Able Hakuba Goryu Snow Resort

Toomi is a broad, gentle slope that works for beginners and kids, but it's not boring — GORYU WAVES, a set of natural-terrain banks built into the slope, gives advanced snowboarders something to play with on the same run. And no matter where you ski on the mountain, every route brings you back down to the Escal Plaza base, so mixed-level groups can split up on the mountain and easily meet up at the bottom.

Goryu's base building is stacked: Burton's flagship store, a ski and snowboard wax shop (I get my board hot-waxed here every visit), Subway, a crêpe stand, a solid coffee shop, multiple restaurants, and an onsen — all under one roof. If someone in your group doesn't ski, they'll be perfectly happy here all day.

Goryu and Hakuba 47 are linked at the top of the mountain, and a joint pass covers both. But the base areas are completely separate, so splitting your group between the two resorts doesn't work well in practice. There's a mid-mountain traverse route connecting them, but it's narrow with some steep sections — not recommended for beginners. If you want to ride both, go together and return to the same base.