Motai Onsen Ski Resort is a ski area in Gifu, Japan, on slopes between roughly 791 and 895 m. Its mapped area is about 0.6 km across.
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 132 cm of snowfall a season, 347th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (232 cm), brought more than 5 times as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (46 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 45 cm. Snowfall days average −2.4 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 315th 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirao Ski Area | 4.0 km | 220 cm | 953 |
| Washigatake Ski Area | 8.9 km | 220 cm | 953 |
| WhitePIA Takasu | 9.6 km | 220 cm | 953 |
| Meiho Ski Resort | 12 km | 193 cm | 1217 |
| Gujo Vacances Mura Ski Area | 12 km | 220 cm | 953 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 40% 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 18 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 132 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 46 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 232 cm (5.0 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.
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 marked runs and lifts on the map, within 2 km of the centre of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Lift types
- Chairlift1
Source: OpenStreetMap (ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Difficulty uses the European grades, which do not map onto North American green / blue / black.
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.
Okumino webcams & snow report — all 15 ski areas →
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gujō Hachiman Castle郡上八幡城 | Historic site | 12.5 km |
| Sōgi-sui宗祇水 | Nature | 12.8 km |
| Yoshida River吉田川 (郡上市) | Nature | 13.1 km |
| Bokka no Sato牧歌の里 | Park | 13.3 km |
| ひるがの高原 | Nature | 15.5 km |
| Mount Dainichi大日ヶ岳 | Mountain | 18.4 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
2 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ログランド奥美濃 | ¥25,000 | 4.40 6 reviews | 3.3 km | ぎふ大和ICから車で約15分 |
| ペンション リトルパイン | — | — | 3.4 km | 長良川鉄道美濃白鳥駅下車／東海北陸自動車道白鳥ＩＣより車で１０分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
More places to look
Guides covering Gifu
- When Is There Snow at Japan's Hot Spring Towns? If you want to sit in an outdoor bath with snow on the ground, the question is when, not just where. We measured the snow depth at 14 Japanese hot spring towns across three winters — arrival, departure, and how many days it is actually deep.
- Ski and Soak in Japan: Which Ski Areas Have a Hot Spring Source Next Door, and How Hot the Water Is We matched 7,203 analysed hot spring sources to Japan's ski areas. 255 of 397 have one within 5 km, 145 of them at 42 °C or hotter, and 54 have one within 1 km. These are the ski areas that pair top snow with hot water close by, and the ones where the water is strongly acidic.
- Shirakawa-go's Snow Falls at Around 0°C. That Is Why the Roofs Are 60 Degrees. Japan has thatched villages all over the country, and only one of them built roofs like praying hands. We measured the snow at four of them: Shirakawa-go gets twelve times Miyama's depth, and it arrives at the heaviest temperature snow can fall.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52