2018/03/17 Okunakayamakogen Ski Resort
OfficialBy: OkunakayamakogenResort · 2018-03-17
Okunakayamakogen Ski Area is a ski area in Iwate, Japan, on slopes between roughly 621 and 869 m. Its mapped area is about 1.9 km across, with 10 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 6.1 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 185 cm of snowfall a season, 284th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. Its winters are fairly steady; even the leanest, 2015/16 (127 cm), reached 69% of the average. January is usually the snowiest month, with about 56 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 4.7 km away measured 450 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 208 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −4.9 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 226th of 397 in Japan.
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
11.3℃
Max wind
10.2km/h
Elevation (est.)
621–869m
Across
1.9km
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
185 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
127 cm
A typical winter: 176 cm. The best: 245 cm.
World rank
1281
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
284
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
190
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 788 m, 22 m above the national median.
Quality rank
226
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-4.9°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
15%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
9%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
21 km/h
Dryness 0.49
Frequency 0.27
Freedom from rain 0.61
Calm when snowing 0.93
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tayama Ski Area (Hachimantai City) | 20 km | 265 cm | 643 |
| Appi Kogen | 23 km | 377 cm | 211 |
| Hachimantai Resort Panorama Ski Are | 28 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Hachimantai Resort Shimokura Ski area | 29 km | 329 cm | 360 |
| Hanawa Ski Area | 32 km | 263 cm | 657 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 63% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: March brings 35 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
54cmDec
56cmJan
40cmFeb
35cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 185 cm, and 8 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 127 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 245 cm (1.9 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.
127
245
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
6.1km
Lifts
5
Vertical
357m
Top 1,003 m · base 646 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map1.0 km
Steepest pitch29°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs13.5°
Which way the slopes face
North 22%
East 72%
South 6%
West 0%
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
Easy 3
Intermediate 2
Advanced 5
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
On the mountainWatch live ↗Operated by: 奥中山高原スキー場Roads nearby国道4号 ↗From the resort: 4.5 kmOperated by: 東北地方整備局 岩手河川国道事務所Roads nearby国道4号 ↗From the resort: 10.8 kmOperated by: 東北地方整備局 岩手河川国道事務所
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.
Appi and Hachimantai webcams & snow report — all 11 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.
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 奥中山 weather station — 4.7 km from this ski area, 315 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 450 cm |
| 2023/24 | 410 cm |
| 2024/25 | 570 cm |
| 2025/26 | 369 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 208 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
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 15 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 七時雨山(荒沢)田代の湯 | 4.5 km | 15℃ cold | 6.1 neutral | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fudō Falls不動の滝 (八幡平市) | Nature | 10.6 km |
| Goshono Site御所野遺跡 | Historic site | 16.3 km |
| Nesori no dai keikaboku根反の大珪化木 | Nature | 17.4 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 ↗ Coordinates: 40.0861, 141.1821
Places to stay nearby
1 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ホテル奥中山高原 | ¥5,800 | 4.18 142 reviews | 0.8 km | IGRいわて銀河鉄道 奥中山高原駅から車で１０分 最寄駅から無料送迎有※要予約 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
1 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 Iwate
- 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%.
- When Japan's Ski Resorts Open for 2026/27, and Whether There Will Be Snow When They Do Japan's 2026/27 season opens on 20 November at Sapporo Kokusai, 21 November at Sapporo Teine and 28 November at Niseko, Rusutsu, Kiroro and Furano. Dates checked on each resort's own site, set beside what December actually delivers: in Hokkaido about as much snow as January, in Nagano and Niigata about four-fifths.
- Where in Japan Do You Get the Most Powder Days? Season snowfall totals do not tell you how often it snows. We counted the days that deliver 5 cm or more at all 397 Japanese ski areas. Hokkaido's median is 12 days a winter and Honshu's is 21 — and Honshu rains about three times as often.
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