Koshi Kogen Ski Area is a ski area in Niigata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 282 and 401 m. Its mapped area is about 0.6 km across, with 4 marked runs and 1 lift (about 1.7 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 433 cm of snowfall a season, 62nd of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2014/15 (676 cm), brought more than 3 times as much as the leanest, 2019/20 (170 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 164 cm. Snowfall days average −0.7 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 273rd of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Niigata, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nagaoka City Ski Area | 11 km | 320 cm | 404 |
| Suhara Ski Area | 11 km | 538 cm | 71 |
| Koide Ski Area | 12 km | 370 cm | 226 |
| Yakushi Ski Area | 13 km | 532 cm | 72 |
| Hakkai Sanroku Ski Area | 19 km | 451 cm | 107 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 25% 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 41 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 433 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 170 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 676 cm (4.0 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
94% 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
1 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 13 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 小栗山鉱泉小千谷鉱泉？ | 3.7 km | 13℃ cold | — | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Uonuma Shrine魚沼神社 | Shrine | 8.7 km |
| Niigata Prefectural Road Route 50新潟県道50号小出奥只見線 | Landmark | 11.5 km |
| City Hall Plaza Ao-re Nagaoka長岡市シティホールプラザアオーレ長岡 | Landmark | 14.8 km |
| Nagaoka Station長岡駅 | Landmark | 14.8 km |
| Nagaoka Castle長岡城 | Historic site | 14.9 km |
| Echigo Hillside Park国営越後丘陵公園 | Park | 17.1 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 ↗Places to stay nearby
8 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ホテルサンローラ＜新潟県長岡市＞ | ¥3,000 | 4.39 243 reviews | 5.6 km | 越後川口ＩＣより車で10分！ＪＲ越後川口駅より車で5分！長岡市街・十日町・魚沼方面へのアクセス良好！駐車場は無料です。 |
| 蓬平温泉 蓬莱館 福引屋 | ¥3,500 | 4.04 174 reviews | 5.8 km | 長岡南越路スマートICよりお車で約20分／長岡ICよりお車で約30分／長岡駅からお車で約25分／長岡駅より送迎有・要予約 |
| Ｌ－Ｓｔａｙ小千谷 | ¥3,960 | 4.57 49 reviews | 7.3 km | 関越自動車道小千谷ＩＣよりお車で約７分、小千谷駅より約４分、徒歩で約２３分 |
| ビジネスホテル ニュープラザ | ¥6,050 | 4.03 426 reviews | 7.8 km | ＪＲ上越線・小千谷駅より車で5分／関越道・小千谷ＩＣより車で5分／関越道・川口ICより車で10分 |
| 蓬平温泉 花の宿 よもやま舘 | ¥15,400 | 4.70 197 reviews | 5.3 km | ・南越路スマートＩＣより県道蓬平温泉方面へ約20分 ・長岡ＩＣより国道8号線バイパス、途中県道蓬平温泉方面へ（約40分） |
| よもぎひら温泉 和泉屋 | ¥17,600 | 4.61 349 reviews | 5.7 km | 長岡駅よりお車にて２５分 |
| 小千谷ふるさとの丘ユースホステル | — | — | 3.9 km | 小千谷駅よりバス・タクシーで10分／小千谷ICよりお車で15分 |
| 小千谷パーク | — | — | 7.9 km | 関越自動車道 小千谷ICより車で5分／上越線 小千谷駅より車で5分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
7 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Niigata
- Which Ski Resort Gets the Most Snow in the World? We measured snowfall at all 3,069 ski areas on earth the same way. The top two both shut in winter because they get too much snow: a Norwegian glacier at 783 cm that opens in May, and Okutadami Maruyama in Niigata at 765 cm. 46 of the top 100 are Japanese.
- 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.
- Japan Lift Ticket Prices for 2026/27: What a Day Costs at Twelve Big Resorts, and the Weeks It Costs Half We checked the 2026/27 adult day ticket on each resort's own site. At the window it runs from ¥7,000 at Akakura Kanko to ¥16,700 at Rusutsu. Buying online saves up to ¥3,500, and the first and last weeks of the season cost up to half. For those cheap spring weeks, we add which way each resort's slopes face.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52