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Picture: Dynaland

Located approximately 2 1/2 hours drive from Nagoya, Dynaland is easily accessible for a day trip skiing. It's not cheap, but it's not too expensive either. It is set in the hilly areas of the Gifu prefecture, which contains several dozen smallish ski resorts.

Probably best suited for beginner to intermediate level skiers, Dynaland is relatively small ski resort that has about 12 runs and a handful of lifts.

We visited late December, which granted is early in the season, and only 4 runs were open; 1 beginner, 2 intermediate & 1 expert. It had lights for when the clouds rolled in, snow-making and a couple of rails for the boarders.

It got busy about 12:30 and started to thin out at around 3:00. I guess this is when people started the drive back to Nagoya, or elsewhere; apparently lots of the locals do the trip for the day. I was told it gets a lot busier on weekends & public holidays.

There was by far more snow boarders than skiers, which is understandable given the younger crowd. There are two lifts that operate from the base area - a double and a triple chair - and the lines for both moved very well.

 
Pictures: Dynaland Base Area

The last part of the runs which converge on the base area is very narrow and reasonably steep; in fact, it is the steepest part of the whole green run. I could see this being a real point of congestion when it gets busy - particularly with the way boarders like to sit down in the middle of the slopes, for no apparent reason!!!

The ski-après at the base area is young & upbeat with a live DJ; Dynamix, pumping out a diverse selection of rock & pop. The cafeteria style restaurant serves a good selection of food; not all traditional Japanese though; I had spaghetti with meat sauce.

Be careful though, what looks like a can of orange drink could if fact be a can of Vodka (or Sake) & Orange. Check for an alcohol content on the can.

We had a plate of spaghetti & meat sauce, French fries (Japanese style), deep fried chicken bits (heavy with garlic), a can of Vodka & orange and a can of Vodka & lemon for 2,850yen.

Pictures: Dynaland Views

Getting There

We booked through our hotel. I tried several times before we left to book through their website www.dynaland.co.jp (which is all Japanese), or, at least to find out how to get there, but all my emails went unanswered.

It cost 7,800yen per person; which included the coach fare from Nagoya & a lift pass. The coach left from the bus terminal at the Nagoya railway station @ 8am, and took 3hrs each way (stopping at Takasu that appeared to be solely for boarders), returning @ 7:30pm.

All up we got about 4hrs skiing, plus a break for lunch. Considering there was only 1 green run open, this was probably long enough.

We hired skis, boots & poles at Dynaland for 4,600yen per person. The staff spoke very little English, but we got by with my phrase book and lots of pointing.

This day trip had several firsts for us; 1st time we saw snow falling, 1st time we skied under lights, 1st time we skied while snow was falling & 1st time skiing Japan!

All in all a good day out, and one I would recommend as a day trip.

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Dynaland Gallery

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