2025.11.19 斑尾高原は初積雪が約40cm
By: 【斑尾高原スキー場】公式 · 19 Nov
Japan · Nagano
Madarao Kogen Mountain Resort
斑尾高原スキー場
Off season Opens 12 Dec (resort’s announcement)
Official site Lift tickets (official) 2026/27 adult day ticket ¥9,000 mountain pass 1-day (adult) (checked 24 Oct)
No snow on the ground or falling right now. 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
432cm
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
- 918–1,339 m
- Across
- 2.4 km
This season so far (1 Nov to 9 Nov): 9 cm. The average for these dates is under 10 cm, so we do not give a percentage yet. The average is over twelve winters on the same weather model. Across Japan →
The ski area has a large number of tree runs through the forest. Three of them, Rabbit, Kamoshika and Bear, are grouped as Family Adventure, with gentler gradients meant for children and families. The runs named SAWA follow gullies shaped like a half-pipe. Sources: madarao.jp, iiyama-ouendan.net, niigata-kankou.or.jp (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
432cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
230cm
The middle winter of the 12: 445 cm. The best: 560 cm.
World rank
129
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
64
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
123
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 994 m, 228 m above the national median.
Quality rank
57
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−4.7°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
17%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
26%
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 48
Frequency 75
Freedom from rain 57
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tangram Madarao Ski Circus | 1.5 km | 432 cmsame grid cell | 129 |
| Kurohime Kogen | 11.0 km | 432 cmsame grid cell | 129 |
| Akakura Onsen Ski Area | 11.0 km | 445 cm | 117 |
| Ikenotaira Onsen Alpen Blick Ski Resort | 11.0 km | 432 cmsame grid cell | 129 |
| Kijimadaira Ski Resort | 12.0 km | 349 cm | 285 |
Compare side by side with Tangram Madarao Ski Circus and Kurohime Kogen →
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
35
Run length
15km
Lifts
9
Vertical
421m
Top 1,339 m · base 918 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvancedOther Lift
Slope shape, difficulty and lift types
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map1.4 km
Steepest pitch33°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs10.5°
Which way the slopes face
North 54%
East 33%
South 4%
West 9%
87% 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 12 · 6.7 km
Intermediate 13 · 5.7 km
Advanced 5 · 1.3 km
Other 5 · 1.6 km
Lift types
- Chairlift9
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.
Official figures: 51 runs, 9 chairlifts. Source (checked 4 Oct)
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
The most snow falls in January. March brings 43% 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 64 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
121cmDec
149cmJan
99cmFeb
64cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 432 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 230 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 560 cm (2.4 times as much).
352
230
483
407
477
386
437
560
457
453
531
414
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
On the mountainMadarao Kogen slopes ↗Operated by: 斑尾高原スキー場Roads nearby国道18号 ↗From the resort: 7.7 kmOperated by: 北陸地方整備局 高田河川国道事務所Roads nearby国道18号 ↗From the resort: 7.8 kmOperated by: 関東地方整備局 長野国道事務所
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Myoko and Joetsu webcams & snow report — all 11 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 信濃町 weather station — 8.7 km from this ski area, 372 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 545 cm |
| 2023/24 | 550 cm |
| 2024/25 | 683 cm |
| 2025/26 | 403 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 466 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
Our own photos
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Madarao Kōgen斑尾高原 | Nature | 2.1 km |
| Lake Nojiri野尻湖 | Nature | 5.8 km |
| Lake Nojiri Naumanni Museum野尻湖ナウマンゾウ博物館 | Museum | 6.8 km |
| Kurohime Fairy Tales Museum黒姫童話館 | Museum | 10.5 km |
| Mount Kurohime黒姫山 (長野県) | Mountain | 14.2 km |
| Mount Myōkō妙高山 | Mountain | 15.6 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: 36.8484, 138.2804
Getting there
- By train
- Iiyama Station (JR Hokuriku Shinkansen): about 30 minutes by bus from Iiyama Station
- By car
- about 17 minutes from Toyota-Iiyama IC (Joshin-etsu Expressway)
Source: madarao.jp · checked 7 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 (12 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.
53 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ペンション とも <長野県> | ¥8,000 | 5.00／5 13 reviews | 0.6 km | JR飯山線「飯山駅」下車、斑尾高原行きバスにて30分。 |
| 斑尾高原ホテル | ¥7,884 | 4.17／5 426 reviews | 0.9 km | 上信越道豊田飯山ICより車で25分、北陸新幹線飯山駅よりコミュニティーバスにて30分。 |
| ホテル マダムミレー | ¥4,500 | 5.00／5 18 reviews | 1.1 km | 飯山駅より路線バスにて30分 |
| 手作り料理と燻製の宿 秋桜 | ¥5,900 | 4.50／5 7 reviews | 1.1 km | JR 飯山駅より車で約20分 |
| ブルーベリーペンション | ¥9,020 | — | 1.2 km | 上信越道「豊田飯山IC」より車で30分 北陸新幹線「飯山駅」より路線バスで30分「プラザ前」下車、徒歩30秒 |
| ペンション ピュア | ¥10,200 | — | 1.2 km | JR飯山線 飯山駅/上信越道 豊田飯山ICより15分(10Km) |
| 斑尾 エルム ペンション | ¥13,000 | 4.00／5 19 reviews | 1.2 km | 上信越自動車道豊田・飯山ICより斑尾高原へ20分 北陸新幹線飯山駅よりバスにて25分 |
| 斑尾高原 どんぐり村 | ¥11,800 | — | 1.3 km | JR飯山線・飯山駅/上信越道・豊田飯山IC又は妙高高原ICより、車で20分 |
| Tombi Lodge ^ | ¥12,180 | — | 1.3 km | 飯山駅から車で約18分 |
| 奥信濃の宿と蕎麦処 まろうど | ¥10,500 | 4.50／5 16 reviews | 1.4 km | JR飯山駅より路線バス30分斑尾高原下車/上信越自動車道豊田飯山ICより15分 |
| 斑尾バカンスビレッジ | ¥9,706 | 5.00／5 7 reviews | 1.6 km | 【お車の場合】上信越道豊田飯山ICから約25分 【電車の場合】北陸新幹線飯山駅下車→路線バス約30分 |
| ホテルタングラム 斑尾東急リゾート | ¥7,900 | 4.20／5 1776 reviews | 1.7 km | JR黒姫駅より路線バス(有料) 上信越道信濃町IC又は妙高高原ICから車で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)
Places to stay on the map
22 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: 1.1 km
Show the nearest places
Nearest first
- 斑尾ランバーズイン 1.1 km
- ペンション・シャイン 1.5 km
- Four Seasons 1.5 km
- Chamonix 1.6 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.
Guides that cover Madarao Kogen Mountain Resort
Where the snow falls · 28 Sep 2026
A Singapore Fund Is Spending ¥200 Billion on Myoko. We Measured What It Bought.Patience Capital Group bought Madarao in 2022 and Myoko Suginohara in 2023, and will spend about ¥200 billion over ten years building Japan's Aspen. The snow record says it picked the right valley: Madarao is 129th in the world and Seki Onsen, 13 km away, is 19th, while Niseko is 526th. The catch is rain.
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Planning a trip · 1 Oct 2026
How Japan's Early-Bird Lift Tickets Work -
Where the snow falls · 28 Sep 2026
Who Is Buying Japan's Ski Resorts -
Where the snow falls · 28 Sep 2026
Asia's First Members-Only Ski Resort -
Planning a trip · 14 Sep 2026
What's New at Japan's Ski Resorts for 2026/27, and How Much Snow Each Place Gets
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