Okunakayama Kogen

The easy option is the resort's own Okunakayama Kogen hotel at the base. It is small, with ten rooms split between Western-style and tatami, a slightly retro feel and both onsen right downstairs. Dinner and breakfast are included in most plans, and the rooms look straight out over the slopes. It is the kind of place that encourages an early night and a first chair.

If the hotel is full, Ichinohe and Ninohe to the north have simple inns and business hotels within about half an hour by car. Do not expect much nightlife, but you will find parking, convenience stores and an early breakfast. For more about Japan's small family inns, see our guide to minshuku.

Morioka is the city option, around an hour south. Base there if you want restaurants and izakaya after skiing, and to mix in Appi Kogen, Shizukuishi or Hachimantai Resort on other days. Business hotels near the station make it simple to pick up a rental car or catch the shinkansen.

The numbers first. The lifts top out at 1,018 m on the shoulder of Nishidake, the base sits at 650 m, and the eleven courses add up to about ten kilometres of piste. The resort splits its terrain roughly three parts advanced, four parts intermediate and three parts beginner, so this is not a bunny hill with a single token black. The steepest pitches hit about 30 degrees on Tsubame and Yamabato, and Bunanoki is a short, steep shot rated fully advanced.

The long runs are the ones to know. Yamabiko and Nishidake each run about two kilometres, mixing steeper top sections with long cruising run-outs, and Hayabusa adds another 1.2 km of mostly advanced pitch. Beginners stay on the 10-degree Beginner and Koguma slopes by the base, and Kamoshika is a gentle step up from there. Four lifts run through most of the season, with a fifth added over New Year.

Snow quality is the quiet strength. The plateau is inland and high, so storms tend to come through cold and dry, and the shaded upper runs hold fresh snow well after a refill. On a storm day, head for the top lifts first while the course edges are still soft, then work down as the light flattens.

There is a designated tree run area inside the resort, marked on the course map. Read the posted rules before you go in. Skiing in the trees anywhere else, including under the lift lines, is banned, and the boundary is taken seriously. The snow park usually opens from mid-January with kickers, rails and boxes, and the kids' snow play area keeps the smallest skiers busy near the base.

By car: coming from Morioka and the south, leave the Tohoku Expressway at Takizawa and drive north on Route 4 for about 50 minutes. From Hachinohe and the north, the Ichinohe exit on the Hachinohe Expressway is about 40 minutes south of the resort. Winter tyres are essential, and the open plateau road can drift over in strong wind, so give yourself extra time when it is snowing.

By train: take the Tohoku Shinkansen to Morioka, about two and a half hours from Tokyo, then the local IGR Iwate Galaxy Railway line north for about 40 minutes to Okunakayama-Kogen Station. A bus covers the last ten minutes to the slopes. Some shinkansen also stop at Iwate-Numakunai, which cuts the local train leg to about ten minutes.

Free local bus: the resort runs a free bus around Ichinohe and the neighbouring town of Iwate. You need to book by phone by 5pm the day before.

Closest airport: Iwate Hanamaki is about two hours away by car.

For help choosing between a car and public transport, see our guide to getting around on a Japan ski trip.

Okunakayama Kogen suits intermediates who want proper, varied runs without crowd stress, families who like having the onsen, hotel and lunch all a short walk from the lifts, and road-trippers looking for a quiet, cheap day between bigger resorts. Advanced riders will find enough pitch for a fun day, especially after fresh snow, but not a week's worth. If you want lift-served sidecountry or a big village scene, base yourself at Appi Kogen and visit here for a day.

Lunch is at the base restaurant, Harahetta-tei Mogumogu (roughly "the hungry, munch-munch diner"), which serves the ramen, curry and rice bowls you would expect at any Japanese ski hill. It is good value and close to the lifts.

The best part of an Okunakayama Kogen afternoon happens after the lifts close. Two onsen sit at the base: Asaake no Yu ("morning-glow bath"), with a free-flowing hot spring and an open-air pool, and Kiraboshi no Yu ("sparkling-star bath"), with a sauna, a cold plunge and herbal baths. Then there is Yukiakari ("snow glow"), the gelato counter. Ice cream after a cold day sounds wrong until you try it straight out of a hot bath.

Season ticket holders get half-price baths and a gelato discount. For more ideas on eating your way through rural Tohoku, see our Japan ski resort food guide.

Lift hours: 8:40 to 16:20 on weekdays and 8:30 to 16:30 on weekends and holidays, with night skiing on a 1.5 km lit run from 16:00 to 20:00 on weekends and holidays. The season usually runs from mid-December to late March.

Tickets: a one-day adult ticket is ¥3,800 on weekdays and ¥4,200 on weekends and holidays, and weekend rates also apply over New Year. Under-school-age children ski free with a parent, and there are morning, afternoon, five-hour and night tickets.

Backcountry: none is sanctioned. Stay inside the boundary and use the marked tree run area instead.

Weather: the plateau is cold and exposed. Expect strong wind on the upper lifts and blowing snow on the road in. Calm days after a cold front are when it shines.

Stargazing: Ichinohe's tourist astronomical observatory is nearby, and the clear, cold nights on the plateau make it worth a look if you are staying over.

Nearby resorts worth pairing: Appi Kogen for big groomers and more vertical, Hachimantai Resort for Shimokura's tree zones, Shizukuishi for long runs under Mt Iwate, and Hiraniwa Kogen for a quiet birch-forest day to the east.