No snow yet. Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
- Elevation
- 153–657 m
- Across
- 1.7 km
Budoh Snow Resort, in Niigata, Japan, runs from 153 m at the base to 657 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 1.7 km across, with 5 marked runs and 2 lifts (about 3.9 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 472 cm of snowfall a season, 46th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (725 cm), brought more than 3 times as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (222 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 170 cm. Snowfall days average −0.8°C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 256th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Niigata, about 69 km away in a straight line. Below are links to 2 road cameras on the way up.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. The weather model works on cells about 30 km across; ski areas in the same cell get the same figure, and these numbers cannot separate them.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hachimoriyama Ski Area | 34.0 km | 213 cm | 1022 |
| Yokone | 39.0 km | 446 cm | 114 |
| Mount Gassan Ski Resort | 43.0 km | 655 cm | 25 |
| Tainai Ski and Snowboard area | 43.0 km | 629 cm | 34 |
| Asahi Shizenkan Snow Park | 45.0 km | 419 cm | 149 |
Compare side by side with Hachimoriyama Ski Area and Yokone →
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Run map
Slope shape, difficulty and lift types
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
79% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift2
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 32% of January’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: March brings 55 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 472 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 222 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 725 cm (3.3 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan, the leanest winter was the same 2015/16: bad winters tend to hit a whole region at once.
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
These snowfall figures are model estimates. On Japanese mountains they come to about 60% of what is actually measured (checked against 63 Japan Meteorological Agency stations). Don't set them beside a resort's own published totals; use them to compare ski areas and read the ranks. How we measure
Live cameras
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Worth seeing nearby
Places within 20 km (straight line) of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first. Some lie over a mountain pass that is closed in winter.
Show the list
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sasagawa Nagare笹川流れ | Nature | 7.5 km |
| Marine Park Nezugasekiマリンパークねずがせき | Park | 18.4 km |
| Iyoboya Hallイヨボヤ会館 | Museum | 19.4 km |
| Murakami Castle村上城 | Historic site | 19.8 km |
Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map
The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.
We have not yet checked the family facilities (kids’ area, childcare, parking, rental) on the official site.
Places to stay on the map
9 places within 12 km of the slopes, as mapped on OpenStreetMap, including small inns and pensions that are on no booking site. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the name for the website or the map.
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
“ad” marks links that pay us a commission if you book. Links without it are not affiliated.
Guides covering Niigata
- Which Ski Resort Gets the Most Snow in the World? We measured snowfall at all 3,069 ski areas on earth the same way. The top two both shut in winter because they get too much snow: a Norwegian glacier at 783 cm that opens in May, and Okutadami Maruyama in Niigata at 765 cm. 46 of the top 100 are Japanese.
- How Japan's Early-Bird Lift Tickets Work: At Hakuba Happo-One, Eight of the Nine Need a Japanese ID Card Hakuba Happo-One opened early-bird sales at 10:00 on 1 October. A day costs ¥6,400 against ¥9,800 at the window, 35% off. But every ticket on the list except one needs a My Number Card and a Japanese phone app. A visitor from abroad can buy exactly one of them, at 15% off.
- El Niño Winters in Japan: Where the Snow Drops, and Where It Actually Rises We split the last 12 winters at 392 Japanese ski areas by El Niño. Most of the Sea of Japan side averaged 83–90% of normal in El Niño winters, while the plateaus of Karuizawa, Sugadaira and Yatsugatake averaged 108–117%. Hakuba Happo-One held 97%.