Iwanai Resort is a ski area in Hokkaido, Japan, on slopes between roughly 190 and 750 m. Its mapped area is about 2.0 km across, with 6 marked runs and 1 lift (about 2.6 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 373 cm of snowfall a season, 88th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (475 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2019/20 (234 cm). December brings as much snow as January here (120 and 113 cm on average). Snowfall days average −4.6 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 28th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Sapporo, about 69 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort | 13 km | 289 cm | 526 |
| Niseko Grand Hirafu | 17 km | 289 cm | 526 |
| Asahigaoka Ski Resort | 18 km | 288 cm | 532 |
| Consadole Niki Ski Park | 27 km | 248 cm | 748 |
| Suttsu Town Ski Area | 29 km | 341 cm | 303 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in December. March brings 48% of January’s snowfall. That is in line with the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 54 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 373 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 234 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 475 cm (2.0 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
96% 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
- Chairlift1
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.
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 66.5 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 岩内岩内町3号井 | 1.2 km | 60.1℃ hot | 7.4 neutral | — | — |
| 岩内岩内町2号井 | 1.3 km | 66.5℃ hot | 8 mildly alkaline | — | — |
| 岩内岩内町5号井 | 1.3 km | 50℃ hot | 8.4 mildly alkaline | — | — |
| 岩内岩内町6号井 | 1.6 km | 59℃ hot | 7.3 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Niseko-Shakotan-Otaru Kaigan Quasi-National Parkニセコ積丹小樽海岸国定公園 | Nature | 6.2 km |
| Shinsen-numa神仙沼 | Nature | 7.5 km |
| Kyowacho Local Museumかかし古里館 | Museum | 8.8 km |
| Shellfish Museum of Rankoshi蘭越町貝の館 | Museum | 13.4 km |
| Nisekoan Nupuriニセコアンヌプリ | Mountain | 13.8 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
6 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| コテージアリスの里 | ¥4,000 | 4.33 53 reviews | 1.8 km | 小沢駅よりニセコバスにて２５分、お車にて１０分。車で札幌から１時間４１分（Googl） |
| いわない温泉おかえりなさい | ¥7,000 | 4.29 488 reviews | 1.6 km | 小樽駅から車で約１時間３０分 ニセコから車で約１時間 |
| 岩内温泉 いわない高原ホテル | ¥9,600 | 4.34 553 reviews | 1.2 km | 岩内バスターミナルより車で１０分 |
| 北海道岩内サウナ＆ヴィラＨＩＢＩＫＡ | ¥51,480 | — | 1.7 km | 小樽駅から車で一般国道で約９０分、後志自動車道余市インターより約５０分 |
| ワンコテージ | — | — | 1.1 km | 岩内バスターミナルよりお車で約１５分 |
| ＲＡＩＤＥＮ ＲＥＳＯＲＴ ＆ ＳＰＡ ａｔ Ｉｗａｎａｉ | — | — | 1.5 km | 新千歳空港より道央自動車道経由で2時間11分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
16 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 1 km
Nearest first
- C-1 Chalet 1 km
- C-2 Chalet 1 km
- C-3 Chalet 1 km
- Iwanai Brewery & Hotel Hotel 1.1 km
- Iwanai Kogen Hotel Hotel 1.2 km
- Iwanai Onsen Takashima Ryokan Hotel 1.4 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Hokkaido
- 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%.
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- Australia Just Had Its Worst Season in Twenty Years. Here Is What Japan's 12-Winter Record Says About Booking It Instead. Snow depth at Spencers Creek peaked at 94.5 cm, the third lowest since 1954, and resorts closed in August. Our own measure — snowfall, not depth — puts Australia at 50% of its 12-year average. The gap between those two numbers is the story: it was the warmth, not only the lack of snow. New Zealand, meanwhile, finished at 108% of normal.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52