Ibukinosato Ski Area is a ski area in Okayama, Japan, on slopes between roughly 653 and 854 m. Its mapped area is about 1.1 km across, with 9 marked runs and 3 lifts (about 2.8 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 115 cm of snowfall a season, 364th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (162 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2019/20 (63 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 41 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 7.3 km away measured 229 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 129 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −1.9 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 366th of 397 in Japan.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiruzen Bear Valley Ski Resort | 20 km | 161 cm | 1527 |
| Dogoyama-Kougen Ski Resort | 22 km | 105 cm | 2319 |
| Snow Resort Nekoyama | 24 km | 105 cm | 2319 |
| OkuDaisen Ski resort | 24 km | 185 cm | 1281 |
| Daisen Masumizu Kogen Snow Park | 25 km | 160 cm | 1541 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 37% 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 15 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 115 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 63 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 162 cm (2.6 times as much).
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
99% 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
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 千屋 weather station — 7.3 km from this ski area, 228 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 229 cm |
| 2023/24 | 116 cm |
| 2024/25 | 302 cm |
| 2025/26 | 268 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 129 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
2 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 28.3 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 新見千屋温泉 | 0.6 km | 27.2℃ lukewarm | — | alkaline simple | 1991 |
| 千屋温泉 | 3.5 km | 28.3℃ lukewarm | 9 alkaline | simple | 1975 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kamochi Shrine金持神社 | Shrine | 7.3 km |
| Sekkakei石霞渓 | Nature | 7.5 km |
| Okuhino Prefectural Natural Park奥日野県立自然公園 | Nature | 9.5 km |
| Hiba-Dōgo-Taishaku Quasi-National Park比婆道後帝釈国定公園 | Nature | 18.8 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
1 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 新見千屋温泉 いぶきの里 | — | 4.18 59 reviews | 0.5 km | 新見駅よりお車にて約３０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
2 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
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52