Not my first choice personally but I was quite pleased with Norn. It's a fairly small ski hill and I had a good few hours on the uncrowded slopes. The folks that I went with were really there for the "playing in the snow" gig... and Norn has a really big area for that kind of activity and seems to be popular for it. Recommended for that. It's also really easy to get to just 5 minutes from Minakami IC on the Kanetsu Expressway
This is a decent place if you are in the area. Not too big, but not crowded and a few fair runs to choose from. I don't like Tenjinadaira, but this place and Marunuma are the best in this region in my humble opinion.
The E run can be a lot of fun for building a lot of speed on a not-so-steep surface. The easier D run can get pretty congested at times, and I like to avoid it as much as I can. The C run, which runs from the very top of Norn and into the D run, was a little disappointing. It starts out promising enough, but then becomes an extremely flat surface for
Review submitted by Christopher George before 2006
Fantastic night snowboaring/skiing!
There are two lengthy runs that go about 1km a piece and they do give you a good challenge. The night boarding begins at 4:30pm and goes until 10pm. So you can almost get the equivalent of a full day at many resorts. And the great thing for those outside the immediate area is that it is 3km!! from the Minakami IC.
For you westside Tokyoites, you can be there in less than 2 hours time.
