Kijimadaira Ski Resort is a ski area in Nagano, Japan, on slopes between roughly 456 and 898 m. Its mapped area is about 2.5 km across, with 22 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 8.2 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 349 cm of snowfall a season, 106th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2021/22 (485 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (214 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 128 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 6.9 km away measured 517 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 366 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −1.2 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 287th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Nagano, about 28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| X-JAM Takaifuji | 2.5 km | 568 cm | 53 |
| Yomase Onsen Ski Area | 3.2 km | 327 cm | 370 |
| Kitashiga Komaruyama Ski Resort | 5.3 km | 327 cm | 370 |
| Ryuoo Ski Park | 7.4 km | 405 cm | 167 |
| Madarao Kogen Mountain Resort | 12 km | 432 cm | 129 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 31% 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 40 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 349 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 214 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 485 cm (2.3 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
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
- Chairlift5
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. What follows are nearby cameras, not the pistes themselves.
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.
Some cameras here are provided by Windy.com. Footage plays in Windy’s own player; we do not store it. Windy.com
Nozawa and Kijimadaira webcams & snow report — all 4 ski areas →
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 飯山 weather station — 6.9 km from this ski area, 364 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 517 cm |
| 2023/24 | 412 cm |
| 2024/25 | 674 cm |
| 2025/26 | 464 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 366 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
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Madarao Kōgen斑尾高原 | Nature | 10.4 km |
| Jigokudani Monkey Park地獄谷野猿公苑 | Park | 10.7 km |
| Nozawa Onsen野沢温泉 | Hot spring town | 12.3 km |
| Obuse Winery小布施ワイナリー | Landmark | 14.4 km |
| Shiga Highlands志賀高原 | Nature | 15.5 km |
| Lake Nojiri野尻湖 | Nature | 16.2 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
28 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ＳＢＣ ＲＥＳＯＲＴ ＫＩＪＩＭＡＤＡＩＲＡ（旧パノラマランド木島平） | ¥2,000 | 3.39 227 reviews | 0.4 km | ＪＲ飯山駅下車 車15分 ／ 上信越道豊田飯山ＩＣより約20分 |
| コテージペンション ぽっかぽか | ¥3,900 | 4.44 20 reviews | 1.2 km | 豊田飯山Ｉ．Ｃから約２０分 |
| コテージ ナースログ | ¥4,600 | 5.00 12 reviews | 1.2 km | 上信越自動車道豊田飯山Ｉ．Ｃより20分 |
| Ｇｕｅｓｔ Ｈｏｕｓｅ・Ｈｏｓｔｅｌ 遊来〜ｙｕｋｕｒｕ | ¥5,000 | — | 3.4 km | ＪＲ 飯山駅よりお車にて約５分／徒歩にて約２０分 |
| ペンション AURA（アウラ） | ¥5,200 | 5.00 15 reviews | 1.1 km | お車：豊田飯山インターチェンジから20分／電車：北陸新幹線ＪＲ飯山駅から送迎有り（要事前連絡） |
| ペンション 童夢（ど〜む） | ¥5,800 | 4.43 36 reviews | 1.2 km | 上信越道 豊田飯山ＩＣより山道なしの20分 JR北陸新幹線飯山駅からタクシー15分 |
| 鉄道模型のある宿 奥信濃・旅屋なかむら（旧：鉄道模型のある宿・高社山麓みゆきの杜ユースホステル） | ¥6,000 | 4.74 232 reviews | 1.2 km | ＪＲ飯山線 飯山駅／上信越道 豊田飯山ＩＣより13ｋｍ |
| ＴＭリゾート木島平 | ¥7,000 | 4.00 5 reviews | 1.1 km | ＪＲ 飯山駅よりお車にて約１５分 |
| ペンション シエスタ | ¥7,500 | 4.33 30 reviews | 1.0 km | 豊田飯山ＩＣから約２０分・飯山駅からタクシ－で約１５分、送迎可（要予約、10：00～16：00の間）冬期間は不可 |
| 民宿 仲山荘 | ¥8,900 | 4.57 27 reviews | 2.2 km | 飯山駅から車で約１０分 |
| オーベルジュ グルービー | ¥20,900 | 5.00 29 reviews | 0.3 km | 車・上信越道豊田飯山ＩＣより２５分。 電車・北陸新幹線飯山駅タクシー又はレンタカーで２０分〔送迎なし〕 |
| ホテル レイジャント | — | 2.33 30 reviews | 0.2 km | 上信越道 豊田飯山ＩＣより車で２０分 |
Show the other 16
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ペンション 大草原の小さな家 | — | — | 0.2 km | 飯山線 飯山駅からお車で２０分 |
| ロッヂなべふ | — | — | 0.3 km | ＪＲ 館山駅から車（送迎も有り） |
| 赤い扉ロッジ | — | — | 0.3 km | 飯山駅よりシャトルバスで約２０分程度・上信越自動車道：豊田飯山IC下車より25分 |
| ちきちきばんばん | — | — | 0.6 km | 木島平スキー場牧ノ入第四リフト下道路ぞい |
| ＷＨＩＴＥ ＨＩＬＬ はまゆう | — | — | 0.6 km | 上信越道豊田飯山ＩＣから１５分、ＪＲ飯山駅からタクシーで１５分 |
| ペンション GROVE（グローブ） | — | — | 1.0 km | 豊田飯山Ｉ．Ｃより２０分 |
| コテージ フィオーレ | — | 5.00 8 reviews | 1.2 km | 上信越自動車道豊田飯山ＩＣより１５分 |
| ペンション 紙ふうせん＜長野県＞ | — | — | 1.2 km | 豊田飯山Ｉ．Ｃから約２０分 |
| 山の家 陶（すえ） | — | — | 1.2 km | 館山駅よりお車（送迎要相談） |
| ビジネスイン飯山 | — | — | 1.2 km | 飯山駅・市街から車１０分 上信越豊田飯山ＩＣから１５分 中野市街へ車２０分 長野市内へ車３０分 栄村役場へ車４０分 |
| 貸別荘ディスカバリーキャビン 木島平 | — | — | 1.3 km | 上信越自動車道豊田飯山ＩＣから20分、ＪＲ飯山駅よりシャトルバスで30分終点下車 |
| Ａｃｔｉｖｅ Ｈｏｕｓｅ Ｒｙｕｏ（一棟貸） ＾ | — | — | 2.5 km | 夜間瀬駅から車で約１３分 |
| 北志賀高原ヒュッテ | — | — | 2.6 km | 信州中野駅よりバスにて３０分 |
| 北志賀温泉 ゆうリゾートホテル | — | — | 2.9 km | 長野電鉄 信州中野駅／関越自動車道（藤岡ＪＣＴ）→上信越自動車道（更埴ＪＣＴ）→信州中野ＩＣ→高井富士スキー場方面へ |
| ホテル ディライト北志賀 | — | — | 2.9 km | 車：上信越道信州中野ICより30分 電車：長野電鉄信州中野駅 |
| ロッヂ ベアーズ＜長野県＞ | — | — | 3.0 km | 私鉄長野電鉄 よませ駅より車で５分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
3 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 1.3 km
Nearest first
- Koshasanroku Miyukino mori Hostel 1.3 km
- Business Hotel Noble Iiyama Hotel 5.8 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Nagano
- 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.
- 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.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52