【パウダースノー】新潟県南魚沼市にあるビッグゲレンデ！上越国際スキー場
By: 湯沢・南魚沼ゲレンデ速報 ch · 2 Feb
No snow yet. The 2026/27 season is planned to open on 12 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
12 Dec
Typical snowfall
695cm
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
- 217–931 m
- Across
- 6.6 km
Step off the train at Joetsu Kokusai Skijo-mae Station on the JR Joetsu Line and the ski area is right in front of you. It covers the slopes of Mount Atema and straddles two municipalities, Minamiuonuma and Tokamachi. On the Tokamachi side, the Forest Zone is where the beech woods are thickest. Sources: jkokusai.co.jp, media.jreast.co.jp (sources read 12 Oct 2026; an AI draft the site operator has not yet checked)
Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 10 km away measured 810 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 686 cm from the model.
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
695cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
328cm
The middle winter of the 12: 750 cm. The best: 983 cm.
World rank
12
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
11
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
245
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 587 m, 179 m below the national median.
Quality rank
183
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−1.6°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
41%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
36%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
13km/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) 100
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chateau Shiozawa Ski Area Yoshizato | 3.9 km | 546 cm | 67 |
| Ishiuchi Hanaoka Ski Area | 4.6 km | 695 cmsame grid cell | 12 |
| Muica Snow Resort | 6.1 km | 546 cm | 67 |
| Ishiuchi Maruyama Ski Resort | 6.7 km | 695 cmsame grid cell | 12 |
| Maiko Snow Resort | 7.3 km | 695 cmsame grid cell | 12 |
Compare side by side with Chateau Shiozawa Ski Area Yoshizato and Ishiuchi Hanaoka 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
41
Run length
23km
Lifts
19
Vertical
714m
Top 931 m · base 217 m
Run map
NoviceEasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
Slope shape, difficulty and lift types
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map1.7 km
Steepest pitch29°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs9°
Which way the slopes face
North 36%
East 37%
South 14%
West 14%
73% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east; plenty of the terrain faces the sun as well, so the lean is modest.
By difficulty
Novice 1 · 0.1 km
Easy 16 · 7.6 km
Intermediate 22 · 14 km
Advanced 2 · 1.3 km
Lift types
- Chairlift19
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 29% 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 76 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
184cmDec
260cmJan
177cmFeb
76cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 695 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 328 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 983 cm (3.0 times as much).
543
328
875
762
772
522
751
983
748
604
835
619
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.
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.
Echigo-Yuzawa webcams & snow report — all 17 ski areas →
Videos
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 — 10 km from this ski area, 206 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 810 cm |
| 2023/24 | 619 cm |
| 2024/25 | 1080 cm |
| 2025/26 | 732 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 686 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
6 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 44 °C).
Show the sources
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 大沢大沢鉱泉 | 1.1 km | 28℃ lukewarm | 8.5 alkaline |
| 湯ノ城上越パラダイス | 1.3 km | 44℃ hot | — |
| 小栗山小栗山 | 2.3 km | 36℃ warm | — |
| 栃窪高原鉱泉栃窪高原 | 2.9 km | 5.3℃ cold | — |
| 西山鉱泉栃窪1号 | 3 km | 21.7℃ cold | 8.4 mildly alkaline |
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
Within 20 km in a straight line, nearest first. Some lie over a pass that is closed in winter.
Show the list
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kiyotsu Gorge清津峡 | Nature | 8 km |
| Untō-an Temple雲洞庵 | Temple | 8.5 km |
| Yuzawa Kōgen Ropeway湯沢高原ロープウェイ | Nature | 10.3 km |
| Echigo Yuzawa Onsen越後湯沢温泉 | Hot spring town | 10.4 km |
| Tōkamachi City Museum十日町市博物館 | Museum | 12.7 km |
| Mount Makihata巻機山 | Mountain | 16.1 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.
Coordinates: 37.0311, 138.7952
Getting there
- By train
- Joetsu-Kokusai-Skijo-mae Station (JR Joetsu Line)
Source: jkokusai.co.jp · 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
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
- Parking
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
- Rental
- Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
Checked on the official site (26 Oct 2026) · Source. Compare with other ski areas →
Places to stay nearbyPR
Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese.
15 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.) | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 大沢山温泉 大沢舘 | ¥13,750 | 4.55／5 220 reviews | 1.3 km | 大沢駅からお車で5分(送迎あり) 塩沢石打ICから車で約10分 |
| ホテルグリーンプラザ上越 | ¥15,300 | 3.71／5 1882 reviews | 2.3 km | 越後湯沢駅より車で約30分(無料送迎バス有り:全便完全予約制:前日17時までに要予約) 塩沢石打ICより車で約10分 |
| グリーンビレッジたかはし | ¥6,600 | 4.40／5 122 reviews | 2.8 km | 上越線 上越国際スキー場前駅/関越道 塩沢・石打ICより車で10分 |
| ペットと泊まれる宿 ヒルサイド イン センタークラブ | ¥9,350 | 4.50／5 26 reviews | 2.9 km | JR上越線 石打駅から車で5分 |
| ホテル綿ぼうし | ¥12,500 | 4.65／5 21 reviews | 3.0 km | 上越線石打駅よりお車8分/関越自動車道塩沢石打ICよりお車10分 |
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
1 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: 2.8 km
Show the nearest places
Nearest first
- Lodge YOU 2.8 km
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.
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