Hachimantai Resort Shimokura Ski area is a ski area in Iwate, Japan, on slopes between roughly 563 and 1,155 m. Its mapped area is about 2.5 km across, with 10 marked runs and 3 lifts (about 7.6 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 329 cm of snowfall a season, 128th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (429 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (167 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 96 cm. Snowfall days average −5.3 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 46th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Morioka, about 25 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hachimantai Resort Panorama Ski Are | 3.2 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Amihari Onsen Ski Resort | 7.7 km | 358 cm | 262 |
| Iwate Kogen Snow Park | 8.5 km | 332 cm | 345 |
| Appi Kogen | 8.9 km | 377 cm | 211 |
| Shizukuishi Ski Resort | 13 km | 358 cm | 262 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 69% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 66 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 329 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 167 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 429 cm (2.6 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
90% 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
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 →
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
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 44.4 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 松川松川荘の湯 | 3.3 km | 42℃ hot | 3.9 mildly acidic | sulphur | — |
| 赤川(松川) | 4.3 km | 31.6℃ lukewarm | 3.9 mildly acidic | simple | — |
| 澄川(松川) | 4.4 km | 44.4℃ hot | 5.8 mildly acidic | 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
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Matsukawa Geothermal Power Plant松川地熱発電所 | Landmark | 3.5 km |
| Mount Iwate岩手山 | Mountain | 6.9 km |
| 鏡沼 | Nature | 10 km |
| Hachimantai八幡平 | Mountain | 10.2 km |
| Koiwai Farm小岩井農場 | Nature | 17.4 km |
| Tamagawa Hot Spring玉川温泉 (秋田県) | Hot spring town | 19.6 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
20 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| リブマックスリゾート八幡平フォレスト | ¥1,670 | 2.82 154 reviews | 2.0 km | 盛岡駅からバスで温泉郷西口、徒歩10分 |
| 温泉ゲストハウス やすもり（ＯＮＳＥＮ ＹＡＳＵＭＯＲＩ） | ¥3,300 | 4.67 36 reviews | 2.7 km | 東北自動車道 松尾八幡平ＩＣより１５分／ＪＲ盛岡駅３番バス停より約９０分『八幡平ライジングサンホテル前』下車 徒歩約２分 |
| 八幡平温泉郷 ペンション日の出 | ¥4,930 | 3.33 20 reviews | 2.8 km | ＪＲ花輪線 大更駅より車で２０分／盛岡駅下車、八幡平温泉郷行きバス９０分／東北自動車道 松尾八幡平ＩＣより右折１０分 |
| 八幡平マウンテンホテル | ¥5,500 | 4.37 736 reviews | 2.6 km | 東北自動車道 松尾ICより15分。盛岡駅より岩手県北バスで約80分。 |
| 八幡平ライジングサンホテル | ¥7,150 | 4.12 492 reviews | 2.6 km | JR盛岡駅から岩手県北バスで約８０分「ライジングサンホテル前」下車／東北自動車道 松尾八幡平ＩＣから車で約１５分 |
| 東八幡平温泉 温泉民宿ぱどっく | ¥8,000 | 4.83 106 reviews | 3.1 km | JR盛岡駅→JR花輪線大更駅→県北バスで松尾鉱山資料館→徒歩20分／ＪＲ盛岡駅→県北バスで松尾鉱山資料→徒歩20分 |
| Ａｓｕ ｂａｓｅ Ｙｕｇｅ | ¥8,880 | — | 2.7 km | JR花輪線大更駅よりお車で約20分、東北自動車道松尾八幡平ICより約15分 |
| 温泉＆グルメ パレット | ¥9,460 | 4.89 12 reviews | 2.8 km | 盛岡駅よりバスにて約８０分／東北自動車道松尾八幡平ＩＣより１３分（八幡平温泉郷） |
| 八幡平温泉郷 ペンション ムース | ¥9,900 | 3.83 91 reviews | 2.7 km | 東北自動車道松尾八幡平ICより車15分／JR盛岡駅より岩手県北バス八幡平マウンテンホテル行き |
| 松川温泉 松川荘 | ¥12,450 | 3.82 80 reviews | 3.2 km | 盛岡駅より岩手県北バスで110分 |
| 全４室の小さな宿 Ｂｅａｖｅｒ | ¥14,080 | 4.80 90 reviews | 2.2 km | JR盛岡駅よりバス利用90分「温泉郷」下車徒歩7分 / 東北道 松尾八幡平ICより15分 |
| 八幡平温泉郷 八幡平ハイツ | ¥14,400 | 4.31 775 reviews | 2.1 km | 東北自動車道松尾八幡平ＩＣから車で１５分。ＪＲ盛岡駅より岩手県北バス乗車。ハイツ前下車。６名様より送迎可（要予約） |
Show the other 8
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 松川温泉 峡雲荘 | ¥17,200 | 4.67 184 reviews | 3.2 km | 盛岡駅→バス松川温泉行き約１１０分松川温泉徒歩約０分（大人片道1350円）／東北自動車道 松尾八幡平ＩＣより車で約２５分 |
| 岩手山Ｍｏｔｏｒｌｏｄｇｅ ＯＬＤＷＯＯＤ ＾ | ¥19,720 | — | 3.0 km | 松尾八幡平駅から車で約２０分 |
| 八幡平温泉郷 ペンション アドバンテージ | — | — | 2.6 km | 東北新幹線『盛岡駅』下車、バスで１時間３０分／東北自動車道松尾八幡平ＩＣ下車１５～２０分程度 |
| 東八幡平温泉 ペンション あんとる・ど・めえる | — | — | 2.7 km | ＪＲ盛岡駅より八幡平方面行バス９０分／東北自動車道・松尾八幡平ＩＣで下り１５分 |
| 天然温泉の宿 アンダンテ（安暖庭） | — | — | 2.7 km | ＪＲ 盛岡駅より岩手県北バスに乗車、八幡平交通センター下車／東北自動車道松尾八幡平インターより１５分 |
| 八幡平温泉郷 ペンション ラム | — | — | 2.7 km | 花輪線大更駅下車／東北道松尾八幡ＩＣより２０分 |
| 八幡平温泉郷 ペンション フレンズ | — | — | 2.7 km | 東北自動車道 松尾八幡平ＩＣより温泉郷方面へ車で１０分 |
| ペンション アルファ | — | — | 2.8 km | ＪＲ花輪線 大更駅／松尾八幡平ＩＣより２０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
1 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Iwate
- 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.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52