Japan · Niigata

Kagura Area

かぐらエリア

An area within Kagura. Lift tickets, opening dates and the official site are shared across the whole resort.

13 / 100 Powder Score
No Snow Weather Cloudy
Official site Lift tickets (official) 2026/27 adult day ticket ¥8,500 Kagura 1-day (Kagura, Mitsumata and Tashiro), 28 Nov – 16 May (checked 19 Oct)

Not open yet for 2026/27. We have not yet found an official opening date. The snowfall below is a model figure and does not mean the slopes are skiable.

Base depth
5cm
Snow 48h
0cm
Next 72h
0cm

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 →

Snow 24h
0 cm
Next 24h
0 cm
Temperature
−1°C
Max wind
11 km/h
Elevation
1,322–1,838 m
Across
5.4 km

This season so far (1 Nov to 9 Nov): 16 cm, 104% of the average for the same dates. The average is over twelve winters on the same weather model. Across Japan →

Updated: 10 Nov 2026, 12:15

7-day outlook

Date Weather Snow (cm) Low / high (°C) Wind (km/h)
Tue 10 Nov Snow 0 −2 to 1 10
Wed 11 Nov Cloudy 0 −2 to 3 11
Thu 12 Nov Partly cloudy 0 1 to 10 6
Fri 13 Nov Cloudy 0 1 to 11 9
Sat 14 Nov Cloudy 0 2 to 13 9
Sun 15 Nov Drizzle 0 6 to 13 6
Mon 16 Nov Showers 0 1 to 7 9

Score breakdown

Fresh (48h) 1/40
Forecast (24h) 0/25
Snow quality 4/20
Wind 8/10
Base 0/5

The five add up to the 100-point Powder Score: more fresh snow, more on the way and colder air all push it up. How we measure

Snow and slopes at Kagura Area
Photo: フジサキケンジ / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

This is the upper part of the resort, reached by gondola from the Mitsumata side. At the top of Kagura Pair Lift No.5 an unstaffed gate leads towards Mount Kaguragamine; anyone going through drops off a mountaineering plan and carries a beacon, shovel and probe. Wada Goya, a mountain hut near the middle of the slopes, takes overnight guests on some days. Sources: princehotels.co.jp, princehotels.com, niigata-kankou.or.jp (sources read 12 Oct 2026; an AI draft the site operator has not yet checked)

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
8.7km
Lifts
5
Vertical
515m
Top 1,838 m · base 1,322 m

Run map

EasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
North is up. Runs are coloured by difficulty; black lines are lifts.Lifts that run far beyond the ski area are cut at the edge of the map.
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 map1.2 km
Steepest pitch27°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs11.8°

Which way the slopes face

North 37%
East 47%
South 12%
West 4%

84% 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 4 · 2.3 km
Intermediate 6 · 3.6 km
Advanced 5 · 2.8 km

Lift types

  • Chairlift4
  • Gondola1

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.

Live cameras

Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.

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
542cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
241cm
The middle winter of the 12: 578 cm. The best: 679 cm.
World rank
69
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
39
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
62
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 1,335 m, 569 m above the national median.
Quality rank
7
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−7.9°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
15%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
31%
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 70
Frequency 89
Freedom from rain 61
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
Kagura6.6 km565 cm55
Kandatsu Kogen Ski Resort7.6 km618 cm36
NASPA Ski Garden8.6 km618 cm36
Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort8.6 km618 cm36
Ippon Sugi Ski Resort9.5 km695 cm12

Compare side by side with Kagura and Kandatsu Kogen Ski Resort →

When it falls, and how winters differ

Month by month

The most snow falls in January. March brings 54% of January’s snowfall. That is in line with the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 95 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.

147cm
Dec
177cm
Jan
123cm
Feb
95cm
Mar
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters

Winter by winter

Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 542 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 241 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 679 cm (2.8 times as much).

389
241
655
576
652
495
603
679
580
539
609
480
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

Hot springs nearby, as analysed

3 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 38.5 °C).

Show the sources
SourceDistanceTemperaturepHType
貝掛貝掛3.2 km37℃ warm6.8 neutral—
猿倉猿倉の湯4 km38.5℃ warm——
三俣せきれいの湯5 km32.8℃ lukewarm8.9 alkalinealkaline simple

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
PlaceTypeDistance
Mount Naeba苗場山Mountain4.9 km
Yuzawa Kōgen Ropeway湯沢高原ロープウェイNature9.4 km
Kiyotsu Gorge清津峡Nature10.7 km
Mikuni Pass三国峠 (群馬県・新潟県)Mountain14.2 km
Mount Tanigawa谷川岳Mountain17.8 km
Nozori Dam野反ダムLandmark19 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 ↗

Going with children

Kids’ area
Not checked
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 (22 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.

18 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
貝掛温泉 ¥21,8004.68/5 311 reviews3.2 km越後湯沢駅よりバスにて25分。関越自動車道の湯沢ICよりお車にて15分。
ペンション レ・シャモア ¥13,4004.78/5 77 reviews4.4 km越後湯沢駅よりバスで約20分・タクシー約10分/関越自動車道 湯沢ICより約10分
神楽ハウス ¥3,5005.00/5 26 reviews4.7 km越後湯沢駅よりお車
Little Japan Echigo ¥5,400—5.0 kmJR上越新幹線 越後湯沢駅よりお車にて約20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)

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 Kagura Area

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