🇯🇵 Japan · Hokkaido
Rusutsu Resort
ルスツリゾート
Off season Official site Lift tickets (official) 2026/27 adult day ticket ¥16,700 regular season (19 Dec – 14 Mar), at the window (checked 15 Sept)
Rusutsu Resort, in Hokkaido, Japan, runs from 400 m at the base to 994 m at the top. The map shows 27 marked runs and 18 lifts (about 31 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 212 cm of snowfall a season, 249th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. Its winters are fairly steady; even the leanest, 2015/16 (155 cm), reached 73% of the average. March still brings 48 cm on average, close to January, its snowiest month. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 9.4 km away measured 583 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 199 cm from the model. Snowfall days are cold, averaging −6.1 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 126th of 397 in Japan.
Below are links to 2 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
10.2℃
Max wind
21km/h
Elevation
400–994m
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
212 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
155 cm
A typical winter: 201 cm. The best: 291 cm.
World rank
1041
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
249
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
243
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 594 m, 172 m below the national median.
Quality rank
126
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-6.1°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
8%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
10%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
17 km/h
Dryness 0.58
Frequency 0.28
Freedom from rain 0.79
Calm when snowing 0.97
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orofure Ski Area | 19 km | 157 cm | 1578 |
| Nakayama-toge Ski Resort | 22 km | 264 cm | 655 |
| Niseko Grand Hirafu | 24 km | 289 cm | 526 |
| Asahigaoka Ski Resort | 25 km | 288 cm | 532 |
| Sanlaiva | 26 km | 163 cm | 1503 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 80% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 48 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
53cmDec
60cmJan
51cmFeb
48cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 212 cm, and 8 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 155 cm; the biggest was 2021/22 with 291 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.
155
291
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
27
Run length
31km
Lifts
18
Vertical
566m
Top 988 m · base 422 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvanced Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map3.0 km
Steepest pitch29°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs10.4°
Which way the slopes face
North 44%
East 42%
South 8%
West 6%
86% 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 10
Intermediate 12
Advanced 5
Lift types
- Chairlift14
- Gondola4
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: ルスツリゾートRoads nearby国道230号 ↗From the resort: 6 kmOperated by: 北海道開発局
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.
Rusutsu and Toya webcams & snow report — all 4 ski areas →
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 喜茂別 weather station — 9.4 km from this ski area, 324 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 583 cm |
| 2023/24 | 543 cm |
| 2024/25 | 606 cm |
| 2025/26 | 599 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 199 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 44.5 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 留寿都加森観光5号 | 4 km | 44.5℃ hot | 6.4 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shikotsu-Tōya National Park支笏洞爺国立公園 | Nature | 9.1 km |
| 北湯沢温泉 | Hot spring town | 13.9 km |
| Mount Yōtei羊蹄山 | Mountain | 14.9 km |
| Lake Tōya洞爺湖 | Nature | 15.3 km |
| Shōwa-shinzan昭和新山 | Mountain | 19.4 km |
| Mount Usu有珠山 | Mountain | 19.7 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: 42.7136, 140.9083
Places to stay nearby
18 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ルスツリゾートホテル＆コンベンション | ¥3,525 | 4.48 910 reviews | 4.2 km | 札幌・新千歳空港～車90分（送迎有・要予約）。JR洞爺駅・JR倶知安駅～バス60分。 [立地：国道230号線沿い] |
| ルスツヒルズセントロ | ¥8,100 | — | 4.5 km | 新千歳空港よりお車で90分 |
| ルスツヒルズノーザンリッジ | ¥8,370 | — | 4.7 km | 新千歳空港より車で約90分 |
| ウェスティン ルスツリゾート | ¥8,629 | 4.36 124 reviews | 3.8 km | 札幌・新千歳空港～車90分（有料送迎有・要予約）。JR洞爺駅・JR倶知安駅～バス60分。 [立地：国道230号線沿い] |
| ジャパビスタ ルスツ | ¥9,800 | — | 5.3 km | 新千歳空港から車で約９０分。ルスツリゾートから車で約２分 |
| 翠葉 Ｒｕｓｕｔｓｕ | ¥10,290 | 5.00 5 reviews | 4.5 km | 新千歳空港から車で約９０分。ルスツリゾートから車で約１分 |
| エルサ ルスツ | ¥11,200 | — | 5.1 km | 新千歳空港から車で90分 |
| ザ・ヴェール・ルスツ（ＴＨＥ ＶＡＬＥ ＲＵＳＵＴＳＵ） | ¥12,600 | 4.67 17 reviews | 4.6 km | 新千歳空港よりお車にて約90分 |
| ノアルスツ | ¥17,680 | — | 5.0 km | 札幌や新千歳空港からバスや車で90-120分。ルスツリゾートから車で6分 |
| ＣＬＯＵＤ９リゾート徒歩５分新築広い ＬＩＮＥＩＤ ｄｏｌｒｙ７０ ＾ | ¥18,560 | — | 4.6 km | 比羅夫駅から車で約３２分 |
| おひさまハウス | — | — | 4.7 km | 千歳空港よりバスで約９０分。ルスツリゾート下車し、徒歩にて約５分。 |
| ペンション＆ドライブイン Ｓｋｙ・Ｂｅ | — | — | 4.4 km | ＪＲ 倶知安駅より車で３０分 |
Show the other 6
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ホテルロムルス | — | — | 4.4 km | 札幌駅より道南バス「洞爺湖温泉行(定山渓、中山峠経由)」に乗車。 「ルスツリゾート」にて下車。黄色い牛のオブジェが入り口 |
| Ｒｕｓｕｔｓｕ Ｌｏｄｇｅｓ－ＬＩＬＬＡ ＨＵＳＥＴ | — | — | 4.1 km | 千歳空港よりお車にて約９０分 |
| ＶＩＬＬＡ ＲＵＳＵＴＳＵ | — | — | 4.6 km | ニセコ |
| ペンション クライスデール | — | — | 4.7 km | 札幌・千歳空港～直行バス・ルスツリゾートバス停～お車で約２分（送迎有り）／札幌・新千歳空港～お車で９０分 |
| ワプラ・ルスツ（Ｙｏｔｅｉ ／ Ｓｈｉｒｉｂｅｔｓｕ） ＾ | — | — | 3.2 km | 比羅夫駅から車で約３１分 |
| Ｒｕｓｕｔｓｕ Ｇｏｌｆ ＆ Ｓｋｉ Ｌｏｄｇｅ／民泊 | — | — | 4.5 km | ニセコ駅から車で約２７分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
15 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
8 Hotel 3 Guest house 3 Hostel 1 Apartment
Nearest: 3.7 km
Nearest first
- Pension Yamada Hotel 3.7 km
- The Westin Rusutsu Resort Hotel 3.8 km
- Rusutsu Hotel Hotel 4.4 km
- Hotel Romulus Hotel 4.5 km
- The Vale Rusutsu Hotel 4.5 km
- Clydesdale Pension Guest house 4.7 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
What we have measured at Rusutsu Resort
- 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.
- Booking Japan for Christmas? Hokkaido's December Has Never Collapsed. Honshu's Has. We counted twelve Decembers at all 397 Japanese ski areas. Of those averaging 60 cm or more, 40 of Hokkaido's 46 kept over half their normal December even in their worst year. In Honshu and the west, 23 of 196 did. In December 2015, the last very strong El Niño, 250 of 397 ski areas came in below half.
- 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.
- Which Japanese Lift Ticket Buys the Most Snow? Price per Centimetre at 22 Resorts We divided each resort's adult day ticket by the snow it actually gets. Across 22 Japanese resorts the figure runs from ¥6.50 to ¥78.80 per centimetre, a twelvefold spread, and the expensive end is not the snowy end. Niseko is ¥46.70. Nozawa is ¥17.30.
- Ikon, Epic, Indy or Mountain Collective in Japan for 2026/27: Which Resorts, How Many Days, and How Much Snow Each Gets Ikon gives 7 days at each of ten Japanese destinations, Epic 5 consecutive days, Mountain Collective 2 and Indy 2. Each pass checked against its own terms and set beside twelve winters of our snowfall data. Togakushi, on Indy, shares the deepest floor on any pass with Hakuba Cortina, on Epic.
- Niseko vs Yongpyong: The Gap Is Bigger Than Anyone Says Yongpyong is Korea's most famous ski resort and ranks 2,539th in the world. Niseko gets 3.4 times its snow, and 384 of Japan's 397 ski areas beat Yongpyong outright.
Related resort · Snow & Mountain Resort News
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52