Japan · Niigata

Iwappara

岩原スキー場
Off season Opens 19 Dec (resort’s announcement)
Official site Lift tickets (official) 2026/27 adult day ticket ¥5,500 1-day admission (adult) (checked 24 Oct)

No snow yet. The 2026/27 season is planned to open on 19 Dec (the resort’s announcement; it moves with the snow). Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear once snow is on the ground or forecast.

Opens
19 Dec
Typical snowfall
712cm

A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →

Elevation
396–984 m
Across
2.8 km

The wooded Cruise course lets even beginners start from the summit and ski all the way down, with the Tanigawa range and Mount Makihata in view between the trees along the way. Sledding is banned on the ski runs themselves. Sources: iwa-ppara.com (sources read 12 Oct 2026; reviewed by the editor)

How much snow it gets

Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Seasonal snowfall
712cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
328cm
The middle winter of the 12: 712 cm. The best: 921 cm.
World rank
6
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
3
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
231
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 641 m, 125 m below the national median.
Quality rank
190
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−1.6°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
27%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
44%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
17km/h
Average daily peak, 10 m above ground across a model grid cell; not the wind on ridges or lift tops
Dryness 26
Frequency 100
Freedom from rain 35
Calm when snowing (model grid) 98

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 areaDistanceSeasonal snowfallWorld rank
Yuzawa Park Ski Resort2.7 km712 cmsame grid cell6
Ippon Sugi Ski Resort3.4 km695 cm12
Maiko Snow Resort3.5 km695 cm12
Yuzawa Nakazato Ski Resort3.7 km712 cmsame grid cell6
NASPA Ski Garden3.9 km618 cm36

Compare side by side with Yuzawa Park Ski Resort and Ippon Sugi Ski Resort →

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
16
Run length
10km
Lifts
7
Vertical
588m
Top 984 m · base 396 m

Run map

EasyIntermediateAdvancedOther Lift
North is up. Runs are coloured by difficulty; black lines are lifts.
Run map

Drag to move around, and use + and − to zoom. On a phone, swipe to move and pinch to zoom in further.

Slope shape, difficulty and lift types

The shape of the mountain

Longest run on the map1.8 km
Steepest pitch29°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs12.3°

Which way the slopes face

North 1%
East 23%
South 73%
West 4%

Only 24% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. The most common direction is south (73%).

By difficulty

Easy 8 · 6.5 km
Intermediate 5 · 2.5 km
Advanced 2 · 1.1 km
Other 1 · 0.1 km

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

The most snow falls in January. March brings 41% 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 102 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.

194cm
Dec
249cm
Jan
168cm
Feb
102cm
Mar
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters

Winter by winter

Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 712 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 328 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 921 cm (2.8 times as much).

543
328
913
767
782
599
698
921
725
661
919
686
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.

How these figures are made

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.

Videos

2024-2025シーズン 岩原スキー場 ファインスノーバーンオープン

By: 岩原スキー場 · 6 Feb

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.

What was actually measured nearby

Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 湯沢 weather station — 2.9 km from this ski area, 329 m below its mid-slope.

Three-season average810 cm
2023/24619 cm
2024/251080 cm
2025/26732 cm

The figure calculated on this page is 755 cm.

A weather station is not a ski slope. We picked one at a similar elevation, but it stands in a valley or a village. More snow falls on the mountain above it. We have not tried to guess how much more.

Source: Japan Meteorological Agency historical records

Hot springs nearby, as analysed

4 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 61.5 °C).

Show the sources
SourceDistanceTemperaturepHType
岩原岩原1.9 km55.7℃ hot—simple
湯沢第3配湯所 混湯2.9 km61.5℃ hot8.3 mildly alkalinesimple
佐工不動産佐工不動産3 km35.2℃ warm8.8 alkalinealkaline simple
松川松川4.5 km25.8℃ lukewarm——

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

When we went

Video we shot ourselves, with a note from the day (sound removed).

1 March 2024

A weekday, few people, and very comfortable skiing.

The site operator

Worth seeing nearby

Within 20 km in a straight line, nearest first. Some lie over a pass that is closed in winter.

Show the list
PlaceTypeDistance
Kiyotsu Gorge清津峡Nature8.5 km
Mount Makihata巻機山Mountain11.5 km
Mount Tanigawa谷川岳Mountain14.2 km
Tanigawadake Ropeway谷川岳ロープウェイNature16 km
Doai Station土合駅Landmark16.7 km
Yagisawa Dam矢木沢ダムNature19.3 km

Chosen from the places most read about on Wikipedia, favouring those with an English article. 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.

Official piste map ↗

Getting there

By train
Echigo-Yuzawa Station (JR Joetsu Shinkansen): free shuttle bus from the east exit (stop is across the pedestrian crossing at the end of the arcade)
By car
about 3 km from Yuzawa IC (Kan-Etsu Expressway)
Winter roads
The free shuttle between Echigo-Yuzawa Station and the resort has separate weekend/holiday and weekday timetables; scheduled weekend/holiday runs need no booking. Request-only runs and a loop bus are also available by booking by phone (025-787-3211) by the previous day

Source: iwa-ppara.com · checked 1 Nov 2026. Shuttle days and times change with the season; check the official site before you go.

Going with children

Kids’ area
Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
Childcare
Not checked
Parking
Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
Rental
Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)

Checked on the official site (19 Oct 2026) · Source. “Not checked” means we have not looked yet. Compare with other ski areas →

Places to stay nearbyPR

Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese.

51 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within about 3 km of this ski area. The table shows the nearest 12 with a listed price.

Property (links to Rakuten Travel)Lowest listed (per person, tax incl.)RatingDistanceGetting there
ロッヂ 添路 ¥3,5004.23/5 83 reviews0.9 km越後湯沢駅から車で15分
湯沢温泉(自家源泉) HOTELシャーレゆざわ銀水 ¥4,9804.14/5 339 reviews1.2 km関越道 湯沢ICから1.5km。JR越後湯沢から2.5km、送迎有り。
越後湯沢温泉 ホテル 湯沢湯沢でんき屋 ¥5,5004.75/5 389 reviews1.8 km湯沢I.Cから車で約5分 越後湯沢駅より無料送迎あり(8:30~18:00まで)到着後要電話
越後湯沢温泉 温泉民宿 浦子の湯 高野屋 ¥4,5004.43/5 221 reviews2.0 km上越新幹線 越後湯沢駅下車 タクシー8分、関越自動車道 湯沢IC→2km 5分
ペンション さんらいず ¥10,0004.55/5 47 reviews2.0 km上越新幹線 越後湯沢駅下車 送迎10分/湯沢ICより5km 車で約10分
湯沢パークホテル ¥7,3004.33/5 251 reviews2.2 km鉄道:上越新幹線越後湯沢駅東口よりタクシー又は送迎バスで約10分/車:関越自動車道湯沢ICより約3km・6分
えびすや(えびすや旅館) ¥9,9004.43/5 57 reviews2.2 kmJR上越新幹線 越後湯沢駅より無料送迎(約7分)/関越道 湯沢ICより約6分
ゆとりろ越後湯沢 ¥4,4003.96/5 50 reviews2.5 kmJR上越新幹線・上越線・信越本線「越後湯沢」駅より車で約10分/越後湯沢駅からの無料送迎あり※要予約
越後湯沢 ホテルアスター ¥3,5003.61/5 604 reviews2.6 kmJR上越新幹線『越後湯沢駅東口』から徒歩6分/関越自動車道『湯沢I.C』から車で4分。
匠の宿みやた ¥7,8504.50/5 23 reviews2.8 km越後湯沢駅より徒歩で約5分 関越道湯沢ICより車で約5分
Yuzawa House ^ ¥3,707—2.9 km越後湯沢駅から徒歩で約4分
越後湯沢温泉 ホテルやなぎ<新潟県> ¥4,7304.34/5 500 reviews2.9 km●湯沢駅東口より【右側】歩道歩いて【1分】●関越湯沢IC↓信号右折⇒歩道橋信号左折⇒信号直進道なり右カーブ⇒湯沢駅東口前
Pick dates and guests to check rooms on Rakuten Travel

Prices are the lowest Rakuten Travel lists; a property name, or “Pick dates and guests” above, shows prices and rooms for your dates.

Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese. · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)

Places to stay on the map

5 places within 12 km of the slopes, as mapped on OpenStreetMap, many of them small inns and pensions. Many are not on booking sites — open the name for the website or the map.

Nearest: 0.7 km

Show the nearest places

Nearest first

Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap

Other booking sites: Booking.com ↗ · Agoda ↗ · Rakuten Travelad ↗

“ad” marks links that pay us a commission if you book. Links without it are not affiliated.

Guides that cover Iwappara

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