Hakuba Cortina
Japan
1 / 3Hakuba Cortina: the snowiest corner of the Hakuba valley, permitted tree skiing and a shared ticket with neighbouring Hakuba Norikura.
Trail information
Cortina sits at the far end of the Hakuba valley, and you know it by one building: a vast Bavarian-style hotel with a red roof turned straight towards the slope. The resort has a reputation as the snowiest in the valley and is known for permitted tree skiing, which is unusual in Japan.
It has no park or halfpipe of its own: those belong to neighbouring Hakuba Norikura, with which Cortina shares a ticket and a piste link. The resort makes no artificial snow as a matter of principle, relying on the natural snowfall, which is the heaviest in the area.
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Contacts and opening hours
Accommodation
Otari
What visitors say about the resort
The praise is for Hakuba's powder capital: snowfall here runs close to double what neighbouring resorts get, and the tree skiing is rated the best in the valley, with steeper pitches and more interesting lines. The relaxed attitude to off-piste is valued highly, since there is no need to sneak about and risk losing a pass as at some nearby areas. The hotel at the lift base, with its large onsen and around a dozen baths, counts as a further plus.
The secret being out is the standing complaint: on a big snowfall the whole valley turns up and a quiet hill becomes a scrum with lift queues. The lift network is small and slow, roughly half a dozen installations leave few options, and waits are long. The terrain comes with a warning too, as many runs are exceptionally steep and not the kind anyone wants to fall on. The base area can be noisy and chaotic on busy days.
An editorial summary of public reviews on specialist sites. This is not a visitor review: we retell what is written about the resort most often, both praise and criticism.
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