Ikon Pass Adds Madarao Mountain Resort for 26/27
Ikon Pass has just expanded further into Asia for winter 26/27, and this one’s genuinely worth paying attention to if Japan’s anywhere on your radar. Madarao Mountain Resort, a destination AMPED knows well, has joined the pass, alongside two new additions in China, Beidahu Ski Resort and Lake Songhua Resort. They join an existing Japan lineup on Ikon that already includes Niseko United, Shiga Kogen, Myoko Suginohara and Furano, bringing Asia to 14 destinations overall, part of a wider network of 80 resorts across 13 countries and five continents.
An Ikon Pass mostly covers North American resorts right now, so this is a real opportunity for anyone who already has one. Your lift access to Madarao comes included, which makes adding a Japan leg to next season’s trip worth genuinely considering, rather than something you’d have to plan entirely separately..
What’s Actually New for Winter 26/27?
Three resorts have joined Ikon Pass for the coming season, and all three are worth knowing about in their own right, not just as names on a list.
Madarao Mountain Resort in Japan is, in Ikon’s own words, “a tree skier’s playground,” with 60% of its courses left ungroomed and 12 official tree-ski courses, genuinely built for leaving the groomers behind. In China, Beidahu Ski Resort sits in the foothills of the Changbai Mountains, sheltered by mountains on three sides, with a 160-day snow season and wide-open learning terrain that makes it genuinely approachable for newer skiers too, not just an advanced-only destination. Lake Songhua Resort, just 15km from downtown Jilin City, has been named China’s Best Ski Resort nine years running, with terrain for every level and plenty to do after the sun goes down.
David Flueck, Chief Customer Officer and President of Ikon Pass, put it simply: “Japan’s snow needs no introduction, and Jilin province is one of the fastest-growing ski regions in the world.”
Together, these three additions bring Ikon’s Asia lineup to 14 destinations, with up to 98 days available across Japan, China and South Korea combined, part of a global network now sitting at 80 resorts across 13 countries.
Access depends on which pass you hold, and it’s worth checking carefully before assuming yours covers it. A full Ikon Pass gets 7 days each at Madarao, Beidahu and Lake Songhua. An Ikon Base Pass gets 5 days each, with no blackout dates on any of them. If you’re on an Ikon Session Pass, there’s no access to the new destinations at all, worth knowing before you plan a trip around it.
The Asia expansion isn’t the only change for winter 26/27 either. Two new Bonus Mountains have joined the pass, Caberfae Peaks in Michigan, with roots stretching back nearly 90 years, and Snowy Range Ski Area in Wyoming, each offering Ikon Pass holders two free days. They join an existing list that includes Grouse Mountain in British Columbia, Jiminy Peak and Ski Butternut in Massachusetts, and several others across the US. It’s a smaller addition than the Asia expansion, but worth knowing if you’re weighing up the full value of a pass you already hold.
What Does This Mean If You Already Have an Ikon Pass?
An Ikon Pass only ever covers one thing, lift access. It doesn’t sort flights, accommodation, transfers, or anything else that actually gets you to Madarao, Beidahu or Lake Songhua and keeps you there for a week. That’s easy to overlook when the pass itself feels like the hard part’s already done.
For most Ikon Pass holders, this is also genuinely new territory. If your pass has mostly been used across North America, Asia is a different kind of trip entirely, different flights, different accommodation style, often a very different travel rhythm once you’re there. None of that’s a reason to skip it, but it is a reason to plan it properly rather than assume it slots in the same way a side trip to another US or Canadian resort might.
This is exactly the gap AMPED fills, whether that’s Madarao specifically or one of the new China destinations. Your lift days are already sorted through the pass you hold, we build everything else around that, flights, accommodation, transfers, so the only thing left to organise yourself is which days you actually want to ski.
Why Madarao Specifically?
Madarao sits in northeastern Nagano, right on the Niigata border, a region AMPED already knows well, and it’s earned its reputation honestly rather than through marketing. The mountain was host to Japan’s first-ever Freestyle Skiing Competition, and its unique bowl-shaped terrain still reflects that history, 32 courses across 10 lifts, with genuine variety built in rather than one dominant style of skiing.
That variety matters more than the “tree skier’s playground” framing might suggest. Alongside the 60% ungroomed terrain and 12 official tree-ski courses, Madarao also runs proper groomed courses, a free ride park and a kids’ park, genuinely suited to everyone from first-timers to advanced riders, not just powder specialists. English-speaking snow schools are available, and for anyone wanting to go further, local guides run backcountry trips within easy hiking distance of the resort boundary.
Getting there has also gotten easier. Since Iiyama Station opened, it’s roughly 110 minutes by bullet train from Tokyo, then a 30-minute transfer to Madarao itself, with direct airport shuttle services available too if navigating Tokyo’s stations yourself isn’t appealing.
What really sets Madarao apart, though, is how connected it is once you’re there. From the summit, you can actually see both Myoko and Nozawa Onsen in the distance, both around 40 minutes away by shuttle, and inter-resort transfers also run to Hakuba and Shiga Kogen. It functions less like a single destination and more like a base for exploring several of Nagano’s best-known resorts, which is exactly why AMPED already runs group trips covering both resorts together rather than treating it as an isolated stop.
Is It Worth Adding to Your Trip?
Here’s the honest answer: it depends less on whether you’ve got an Ikon Pass, and more on how you’re actually thinking about the trip.
If your pass has mostly been used in North America, Madarao isn’t really a side trip you tack onto that same holiday, Japan’s a separate flight regardless of what else you’re doing. But that’s actually less of a barrier for a New Zealand traveller than it might be for someone based in the US or Europe, flights from New Zealand to Japan and to North America are roughly comparable in length. So the real question isn’t “can I fit this in,” it’s whether you treat your included Madarao days as the start of a dedicated Japan trip, rather than an extension of a North America one.
And if you don’t already hold an Ikon Pass at all, that’s genuinely worth thinking through before buying one specifically for this. A pass makes sense if you’re already planning to ski multiple Ikon destinations across a season, North America and Japan both, where the included days add up to real value. If Madarao’s the only thing drawing you to Japan this season, a multi-resort pass might not be worth it at all, lift access for one resort is a far simpler thing to sort, and it’s exactly the kind of detail AMPED handles as part of booking your trip. Either path works, it’s just worth knowing which one actually suits the trip you’re planning before committing to a pass purely for seven days at one resort.
Let AMPED Build Japan Around It
Whether Madarao ends up being the whole trip or one stop on a longer Nagano itinerary, Myoko and Nozawa Onsen both genuinely close, this is exactly the kind of planning AMPED does well. We’ll work out whether a pass makes sense for your season, build the flights, accommodation and transfers around whichever days you’ve got, and make sure the rest of the trip matches the lift access you’re already sorted for.
Get in touch with the AMPED team, and we’ll build your next Japan snow holiday around what your Ikon Pass actually gives you access to.
