onsen there, but alas that was not to be. The parking area was mostly full of construction vehicles, but we found a spot to park, and got on our way. We guess the car park is unlikely to be cleared for much longer (in that case, we’d need to park in the Nakagoya Parking Area on the main highway here).

Instead of walking back down the road to the ski area entrance, we opted to hike up through the woods, along a connecting ridge to the ski area summit. The first 20m or so gaining the ridge was a bit steep, but easy enough on skis (snowshoes would be more of a challenge).

Once on the main ridge, it was a mellow trail-break through deep snow. It had just snowed the night before, about 20cm. The snow was ‘dry enough’. Not heavy, but not insanely light either. We were, after all, at around 50m in altitude.

About 75% of the way up the ridge, we arrived at what appeared to be an old ski area access road. It was now covered in new growth trees.

This road allowed an easy ascent to the top of the old ski lift station at the top of the ski area proper. We had great views of the low-lying Kabato Mountains, and the plains below.

We ripped skins and skied one of two laps on the ski area proper. It appeared there had already been a couple of skiers up there that day already (it was, after all, already 11am). There was still untracked snow though. The ski run was narrow (perhaps 40m wide), but satisfyingly steep enough in the middle section, after a mellow start. It quickly flattened out after a drop of about 100m vertical.

Before the ski area flattened out completely, we stopped and transitioned for one more lap. The skiers who’d been there before us had set a skin track straight up the ski area with no kick-turns. As it was, it was just doable with heel risers in their highest setting.

One more ski down, and we were happy to call it a day. The mission for the day was to get a bit of a hike in, and for the main event to be onsen and lunch. On the return to the van, we opted to head out the main entrance of the ski area and walk along the road back to the old onsen car park.

For the main event of the day – the onsen – we opted for an onsen we’d not been to before. At 1600yen per person, Manyo-no-yu 万葉の湯 (location) was not cheap. The onsen were also nothing extra special, over and above what a normal 1000yen onsen might offer. The lunch hall was something else though – a huge tatami hall with everyone sat down at low tables. We happened to be there when they were running a Bingo competition, with quite the spread of prizes.

We were given a Bingo card at the entrance of the onsen, but in the end we gave these to a family sitting beside us, and we snuck away during the Bingo for a less crowded onsen experience.

We probably wouldn’t choose to go back to this particular onsen, but they also offer cheap overnight stays in reclining chairs – Korean style.

Comments | Queries | Reports

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Nakagoya Ski Area (derelict) Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

D

0

Hazards

D

0

Navigation

D

0

Totals

25/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy). Hazards include exposure to avalanche and fall risk. More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.