It is set in the hilly areas of the Gifu prefecture, which contain 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 in late December, which, granted, is early in the season, so only four runs were open; one beginner, two intermediate, and one expert. It had lights for when the clouds rolled in, snowmakers, and a couple of rails for the boarders.

It got busy about 12:30pm and started to thin out at around 3pm. 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 and public holidays.

There was by far more snowboarders 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.

The last part of the runs that converges 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!!!

Getting There

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

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

We got about 4 hours of skiing, plus a break for lunch. Considering there was only one green run open, this was probably long enough.

We hired skis, boots, and poles at Dynaland for ¥4,600 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: first time we saw snow falling, first time we skied under lights, first time we skied while snow was falling, and the first time skiing Japan! All in all, it was a good day out and one I would recommend as a day trip.

For more pictures and information on this location, visit my website at , .