Yes, I did two trips to Shiga Kogen (so far) this year. This second trip though was done over 4 days, and was more family oriented, so a little different. (The first trip is here.)
Day One
We drove up to Nagano again, at a fairly leisurely pace, my snowboard bag taking up the fourth seat in the car and so also saving me on the usual takkyuubin fees. It’s actually not a bad drive up there from Kanto as it’s mostly expressways all the way up, with just the last ~30Km or so being more local and then mountain roads, with the last ~15Km or so needing the snow chains most years and whilst this year we did need them, it wasn’t so much. IT’s as scenic as you can imagine too.
We chose another hotel in the Ichinose area - Hotel Japan Shiga - and got a nice parking space to boot. Ichinose is often a good choice, as it’s a solid, central ara if you’ve got a car, but the Shiga Kogen area is traversable on the slopes if you plan correctly and have a little bit of patience.
Because some of the family rent skis and gear we went through that experience but for sure as the offspring have gotten older, that has become so so so much easier. The staff at the hotel rental shop were great though and got us set up and out of the door fairly quickly.
Once we were kitted up we went out around the Ichinose Diamond ski area for a few hours, just using points for lifts and to get a feel for snow and generally mucking about. Remember, I’d been just a few weeks before, but the rest hadn’t skied for a couple of seasons. However, it all went very nicely and the snow conditions were good, with a light, but persistent amount of new powder coming down.
For dinner we got some unexpected shabu-shabu at a place near the hotel which was very nice. I say unexpected as it sold a lot of different things, and we actually had thought about having a burger, but then saw shabu-shabu on the menu.
Day Two
We took the car and drove around the mountain to the Okushiga area which has always been a family favourite for the tree courses.
We went over to its gondola course, hoping to have a go at the snow-park we’d had some laughs at a few years previously. Unfortunately we learned they hadn’t built one for this season which was a shame, but the quality of snow and the blue skies were something like compensation.
The Okushiga side also has variety of restaurants, even if some are quite expensive, but we just had a snack on mountain for lunch, and then later in the day went to the main car-park / bus-stop building where the shop, snack bar and rental place was and just kicked back until we were ready for the short trip back to the hotel.
It’s a decent little bar they have there although they seem to have sacrificed the foosball table for more seating.
Day Three
Just as with the previous day, this was another day with blue skies and was a day split between Yakebitaiyama and Okushiga. Long gondola runs, lunches punctuated with bottomless cups of coffee, smooth groomed slopes, and and more photos of snow covered mountains.
These are the days you just ride and ride. No problems, except wondering when the next weather, the next snow is going to turn up.
Day Four
Last day, and yes, the weather arrived. It was cloudy and dumping snow both at Ichinose, and then at Okushiga, which is where we’d gone to as it was expected to have better weather for much of the day, and it did.
Until our late lunch it was just more powder, where you do a run and by the time you get back to the top of the run, the previous run is under more sweet powder.
Eventually though the wind whipped up a bit, closing the upper runs and traverses, then slowly but surely the lower lifts. I think we were probably some of the last people off the slopes when the lifties stopped the lifts, covered the gates, and pulled up the guide-ropes, and it was fairly obvious that skiing and snowboard were off the menu for the day.
We consoled ourselves with some hot chocolate drinks and then got back in the car and headed back to the hotel. From there it was a quick pack of the suitcase and some travel snacks into the car and hit the road.
As always, we took the chains off at the same place as always, and at least the weather wasn’t chasing us, meaning we had a nice drive south and then east. You event get to watch a very decent sunset, in between tunnels opening up into vistas.
So there we are - 4 days up in the mountains, and a nice long drive back.
Roll on next season!
2026 Trip Two to Shiga Kogen
