Decent steepness to the hill caught my eye and attracted me enough to try Tenguyama for a day, unfortunately though the runs are just too short and the lift service is too spotty to be worthwhile.

As is the case with a lot of smaller Japanese resorts, the off-piste is strictly prohibited and you will be hounded by ski patrol for going anywhere other than groomed slopes or the two open non-groomed runs.

We were told when buying our day ticket that the cable car, which apparently used to service skiers, is now reserved to sightseers only! This leaves just the one slow, no-footrest double chairlift to service the entire ski area. Because of the log jam for lifting, individual skiers and groups often have to wait behind entire kids ski school groups, with the lifties constantly slowing the chair to a ridiculously slow speed; it can take 25 minutes to get from bottom to top at the worst of times. Not only this but the chairlift, and thus the whole resort, closed entirely in the afternoon when some fairly mild wind came in. The ticket office thankfully refunded our day ticket and we were only charged a half day, but still not great.

Snow quality was just ok, the piste was pretty fun. Nice ocean views from the top of the chair and in the top restaurant. Fairly cheap ticket price.

Very little potential for powder skiing given the strict no-off piste enforcement. Overall, Tenguyama seems more geared to Chinese tourists and local kids/families than any type of advanced skier or boarder.
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Easy to go by bus at Otaru station
Red Ropeway good
At top see snow and sea
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Shhhh! Don’t tell a soul, if you found this page you found your one day in paradise. Only reason giving this a review is to help keep it running as I know it is struggling. Won’t say any more about it then “wow”. Get out there and explore!!
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The low elevation ski resorts in Hokkaido can be a little bit of a hit or miss, but the temps were reasonably cold so Otaru Tenguyama was a hit! It was an absolute ripper little ski area that packed a lot of punch and it was so refreshing after a powder day at Kiroro where it felt like every gaijin in Japan was there.

The tree skiing was superb with fall line trees and plenty of pitch, especially near the steep A run, and there were only 3 other riders to share the powder with. The ski patrollers were keeping a watchful eye over us but didn’t make an approach.

Some people were a fraction annoyed when we first put Tenguyama on Powderhounds.com because it’s a little gem and I can see why they’d want to keep it for themselves. But so many of these little gems in Japan have shut up shop due to a lack of visitors, and keeping it a complete secret won’t keep it viable. The ropeway tourism may keep the ropeway open in summer at least, but looking at the state of affairs at the base (including a very dilapidated glass studio), it doesn’t look like the area is rolling in money. Hopefully the ski resort will stay open.

You can see our Japanese ski resort ratings to see how we compare Otaru Tenguyama to other ski areas.
See our video here