Sakae Club Ski Area is a ski area in Nagano, Japan, on slopes between roughly 361 and 808 m. Its mapped area is about 1.5 km across, with 9 marked runs and 3 lifts (about 6.1 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 553 cm of snowfall a season, 36th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2016/17 (693 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (301 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 197 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 11 km away measured 987 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 569 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −2.3 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 162nd of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Nagano, about 52 km away. 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cupid Valley Ski Area | 7.9 km | 553 cm | 61 |
| New Greenpia Tsunan | 13 km | 618 cm | 36 |
| Nozawa Onsen | 13 km | 450 cm | 108 |
| Nakasato Kiyotsu | 16 km | 618 cm | 36 |
| Togari Onsen Ski Resort | 17 km | 450 cm | 108 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 36% 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. For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: March brings 70 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 553 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 301 cm; the biggest was 2016/17 with 693 cm (2.3 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 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
Only 40% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. More of the terrain faces the sun.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift3
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
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.
Nozawa and Kijimadaira webcams & snow report — all 4 ski areas →
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 津南 weather station — 11 km from this ski area, 132 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 987 cm |
| 2023/24 | 817 cm |
| 2024/25 | 1240 cm |
| 2025/26 | 903 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 569 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 33.5 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 宮野原宮野原 | 2.7 km | 33.5℃ lukewarm | 8.6 alkaline | alkaline 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sakae Village History and Culture Museum栄村歴史文化館 | Museum | 3.5 km |
| Ryūgakubo竜ヶ窪 | Nature | 6.5 km |
| Matsunoyama Onsen松之山温泉 | Hot spring town | 8.3 km |
| Bijinbayashi美人林 | Nature | 12.3 km |
| Nozawa Onsen野沢温泉 | Hot spring town | 13.2 km |
| Kiyotsu Gorge清津峡 | 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 ↗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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 中条温泉 トマトの国 | ¥11,050 | 4.00 12 reviews | 0.7 km | ＪＲ飯山線 森宮野原駅よりお車にて約３分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
8 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 0.7 km
Nearest first
- 中条温泉トマトの国 Hotel 0.7 km
- 農家民宿れすとらん ひがし Guest house 5.2 km
- 越後田中温泉 しなの荘 Hotel 5.9 km
- 北野天満温泉 学問の湯 Hotel 7.1 km
- ひなの宿 ちとせ Hotel 8 km
- 白川屋 Hotel 8 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Nagano
- 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%.
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- 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.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52