【パウダースノー】新潟県南魚沼市にあるビッグゲレンデ！上越国際スキー場
By: 湯沢・南魚沼ゲレンデ速報 ch · 2026-02-02
Joetsu International is a ski area in Niigata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 197 and 896 m. Its mapped area is about 6.6 km across, with 41 marked runs and 19 lifts (about 23 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 695 cm of snowfall a season, 11th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2021/22 (983 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (328 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 260 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 10 km away measured 810 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 686 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −1.5 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 193rd of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Nagano, about 70 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.
Temperature
13.8℃
Max wind
8.2km/h
Elevation (est.)
197–896m
Across
6.6km
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.
Seasonal snowfall
695 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
328 cm
A typical winter: 750 cm. The best: 983 cm.
World rank
12
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
11
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
245
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 587 m, 179 m below the national median.
Quality rank
193
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-1.5°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
41%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
36%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
13 km/h
Dryness 0.25
Frequency 1.00
Freedom from rain 0.35
Calm when snowing 1.00
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chateau Shiozawa Ski Area Yoshizato | 3.9 km | 546 cm | 67 |
| Ishiuchi Hanaoka Ski Area | 4.6 km | 695 cm | 12 |
| Nakasato Kiyotsu | 5.5 km | 618 cm | 36 |
| Muica Snow Resort | 6.1 km | 546 cm | 67 |
| Ishiuchi Maruyama Ski Resort | 6.7 km | 695 cm | 12 |
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. For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: March brings 76 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
184cmDec
260cmJan
177cmFeb
76cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 695 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 328 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 983 cm (3.0 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.
328
983
14/1515/1616/1717/1818/1919/2020/2121/2222/2323/2424/2525/26
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.
Marked runs
41
Run length
23km
Lifts
19
Vertical
714m
Top 931 m · base 217 m
Run map
NoviceEasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map1.7 km
Steepest pitch29°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs9°
Which way the slopes face
North 36%
East 37%
South 14%
West 14%
73% 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
Novice 1
Easy 16
Intermediate 22
Advanced 2
Lift types
- Chairlift19
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.
Echigo-Yuzawa webcams & snow report — all 18 ski areas →
See the snow in motion
Videos remain the copyright of whoever filmed them. JAPANSNOWLINE stores no video and plays everything through the standard YouTube player.
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 湯沢 weather station — 10 km from this ski area, 206 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 810 cm |
| 2023/24 | 619 cm |
| 2024/25 | 1080 cm |
| 2025/26 | 732 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 686 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 44 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 大沢大沢鉱泉 | 1.1 km | 28℃ lukewarm | 8.5 alkaline | — | — |
| 湯ノ城上越パラダイス | 1.3 km | 44℃ hot | — | — | — |
| 小栗山小栗山 | 2.3 km | 36℃ warm | — | — | — |
| 栃窪高原鉱泉栃窪高原 | 2.9 km | 5.3℃ cold | — | — | — |
| 西山鉱泉栃窪1号 | 3 km | 21.7℃ cold | 8.4 mildly alkaline | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kiyotsu Gorge清津峡 | Nature | 8 km |
| Untō-an Temple雲洞庵 | Temple | 8.5 km |
| Yuzawa Kōgen Ropeway湯沢高原ロープウェイ | Nature | 10.3 km |
| Echigo Yuzawa Onsen越後湯沢温泉 | Hot spring town | 10.4 km |
| Tōkamachi City Museum十日町市博物館 | Museum | 12.7 km |
| Mount Makihata巻機山 | Mountain | 16.1 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 ↗ Coordinates: 37.0311, 138.7952
Places to stay nearby
15 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| グリーンビレッジたかはし | ¥6,600 | 4.40 122 reviews | 2.8 km | 上越線 上越国際スキー場前駅／関越道 塩沢・石打ＩＣより車で１０分 |
| ペットと泊まれる宿 ヒルサイド イン センタークラブ | ¥9,350 | 4.50 26 reviews | 2.9 km | JR上越線 石打駅から車で５分 |
| ホテル綿ぼうし | ¥12,500 | 4.65 21 reviews | 3.0 km | 上越線石打駅よりお車８分/関越自動車道塩沢石打ICよりお車10分 |
| 大沢山温泉 大沢舘 | ¥13,750 | 4.55 220 reviews | 1.3 km | 大沢駅からお車で５分（送迎あり） 塩沢石打ICから車で約10分 |
| ホテルグリーンプラザ上越 | ¥15,300 | 3.71 1882 reviews | 2.3 km | 越後湯沢駅より車で約30分（無料送迎バス有り：全便完全予約制：前日17時までに要予約） 塩沢石打ICより車で約10分 |
| カジュアル イン シュテム | — | — | 1.4 km | 上越新幹線 ＪＲ湯沢駅→上越線 大沢駅より無料送迎有り |
| ロッヂ シロカワ | — | — | 2.6 km | ＪＲ 上越国際スキー場駅より３分 |
| 上越国際スキー場 山田館 | — | — | 2.7 km | JR上越線 上越国際スキー場前駅より徒歩約４分(送迎あり）／関越自動車道 塩沢石打インターより車で約７分 |
| 上越国際スキー場 村上館 | — | — | 2.7 km | 上越国際スキー場前駅より徒歩4分（ご希望の方は送迎も可能） |
| プチハウス ひろみ | — | 3.33 19 reviews | 2.8 km | ＪＲ上越線 上越国際スキー場前駅より徒歩３分 |
| ファームハウス 東栄荘 | — | — | 2.8 km | ＪＲ 上越国際スキー場前駅より徒歩５分 |
| 青い森こてーじ | — | — | 2.8 km | 塩沢石打インターより８分、ＪＲ上越線石打駅より車で約２分、宿まではリフトを使用 （リフト終了時はスノーモービル） |
Show the other 3
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ＪＯＥＴＳＵ 見晴館 | — | 4.50 51 reviews | 2.8 km | 上越国際スキー場前駅より徒歩１分（３０ｍ） |
| ロッヂ 雪国 | — | — | 3.0 km | 上越国際駅より徒歩３分 |
| シャトーテル 一本杉 | — | 4.00 30 reviews | 3.6 km | JR上越線 塩沢駅よりタクシーで6～7分／関越自動車道 塩沢石打ICより約6.5km 15分／関越道長岡ＩＣより約１時間 |
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.
1 Guest house 1 Hotel
Nearest: 2.3 km
Nearest first
- Hotel Green Plaza Joetsu Hotel 2.3 km
- Lodge YOU Guest house 2.8 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
What we have measured at Joetsu International
- Yuzawa's 21 Ski Areas: Which One for the Best Snow? Four of the world's ten snowiest ski areas sit in one Niigata valley. In that same valley the temperature when it snows ranges from −7.1 °C to −0.3 °C, and the places with the most snow are the warm ones.
- The Deepest Snow You Can Sleep in an Old Japanese House Is Not Shirakawa-go We measured the snow at seven villages where you can stay in traditional architecture, and how far each is from a lift. Shirakawa-go is 15.6 km from a middling ski hill. Shiozawa is 2.2 km from the world's =67th snowiest.
- Hokkaido Wine Is Sold on Its Temperature Swing. The Swing Is Among Japan's Smallest. Yoichi's heat sum sits between Mosel and Burgundy, which is why the Pinot Noir works. Its day-night range in the ripening weeks is 6.6°C against Burgundy's 9.6 — and the axis where Japan and Europe genuinely part company is rain.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52