Kisofukushima Ski Resort is a ski area in Nagano, Japan, on slopes between roughly 1,265 and 1,903 m. Its mapped area is about 2.6 km across, with 10 marked runs and 4 lifts (about 7.8 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 231 cm of snowfall a season, 222nd of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2014/15 (315 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (152 cm). March still brings 55 cm on average, close to January, its snowiest month. Snowfall days are cold, averaging −6.0 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 127th of 397 in Japan.
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
10.3℃
Max wind
5.6km/h
Elevation (est.)
1265–1903m
Across
2.6km
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
231 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
152 cm
A typical winter: 232 cm. The best: 315 cm.
World rank
865
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
222
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
29
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 1,591 m, 825 m above the national median.
Quality rank
127
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-6.0°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
14%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
12%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
16 km/h
Dryness 0.57
Frequency 0.34
Freedom from rain 0.64
Calm when snowing 0.98
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yabuhara Kogen | 5.1 km | 182 cm | 1298 |
| Shinshu-Matsumoto Nomugitoge Ski Resort | 12 km | 318 cm | 408 |
| Mia Ski Resort | 15 km | 250 cm | 734 |
| Blue Resort Norikura | 20 km | 317 cm | 421 |
| Asahi Prime Ski Area | 23 km | 142 cm | 1775 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 82% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 55 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
53cmDec
67cmJan
56cmFeb
55cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 231 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 152 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 315 cm (2.1 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.
315
152
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
10
Run length
7.8km
Lifts
4
Vertical
681m
Top 1,896 m · base 1,215 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map1.6 km
Steepest pitch24°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs10.1°
Which way the slopes face
North 10%
East 1%
South 30%
West 59%
Only 11% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. More of the terrain faces the sun.
By difficulty
Easy 3
Intermediate 2
Advanced 5
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
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.
Norikura and Hida webcams & snow report — all 9 ski areas →
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yabuhara-juku藪原宿 | Old streets | 9.8 km |
| Fukushima-juku福島宿 (中山道) | Old streets | 11.1 km |
| Narai-juku奈良井宿 | Old streets | 12.3 km |
| Nomugi Pass野麦峠 | Mountain | 13.2 km |
| Mount Ontake御嶽山 | Mountain | 18.7 km |
| Nezame-no-toko寝覚の床 | Nature | 19.6 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: 35.9481, 137.6763
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ペンションかおる | ¥5,600 | 5.00 31 reviews | 1.1 km | 中央道塩尻ＩＣより約６０分/中津川ICより90分/伊那ICより40分 |
| Ｃｏｃｏ開田高原 ＾ | ¥9,350 | — | 2.2 km | 藪原駅より車で39分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
5 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
4 Hotel 1 Guest house
Nearest: 7.3 km
Nearest first
- 黒川荘 Hotel 7.3 km
- Onyado Tsutaya Hotel 11 km
- 木曽路の宿いわや Hotel 11 km
- Kiso Mikawaya Guest house 11 km
- 森富旅館 Hotel 11.1 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.
Related resort · Snow & Mountain Resort News
早割シーズン券販売中！
ご家族でシーズン券を購入される方は、お得なファミリーシーズン券！ ※早割期間（9/1～11/30）のみ販売です 申し込みフォームは9/1より公開となります
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52