Itsukamachi Ski Area is a ski area in Niigata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 155 and 488 m. Its mapped area is about 1.8 km across, with 7 marked runs and 4 lifts (about 3.6 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 412 cm of snowfall a season, 75th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (648 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2019/20 (239 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 154 cm. Snowfall days average −0.9 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 240th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Nagano, about 83 km away. Below are links to 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muica Snow Resort | 7.3 km | 546 cm | 67 |
| Muikamachi Hakkaisan | 8.4 km | 728 cm | 5 |
| Hakkai Sanroku Ski Area | 8.5 km | 451 cm | 107 |
| Chateau Shiozawa Ski Area Yoshizato | 9.5 km | 546 cm | 67 |
| Koide Ski Area | 13 km | 370 cm | 226 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 29% 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 44 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 412 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 239 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 648 cm (2.7 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
92% 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
- Chairlift4
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
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.
Minami-Uonuma webcams & snow report — all 6 ski areas →
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 27.6 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 河原沢鉱泉河原沢 | 0.9 km | 11℃ cold | — | sulphur | — |
| 柳古新田 | 4.2 km | 27.6℃ lukewarm | 9 alkaline | alkaline simple | — |
| 大和町大崎湯咲花源泉 | 4.4 km | 27℃ lukewarm | 9.2 alkaline | alkaline simple | — |
| 一水口一水口 | 4.7 km | 26℃ lukewarm | — | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hakkaisan Ropeway八海山ロープウェー | Nature | 8.5 km |
| Untō-an Temple雲洞庵 | Temple | 10.3 km |
| Mount Hakkai八海山 | Mountain | 12.1 km |
| Tōkamachi City Museum十日町市博物館 | Museum | 12.1 km |
| Mount Echigo-Komagatake越後駒ヶ岳 | Mountain | 16.4 km |
| Mount Makihata巻機山 | Mountain | 17.4 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
2 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 割烹旅館 いろは亭 | ¥6,480 | 4.67 228 reviews | 1.6 km | JR上越線・五日町駅より徒歩約5分／上越新幹線・浦佐駅より車で約10分／関越自動車道・六日町ICより車で約10分 |
| オーベルジュ みずあかり | ¥11,385 | 4.56 85 reviews | 2.8 km | 六日町駅よりお車で約１２分 関越自動車道六日町ＩＣより約１０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
More places to look
Guides covering Niigata
- Which Ski Resort Gets the Most Snow in the World? We measured snowfall at all 3,069 ski areas on earth the same way. The top two both shut in winter because they get too much snow: a Norwegian glacier at 783 cm that opens in May, and Okutadami Maruyama in Niigata at 765 cm. 46 of the top 100 are Japanese.
- How Japan's Early-Bird Lift Tickets Work: At Hakuba Happo-One, Eight of the Nine Need a Japanese ID Card Hakuba Happo-One opened early-bird sales at 10:00 on 1 October. A day costs ¥6,400 against ¥9,800 at the window, 35% off. But every ticket on the list except one needs a My Number Card and a Japanese phone app. A visitor from abroad can buy exactly one of them, at 15% off.
- Japan Lift Ticket Prices for 2026/27: What a Day Costs at Twelve Big Resorts, and the Weeks It Costs Half We checked the 2026/27 adult day ticket on each resort's own site. At the window it runs from ¥7,000 at Akakura Kanko to ¥16,700 at Rusutsu. Buying online saves up to ¥3,500, and the first and last weeks of the season cost up to half. For those cheap spring weeks, we add which way each resort's slopes face.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52