Geto Kogen Ski Resort

The resort is easy to reach, with a free bus from Kitakami station that takes around 50mins. Staff were very friendly and happy to help. There wasn’t much Apres action on weekday nights. The skiing is great, with easy through advanced groomed runs and lots of tree runs. It’s known for its powder, and there was good snow cover across all the runs even in late March. Staying at the resort is convenient. The premium rooms are quiet, have amazing mountain and lift views, and include use of the on site Onsen. Food choices for breakfast and dinner are very limited, so we brought our own breakfast items, which worked well. Dinner was either pizza or the Japanese buffet at JPY2500 pp. The food court has plenty of reasonably priced lunch options.

Another guest accidentally took my snowboard boots because we had the same model in different sizes, and I thought my day on the mountain might be ruined. Mr. Kuga from customer service quickly arranged free rental boots and a board so I could keep riding. Later he tracked down my original boots, got them back, and personally let me know. His calm, kind, and efficient help made all the difference. Mistakes happen, but the staff handled this so well and turned a stressful situation into a positive one. Huge thanks to Mr. Kuga and the Geto Kogen team. Highly recommended.

Bring your own food if you can, because the food court queues were extremely long. The last food order is at 3:00 pm, and the last gondola ride is around 4:30 pm. The area closes for a while after that, then reopens for night skiing. If you’ve rented snowboard equipment and want to switch to ski equipment, you can top up SGD 20. There’s also a hot spring area inside the resort. I spent a day snowboarding here in late December and had fun. Renting a snow suit cost about SGD 90, and a 5-hour gondola pass was around SGD 50, the minimum rental time. Plan your meals and timing ahead.

The ski resort is small but has some unique features. I stayed at the “Hao” resort with high expectations, but the front desk service was extremely poor. I felt they lacked even basic service etiquette. The ski-in and ski-out was the only redeeming quality. I’ve been to over 30 ski resorts in Japan, and this was the first time we’d had service this poor. It felt like the resort didn’t want to provide any service and just left guests to check themselves in. It’s a real shame about the Hao resort. Why would guests come back?