Chikusa Highland Ski resort is a ski area in Hyogo, Japan, on slopes between roughly 902 and 1,123 m. Its mapped area is about 1.1 km across, with 12 marked runs and 4 lifts (about 4.2 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 139 cm of snowfall a season, 334th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2016/17 (196 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (66 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 49 cm. Snowfall days average −3.5 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 337th of 397 in Japan.
Below are links to 4 official live cameras.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banshu Tokura Snow Park | 16 km | 205 cm | 1105 |
| Wakasa Hyonosen Ski Resort | 17 km | 205 cm | 1105 |
| Hyounosen Kokusai Ski Resort | 21 km | 205 cm | 1105 |
| Hachikogen Ski Resort | 23 km | 237 cm | 810 |
| Hyper Bowl Tohachi | 25 km | 200 cm | 1149 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
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. In amount, March brings 20 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 139 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 66 cm; the biggest was 2016/17 with 196 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.
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.
Run map
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
97% 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
Lift types
- Chairlift3
- Drag lift1
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
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Hyonosen and Hachikita webcams & snow report — all 10 ski areas →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| あわくら温泉 | Hot spring town | 6 km |
| Fudō-in Iwaya-dō Temple不動院岩屋堂 | Temple | 10.1 km |
| Ishitani Residence石谷家住宅 | Landmark | 15.4 km |
| Rikan Castle利神城 | Historic site | 19 km |
| Mount Hyōno氷ノ山 | Mountain | 19.1 km |
| Mount Nagi那岐山 | Mountain | 19.7 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.
Places to stay nearby
3 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 森の古民家 かろり | ¥7,642 | — | 7.4 km | 鳥取空港よりお車にて約５０分。智頭駅よりお車にて約２０分。智頭福原高速バス乗場より徒歩約１０分 |
| ＦＡＲＭ ＲＥＳＯＲＴ あわのわ 一棟貸しの宿 福屋 | ¥8,300 | — | 6.1 km | 鳥取道大原ICより 車で15分 / 大原ICまで大阪・神戸から90分 |
| 愛の村パーク コテージ | — | — | 5.5 km | 智頭急行線 大原駅からお車にて約１５分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
5 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 4.3 km
Nearest first
- 駒ノ旺山荘 Hotel 4.3 km
- 木のおもちゃ ファミリーペンション きつつき工房 Hotel 5.3 km
- 国民宿舎あわくら荘 Hotel 6 km
- 天徳寺 Guest house 7.7 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Hyogo
- Is Western Japan Snowier Than It Looks? Our Model Against the Weather Stations Western Japan's ski areas look thin in our data — a median of 125 cm against a national 249 cm. Against 16 Japan Meteorological Agency stations, the model we use returns 44% of what the ground records there. The region is far snowier than our own numbers say.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52