安比にエールを！「Japan's Best Ski Resort 2025」投票締切：10月10日
OfficialBy: 安比高原 · 2025-10-08
Appi Kogen, in Iwate, Japan, runs from 500 m at the base to 1,304 m at the top. The map shows 41 marked runs and 8 lifts (about 31 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 377 cm of snowfall a season, 87th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (504 cm), brought more than 3 times as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (167 cm). December brings as much snow as January here (111 and 111 cm on average). Snowfall days average −5.2 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 33rd of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Morioka, about 32 km away. Below is a link to its official live camera.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Temperature
11.6℃
Max wind
11.5km/h
Elevation
500–1304m
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
377 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
167 cm
A typical winter: 389 cm. The best: 504 cm.
World rank
211
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
87
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
154
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 900 m, 134 m above the national median.
Quality rank
33
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-5.2°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
10%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
25%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
20 km/h
Dryness 0.51
Frequency 0.71
Freedom from rain 0.74
Calm when snowing 0.94
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 deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hachimantai Resort Shimokura Ski area | 8.9 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Hachimantai Resort Panorama Ski Are | 11 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Akita Hachimantai Ski Area | 12 km | 437 cm | 122 |
| Amihari Onsen Ski Resort | 17 km | 358 cm | 262 |
| Iwate Kogen Snow Park | 17 km | 332 cm | 345 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in December. March brings 65% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 72 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
111cmDec
111cmJan
83cmFeb
72cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 377 cm, and 3 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 167 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 504 cm (3.0 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan, the leanest winter was the same 2015/16: bad winters tend to hit a whole region at once.
167
504
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.
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
31km
Lifts
8
Vertical
641m
Top 1,269 m · base 628 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map4.1 km
Steepest pitch27°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs12.1°
Which way the slopes face
North 56%
East 38%
South 2%
West 4%
94% 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 22
Intermediate 12
Advanced 6
Other 1
Lift types
- Chairlift7
- 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.
Appi and Hachimantai webcams & snow report — all 11 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
4 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 92.4 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 御在所 | 3.4 km | 17℃ cold | 3 mildly acidic | simple | — |
| とぴや | 3.7 km | — | — | — | — |
| 八幡平八龍の湯 | 3.7 km | 92.4℃ hot | 7.6 mildly alkaline | sulphur | — |
| 安比 | 4.7 km | 42.5℃ hot | 4.4 mildly acidic | — | — |
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 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.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hachimantai八幡平 | Mountain | 8.7 km |
| 鏡沼 | Nature | 8.8 km |
| Matsukawa Geothermal Power Plant松川地熱発電所 | Landmark | 12 km |
| Mount Iwate岩手山 | Mountain | 14.4 km |
| Akita-Yakeyama秋田焼山 | Mountain | 16.8 km |
| Tamagawa Hot Spring玉川温泉 (秋田県) | Hot spring town | 19.1 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.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Official piste map ↗Places to stay nearby
7 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 安比高原 ペンション サンダーパパ | ¥6,800 | 4.88 26 reviews | 3.6 km | 東北自動車道、松尾八幡平ＩＣより１１km。ＪＲ花輪線、安比高原駅より車で５分(送迎有り) |
| リゾートイン・ミワ | ¥6,900 | 5.00 24 reviews | 3.3 km | JR花輪線 安比高原駅より車で７分／徒歩２８分（送迎します） |
| ＡＮＡクラウンプラザリゾート安比高原 ｂｙ ＩＨＧ | ¥7,300 | 3.80 1449 reviews | 3.1 km | ＪＲ花輪線・安比高原駅／東北新幹線・盛岡駅より路線バス約60分／東北道・松尾八幡平IC〜Ｒ282経由15ＫＭ |
| ＡＮＡインターコンチネンタル安比高原リゾート ｂｙ ＩＨＧ | ¥15,850 | 4.44 33 reviews | 3.0 km | 安比高原駅よりお車にて約5分 |
| ＡＮＡホリデイ・インリゾート安比高原 ｂｙ ＩＨＧ | — | — | 3.0 km | ＪＲ花輪線・安比高原駅／東北新幹線・盛岡駅より路線バス約60分／東北道・松尾八幡平IC〜Ｒ282経由12ＫＭ |
| ペンション グラシアス・エスタバ | — | — | 3.6 km | 安比高原駅からお車で7分（送迎あり） |
| ペンション あるぺじお | — | — | 3.7 km | ＪＲ花輪線 安比高原駅／東北自動車道松尾八幡平ＩＣ下車１０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
19 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
14 Guest house 5 Hotel
Nearest: 3 km
Nearest first
- Les Mille Feuiles Guest house 3.6 km
- Pension Mutti Guest house 3.7 km
- Pension Appi Guest house 3.7 km
- Los Amigos Guest house 3.9 km
- Season by Season Guest house 3.9 km
- Life is beautiful Guest house 3.9 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
What we have measured at Appi Kogen
- A Historic El Niño Is Forecast. Here Is What the Last Big One Did to Japan's Snow. NOAA gives a very strong El Niño better than a 90% chance 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 20 November at Sapporo Kokusai, 21 November at Sapporo Teine 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.
- Which Way Do Japan's Ski Slopes Face, and Does It Matter? We measured which way every mapped run descends at 180 Japanese ski areas. At the middle one, 77% of the vertical faces north or east. That barely predicts snow quality: the weather decides what falls. Where direction matters is after the snow stops, and above all in spring.
- Japan's Snowiest Prefecture Grows the Most Rice. That Is Not a Coincidence. We ranked 3,069 ski areas by snowfall. The Ministry of Agriculture counts rice by prefecture. Put the two together and the rank correlation is 0.65 — the snow that buries Niigata in January is the water in the paddy in June.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52