The Yotei-zan (羊蹄山, 1898m) Makkari Route (真狩コース) is arguably the most popular backcountry skiing route on this iconic Hokkaido volcano. The route starts climbing in earnest very early, meaning altitude is gained quickly, unlike other routes on the mountain requiring longer flat-land approaches. This comes at the expense, however, of less terrain real-estate for the downhill; on busy weekends, it may be more challenging to find untracked lines. That said, the relatively compact valley makes navigation easy up to the prominent small plateau at 1000m, referred to locally as the Terrace (テラス). Likewise, so long as skiers keep within the main valley below the Terrace, it would be relatively difficult to end up anywhere other than the trailhead on the way down. Like all routes on Yotei-zan, the best skiing is to be had from below around 1300m, just above the treeline.