Hagurosan Ski Area is a ski area in Yamagata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 243 and 380 m. Its mapped area is about 0.9 km across, with 5 marked runs and 2 lifts (about 2.8 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 488 cm of snowfall a season, 44th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (662 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (245 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 176 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 11.7 km away measured 249 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 511 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −0.6 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 264th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Yamagata, about 55 km away. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Gassan Ski Resort | 19 km | 655 cm | 25 |
| Hachimoriyama Ski Area | 28 km | 213 cm | 1022 |
| Green Valley Kamuro Ski Area | 43 km | 277 cm | 586 |
| Asahi Shizenkan Snow Park | 44 km | 419 cm | 149 |
| Hanagasa Kogen Ski Area | 49 km | 321 cm | 401 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 32% 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 56 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 488 cm, and 4 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 245 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 662 cm (2.7 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
51% 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
- Chairlift2
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.
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 狩川 weather station — 11.7 km from this ski area, 294 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 249 cm |
| 2023/24 | 159 cm |
| 2024/25 | 288 cm |
| 2025/26 | 300 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 511 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
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
6 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 34.5 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 月山 | 0.8 km | 8.5℃ cold | 5.4 mildly acidic | — | — |
| 羽黒山菊田旅館 | 1.2 km | 13℃ cold | 5.6 mildly acidic | simple | — |
| 筍沢 | 2.3 km | 12℃ cold | 7.1 neutral | simple | — |
| 木の沢局跡第1号 | 2.9 km | 10.3℃ cold | 6.3 neutral | simple | — |
| 羽黒宮田坊 | 3.3 km | 34.5℃ warm | 6.6 neutral | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Haguro羽黒山 (山形県) | Mountain | 0.8 km |
| Dewa Shrine出羽神社 | Shrine | 1 km |
| Three Mountains of Dewa出羽三山 | Mountain | 1.2 km |
| Five-storied Pagoda, Haguro-san羽黒山五重塔 | Landmark | 2.1 km |
| Chidōkan致道館 | Historic site | 14.4 km |
| Mount Gassan月山 | Mountain | 16.6 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
7 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 旅館 羽黒館 | ¥6,930 | 4.50 58 reviews | 3.0 km | 庄内空港より車３５分／鶴岡駅より車２５分バス・４０分／山形道朝日ＩＣより２０分／ＪＲ羽越本線鶴岡駅 |
| 宿坊 神林勝金 | ¥7,500 | 4.77 43 reviews | 2.3 km | 鶴岡駅より路線バスにて約３８分、「隋神門」下車し徒歩３分 |
| 多聞館（たもんかん） | ¥8,800 | 4.43 133 reviews | 3.0 km | JR鶴岡より羽黒山頂行バスで３５分羽黒荒町下車１分／庄内空港より車で３５分／山形自動車道庄内あさひICより１５分 |
| 休暇村 庄内羽黒 | ¥10,000 | 4.10 111 reviews | 0.7 km | ＪＲ 鶴岡駅より庄内交通羽黒山頂行きで約５０分、休暇村前下車 |
| 羽黒山 三光院 | ¥11,000 | 4.50 93 reviews | 2.8 km | 庄内空港より車で約35分／JR羽越本線鶴岡駅下車、車で約25分・バスで約40分／山形自動車道・庄内あさひICより約30分 |
| 大進坊 | ¥11,000 | 4.38 40 reviews | 2.8 km | 羽越線鶴岡駅より車で20分／庄内空港より車で30分／山形自動車道 庄内あさひICより車で40分 |
| 宮下坊 | — | — | 3.3 km | 鶴岡駅よりお車にて約１５分／庄内空港よりお車にて約２５分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
17 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 Yamagata
- 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 Is There Snow at Japan's Hot Spring Towns? If you want to sit in an outdoor bath with snow on the ground, the question is when, not just where. We measured the snow depth at 14 Japanese hot spring towns across three winters — arrival, departure, and how many days it is actually deep.
- When Is the Best Time to Ski in Japan? January, measured over twelve winters at 397 ski areas. Last season was not typical — its January ran high and its March ran less than half of normal — so here is the average alongside it, month by month.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52