Echo Valley
In October 2021 the operator, Blue Capital Management, announced it would not open for the season, citing warm winters and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the area has not reopened since.
Source: www.shinmai.co.jp (checked 13 Oct 2026)
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
- 1,458–1,789 m
- Across
- 2.3 km
Echo Valley sits in a valley at Himekidaira in Nagawa, near Lake Shirakaba, but it has stayed closed for years. In autumn 2021 the operator suspended it, citing warm winters and the COVID-19 pandemic, and no reopening has been announced since. Sources: shinmai.co.jp、nikkei.com、ja.wikipedia.org、echovalley.co.jp (sources read 13 Oct 2026)
Below are links to a road camera 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 leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurumayama Kogen SKYPARK | 1.6 km | 133 cmsame grid cell | 1909 |
| Blanche Takayama | 2.1 km | 131 cm | 1942 |
| Family Gelände Kirigamine Ski Area | 4.2 km | 133 cmsame grid cell | 1909 |
| Shirakabako Royal Hill | 4.2 km | 133 cmsame grid cell | 1909 |
| Shirakaba 2 in 1 | 5.9 km | 133 cmsame grid cell | 1909 |
Compare side by side with Kurumayama Kogen SKYPARK and Blanche Takayama →
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
96% 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
- Chairlift7
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 March. March brings as much as January, or more. In amount, March brings 46 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 133 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 96 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 182 cm (1.9 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan, the leanest winter was the same 2015/16.
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Model estimates: on Japanese mountains they run at about 60% of measured snowfall. Compare ranks, not resort-published totals. 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.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
1 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 61.6 °C).
Show the sources
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 白樺湖ビーナス温泉 | 3.7 km | 61.6℃ hot | 6.6 neutral | chloride, sulphate | 1992 |
These are analyses of hot spring sources, not a list of baths you can visit. They date from 1910 to 2005, many from decades ago, so today’s temperature and chemistry may differ. Names are as recorded in Japanese. Temperature and pH bands follow Japan’s standard for analysing hot springs.
Source: processed from the hot spring analysis data in the Geothermal Information Database (GRES-DB), Geological Survey of Japan, AIST
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kurumayama車山 | Mountain | 1.7 km |
| Mount Kirigamine霧ヶ峰 | Mountain | 3.6 km |
| Lake Megami女神湖 | Nature | 6.4 km |
| Mount Tateshina蓼科山 | Mountain | 8.6 km |
| Lake Suwa諏訪湖 | Nature | 12.9 km |
| Suwa taisha諏訪大社 | Shrine | 15.2 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.
We have not yet checked the family facilities (kids’ area, childcare, parking, rental) on the official site. See the official site ↗
Places to stay on the map
1 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.
Nearest: 1.1 km
Show the nearest places
Nearest first
- 温泉山岳ホテル アルペンマット 1.1 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
Guides covering Nagano
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- A Strong El Niño Is Forecast. Here Is What the Last Big One Did to Japan's Snow. NOAA expects a strong or very strong El Niño this winter. We measured every Japanese ski area across the last 12 winters: El Niño winters ran 88% of normal, and the strongest of the twelve left Japan at 63%. But Hakuba held 92% of its average that winter while Niseko fell to 57%.
- 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.