Shizukuishi Ski Resort (Iwate)

The Shizukuishi ski resort is located in Shizukuishi, 28km northwest of Morioka City, the capital of Iwate Prefecture. In 1993 Alpine ski world championship was held in the resort. It was the Asian first world championship. The Shizukuishi ski resort is the medium sized ski resort, which has 13 courses and area of 130ha. The highlight of Shizukuishi is long downhill course with 800m of vertical difference and 4500m of length where down hill race was held during Alpine ski world championships. The second highlight is abundance of course for intermediates. 40% of the slopes are dedicated to intermediate skiers.

As for powder skiing, in Shizukuishi tree-run is prohibited. This is one of the disadvantages of Shizukuishi. But Shizukuishi offers "CAT ski tour" utilizing closed course with reasonable price. You can enjoy approx 5000m long off-piste run by the CAT ski tour.The quality of the Shizukuishi snow is very dry, since plenty of moisture is dropped on the mountains around Hakkoda (located in Aomori Prefecture) and only dry light snow travel to Shizukuishi. In the resort there is the Prince Hotel Shizukuishi in front of ski slopes, you can enjoy ski-in ski-out style accommodation. Another option is to stay in Morioka city and go to ski resorts as a day trip. You can enjoy sightseeing, gourmet, shopping in the city, while you enjoy skiing.

Downhill course is the most popular long course suitable for intermediates. It is the long run with 4,500m length and 800m vertical drop. High speed long carved turn can be traced across the broad, long, well groomed slope. It is a men's downhill holding course of the alpine skiing world championship.The disadvantage is that it is required to transfer three lifts to ski throughout the course.

Giant slalom course is located in the highest part of the resort. On the day after heavy snowfall you can enjoy deep fresh powder snow. An indication of the course level is for advanced, it is achievable for intermediates.

Sunshine course is a intermediate located in the upper part of the resort. From this course you can enjoy panoramic views of Mt. Iwate and Shizukuishi city. The start of course may be a little bit steep for intermediates, but it’s definitely easier to ski because it’s so wide. From Sunshine course you can go into Crystal course which has gentle wide slope.

Joyful course is the intermediates course located in the center of ski resort which has moderate incline and width for trainingfor intermediates. Expert skier can enjoy drawing wide curving turn on the slope. Paradise course is streching beside the Joyful course. This course is good course for beginer who want to step up to the intermediate.

It is the most suitable slope for beginer to pratctice. Slope is wide and gentle. You can repeat to run this course taking Romance pair lift.

In the three courses: Giant slalom course, Slalom bahn course and Sunshine course you can enjoy powder run after heavy snowfall. Normally these courses are well groomed. As for tree-run, Shiukuishi doesn't offer it at this moment (in 2019-20 season).

Shizukuishi offers a CAT tour with reasonable price. You can enjoy off-piste run with4,000m of length, which utilizes closed slopes of the ski resort. In the past it was a long course with a gondola. CAT tour is basically held 4 tours per day, 7:30, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00. The capacity of each tour is 15 people.It is offered only on the weekend and some specific weekdays. The tour fee is JPY4,000/tour.

Shizukuishi offers night skiing at the Prince Slope (Length:650m, gradient:Max.27 Avg.12) located base area of the ski resort in front of the Shiukuishi Prince hotel. It is basically opened in 17:00-19:00 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday between end of December to end of February. Lift ticket price for night skiing is JPY 2,500. If you stay Prince hotel you can fully enjoy night ski, even though your arrival time at the ski resort is in the afternoon or evening. Prince slope is indicated as beginner and intermediate course.

The most popular way to reach the Shizukuishi region from Tokyo is by the combination of train and bus. Two high speed train lines are available, the Akita Shinkansen and the Tohoku Shinkansen. The nearest station is Shizukuishi on the Akita Shinkansen line. The journey from Tokyo to Shizukuishi takes approximately 2.5 hours on the Akita Shinkansen "Komachi." After that, a hotel shuttle bus to the ski resort takes around 20 minutes. The bus is connected to "Komachi No.8" which arrival at Shizukuishi station at 11:38 and require pre booking at latest 3days in advance (Only hotel guest of Prince Hotel is usable). The journey on the Tohoku Shinkansen "Hayabusa" takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes from Tokyo to Morioka station, followed by a 50 minute bus ride to the resort. Anyone can take this bus. Whichever route is chosen, the journey times are nearly similar. A nearest airport is Hanamaki airport, from which it takes around 70 minutes drive. However, no direct flight from Tokyo is available.

The Shizukuishi ski resort has the Shizukuishi Prince hotel, a sophisticated western style hotel that offers perfect ski-in, ski-out style. It offers also nice Onsen(hot spring) called "Takura Onsen". Prince Hotels is a famous luxury hotel chain in Japan. Shizukuishi is also not far from Morioka City. Visitors have the option of renting a car or of taking a free shuttle bus from Morioka station. On the weekday the free shuttle bus between Morioka station and Shizukuishi is available.