かぐらスキー場「みつまたエリアでパウダーを食う」ドローン男子空撮
By: ドローン男子 7sky creative · 2026-01-23
Mitsumata Area is a ski area in Niigata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 613 and 1,031 m. Its mapped area is about 2.2 km across, with 9 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 9.1 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 589 cm of snowfall a season, 30th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2021/22 (717 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (328 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 194 cm. Snowfall days average −2.2 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 133rd of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Nagano, about 59 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.
Temperature
12.9℃
Max wind
7.2km/h
Elevation (est.)
613–1031m
Across
2.2km
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
589 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
328 cm
A typical winter: 595 cm. The best: 717 cm.
World rank
45
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
30
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
142
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 936 m, 170 m above the national median.
Quality rank
133
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-2.2°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
22%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
36%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
19 km/h
Dryness 0.30
Frequency 1.00
Freedom from rain 0.42
Calm when snowing 0.95
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kagura Area | 3.5 km | 542 cm | 69 |
| Kandatsu Kogen Ski Resort | 4.3 km | 618 cm | 36 |
| NASPA Ski Garden | 5.1 km | 618 cm | 36 |
| Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort | 5.3 km | 618 cm | 36 |
| Tashiro Area | 5.5 km | 447 cm | 113 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 50% of January’s snowfall. That is in line with the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 97 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
165cmDec
194cmJan
134cmFeb
97cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 589 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 328 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 717 cm (2.2 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
717
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
9
Run length
9.1km
Lifts
5
Vertical
425m
Top 1,052 m · base 627 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map3.4 km
Steepest pitch22°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs8.1°
Which way the slopes face
North 56%
East 29%
South 3%
West 12%
85% 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
Easy 5
Intermediate 3
Advanced 1
Lift types
- Chairlift4
- Cable car1
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
On the mountainWatch live ↗Operated by: みつまたエリアRoads nearby国道17号 ↗From the resort: 3.7 kmOperated by: 北陸地方整備局 長岡国道事務所Roads nearby国道17号 ↗From the resort: 14.5 kmOperated by: 関東地方整備局 高崎河川国道事務所
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.
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
4 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 43.1 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 三俣せきれいの湯 | 1.6 km | 32.8℃ lukewarm | 8.9 alkaline | alkaline simple | — |
| 貝掛貝掛 | 2.3 km | 37℃ warm | 6.8 neutral | — | — |
| 神立高原ゴールデンスパ | 4.4 km | 43.1℃ hot | 8 mildly alkaline | — | — |
| 猿倉猿倉の湯 | 4.9 km | 38.5℃ warm | — | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yuzawa Kōgen Ropeway湯沢高原ロープウェイ | Nature | 6 km |
| Mount Naeba苗場山 | Mountain | 8.3 km |
| Kiyotsu Gorge清津峡 | Nature | 8.4 km |
| Mount Tanigawa谷川岳 | Mountain | 16 km |
| Tanigawadake Ropeway谷川岳ロープウェイ | Nature | 18.7 km |
| Doai Station土合駅 | Landmark | 19.3 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: 36.8925, 138.7635
Places to stay nearby
17 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 神楽ハウス | ¥3,500 | 5.00 26 reviews | 1.3 km | 越後湯沢駅よりお車 |
| ペンション レ・シャモア | ¥13,400 | 4.78 77 reviews | 1.2 km | 越後湯沢駅よりバスで約２０分・タクシー約１０分／関越自動車道 湯沢ＩＣより約１０分 |
| 貝掛温泉 | ¥21,800 | 4.68 311 reviews | 2.3 km | 越後湯沢駅よりバスにて25分。関越自動車道の湯沢ＩＣよりお車にて15分。 |
| 有馬屋 ＾ | ¥25,520 | — | 1.9 km | 越後湯沢駅から車で約１０分 |
| かぐらスキーイン（Ｋａｇｕｒａ Ｓｋｉ Ｉｎｎ） ＾ | — | — | 1.1 km | 越後湯沢駅から車で約１１分 |
| かぐら ホワイトホースイン | — | 4.60 92 reviews | 1.1 km | 越後湯沢駅よりバスにて１５分、 「かぐらみつまたスキー場前」下車１００ｍ |
| ファミリーヒュッテ | — | — | 1.1 km | 越後湯沢駅より車で１５分 |
| みつまたロッヂ | — | 4.07 28 reviews | 1.1 km | 上越新幹線 越後湯沢駅より苗場方面直面バスにて約２０分（みつまたスキー場前バス停下車、目の前です。) |
| ペンションＺＩＯＮ ザイオン〜理想の郷 | — | — | 1.1 km | 越後湯沢駅から車で１５分 |
| かぐらみつまたコテージ | — | 4.29 28 reviews | 1.2 km | 越後湯沢駅よりバスにて15分、「みつまた中央」下車で徒歩1分。 |
| ＫＡＧＵＲＡ Ｇａｒｄｅｎ Ｃａｍｐ ｜ ＣＯＶＥ ＾ | — | — | 1.2 km | 越後湯沢駅から車で12分 |
| ロッヂ エルブロンネ | — | 4.50 36 reviews | 1.2 km | 上越線 越後湯沢駅 路線バス三俣中央下車 ／ 関越道湯沢ＩＣよりＲ１７を７ｋｍ 約１０分 |
Show the other 5
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ｋ・Ｌｏｄｇｅ | — | 5.00 14 reviews | 1.3 km | 越後湯沢駅より、車で約１５分 |
| ロッヂ ふくだや | — | 4.50 36 reviews | 1.3 km | 関越自動車道湯沢ＩＣより１０分。越後湯沢駅在来バス１０分。越後湯沢駅より在来バス２０分。 |
| ロッジ やしろ | — | 3.75 18 reviews | 1.4 km | 越後湯沢駅より車で15分 湯沢ICから約8km |
| ロッジ チャーリーブラウン | — | 1.00 11 reviews | 1.4 km | ◆越後湯沢駅より車で１５分◆ 関越道を新潟方面湯沢ICみつまたスキー場方面へ 街道の湯 道の駅を過ぎたら左折突当り右折 |
| ペンションブルージュ | — | — | 1.5 km | 越後湯沢駅よりバスで２０分、お車で１０分 |
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.
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