Iwate Kogen Snow Park is a ski area in Iwate, Japan, on slopes between roughly 611 and 1,089 m. Its mapped area is about 2.3 km across, with 12 marked runs and 6 lifts (about 9.3 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 332 cm of snowfall a season, 124th 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 (169 cm). December brings as much snow as January here (97 and 96 cm on average). Snowfall days average −5.3 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 51st of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Morioka, about 18 km away. Below are links to 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amihari Onsen Ski Resort | 2.6 km | 358 cm | 262 |
| Shizukuishi Ski Resort | 5.9 km | 358 cm | 262 |
| Hachimantai Resort Panorama Ski Are | 6.9 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Hachimantai Resort Shimokura Ski area | 8.5 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Appi Kogen | 17 km | 377 cm | 211 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in December. March brings 70% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 67 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 332 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 169 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 429 cm (2.5 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
Only 2% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. More of the terrain faces the sun.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift5
- Gondola1
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.
Appi and Hachimantai webcams & snow report — all 11 ski areas →
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 92.5 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ぬくもりぬくもりの湯 | 2.5 km | 39.2℃ warm | 8.1 mildly alkaline | simple | — |
| 網張元湯元湯 | 2.6 km | 92.5℃ hot | 5.9 mildly acidic | simple | — |
| 七滝一号泉 | 3.1 km | 65℃ hot | 4.1 mildly acidic | iron | — |
| 玄武若返りの湯 | 3.9 km | 28.2℃ lukewarm | 7.4 neutral | — | — |
| 大松倉沢 | 4.6 km | 44℃ hot | 5.5 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Iwate岩手山 | Mountain | 4.5 km |
| Matsukawa Geothermal Power Plant松川地熱発電所 | Landmark | 6.7 km |
| Koiwai Farm小岩井農場 | Nature | 9.2 km |
| Gosho Dam御所ダム | Nature | 15.4 km |
| Akita-Komagatake秋田駒ヶ岳 | Mountain | 15.4 km |
| Hachimantai八幡平 | Mountain | 17.8 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.
Official piste map ↗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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ペンション 山賊 | ¥6,000 | 2.50 18 reviews | 1.6 km | 盛岡駅よりバスで６０分 |
| ＨＡＩＪＩ | ¥7,700 | — | 1.7 km | バス：雫石駅よりあねっこバス（予約制）にて約３０分。お車：東北道盛岡ＩＣ下車し網張方面へ約４０分。 |
| ペットと泊まれる宿・ペンション ベルクレール ＆ ステンドグラス工房 | ¥11,500 | 4.67 59 reviews | 1.7 km | 小岩井まきば園から信号なしで15㎞。東北自動車道盛岡ＩＣから小岩井経由約4０分 |
| 休暇村 岩手網張温泉 | ¥13,000 | 4.38 489 reviews | 2.4 km | ＪＲ 盛岡駅⇔網張温泉 宿泊者専用無料シャトルバス ※要予約 |
| ペンション さんりんしゃ | — | — | 1.6 km | 盛岡駅より小岩井農場経由網張温泉行きバスで６０分、岩手高原下車。 |
| あみはりロッヂ | — | — | 1.7 km | 東北新幹線 盛岡駅下車バス６０分／東北自動車 盛岡ＩＣからR46経由で３０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
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