【東北】最強寒波！夏油高原スキー場ヤバすぎる
By: あすかだよ · 25 Jan
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.
Typical snowfall
355cm
- Elevation
- 636–1,063 m
- Across
- 2.4 km
A shuttle bus runs to the slopes from the east exit of Kitakami Station. Course B3 is a steep, north-facing run left ungroomed, and the tree-run area, where the natural forest still stands, is for experienced skiers. From the open-air bath at Geto Kogen Onsen Tomori-no-yu you look down over Kitakami city. Sources: getokogen.com、kitakami-kanko.jp (sources read 13 Oct 2026)
Below are links to its official live camera.
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.
Seasonal snowfall
355cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
130cm
The middle winter of the 12: 376 cm. The best: 500 cm.
World rank
275
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
102
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
179
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 811 m, 45 m above the national median.
Quality rank
72
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−5.0°C
Japanese median: −3.5°C
Rain days
18%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
26%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
24km/h
Dryness 50
Frequency 73
Freedom from rain 54
Calm when snowing 89
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choei Yuda Ski Area | 15.0 km | 332 cm | 345 |
| Jeunesse Kurikoma Ski Area | 17.0 km | 407 cm | 165 |
| Tengamori Ski Area | 26.0 km | 377 cm | 211 |
| Inakawa Ski Area Suberotta | 32.0 km | 229 cm | 885 |
| Gosannen Ski Area | 33.0 km | 230 cm | 877 |
Compare side by side with Choei Yuda Ski Area and Jeunesse Kurikoma Ski Area →
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.
Marked runs
15
Run length
13km
Lifts
5
Vertical
426m
Top 1,063 m · base 636 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvancedOther Lift
Slope shape, difficulty and lift types
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map3.0 km
Steepest pitch32°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs13.6°
Which way the slopes face
North 14%
East 79%
South 7%
West 0%
93% 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
Easy 3 · 5.5 km
Intermediate 5 · 4.8 km
Advanced 6 · 3 km
Other 1 · 0.1 km
Lift types
- Chairlift3
- Gondola2
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 50% of January’s snowfall. That is in line with the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 59 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
98cmDec
119cmJan
79cmFeb
59cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 355 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 130 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 500 cm (3.8 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan, the leanest winter was the same 2015/16.
158
130
333
500
387
348
387
456
348
365
441
405
14/1515/1616/1717/1818/1919/2020/2121/2222/2323/2424/2525/26
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
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Geto and Kitakami webcams & snow report — all 2 ski areas →
See the snow in motion
Videos remain the copyright of whoever filmed them. JAPANSNOWLINE stores no video and plays everything through the standard YouTube player.
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
2 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 67.2 °C).
Show the sources
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鷲合森(鷲合森) | 2.7 km | 38.5℃ warm | 7.3 neutral | — | — |
| 夏油ラジウムの湯 | 2.9 km | 67.2℃ hot | 6.8 neutral | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Geto Onsen夏油温泉 | Hot spring town | 3 km |
| Geto Onsen no Sekkaika夏油温泉の石灰華 | Hot spring town | 3.5 km |
| Yuda Dam湯田ダム | Nature | 7.1 km |
| 湯田温泉峡 | Hot spring town | 9.9 km |
| Hottoyuda Stationほっとゆだ駅 | Landmark | 13.4 km |
| Isawa Dam胆沢ダム | Nature | 19 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.
Going with children
- Kids’ area
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
- Childcare
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
- Parking
- Not checked
- Rental
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
Checked on the official site (13 Oct 2026) · Source . “Not checked” means we have not looked yet. Compare with other ski areas →
Places to stay on the map
3 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: 4.9 km
Show the nearest places
Nearest first
- 入畑温泉 瀬目乃湯 4.9 km
- Semi Onsen 5.2 km
- 水神温泉 東館 7.4 km
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 Iwate
- 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%.
- When Japan's Ski Resorts Open for 2026/27, and Whether There Will Be Snow When They Do Japan's 2026/27 season opens on 23 October at Yeti on Mt Fuji and 31 October at Karuizawa Prince (both on machine-made snow), then on natural snow on 20 November at Sapporo Kokusai, 21 November at Sapporo Teine and Hakuba Goryu and 28 November at Niseko, Rusutsu, Kiroro and Furano. Dates checked on each resort's own site, set beside what December actually delivers: in Hokkaido about as much snow as January, in Nagano and Niigata about four-fifths.
- Where in Japan Do You Get the Most Powder Days? Season snowfall totals do not tell you how often it snows. We counted the days that deliver 5 cm or more at all 397 Japanese ski areas. Hokkaido's median is 12 days a winter and Honshu's is 21 — and Honshu rains about three times as often.
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