Sanlaiva is a ski area in Hokkaido, Japan, on slopes between roughly 342 and 710 m. Its mapped area is about 1.4 km across, with 12 marked runs and 3 lifts (about 5.4 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 163 cm of snowfall a season, 301st of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (227 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (95 cm). March still brings 46 cm on average, close to January, its snowiest month. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 7.2 km away measured 375 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 168 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −4.3 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 219th 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orofure Ski Area | 10 km | 157 cm | 1578 |
| Muroran-shi Ski Area | 14 km | 135 cm | 1877 |
| Rusutsu Resort | 26 km | 212 cm | 1041 |
| Nakayama-toge Ski Resort | 37 km | 264 cm | 655 |
| Eniwa City Ski Area | 48 km | 148 cm | 1686 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 92% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 46 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 163 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 95 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 227 cm (2.4 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
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
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.
Rusutsu and Toya webcams & snow report — all 4 ski areas →
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 登別 weather station — 7.2 km from this ski area, 329 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 375 cm |
| 2023/24 | 374 cm |
| 2024/25 | 431 cm |
| 2025/26 | 319 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 168 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
5 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 98.4 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| カルルス日野(新)2号井 | 0.9 km | 68.3℃ hot | 7.1 neutral | — | — |
| カルルスN63-NB-3 | 1.6 km | 80℃ hot | 8.1 mildly alkaline | — | — |
| 大湯沼大湯沼 | 4.6 km | 95.2℃ hot | 1.1 acidic | — | — |
| 登別登別温泉24号 | 4.8 km | 98.4℃ hot | 2.2 acidic | — | — |
| 登別第一滝本20号 | 5 km | 89℃ hot | 7.7 mildly alkaline | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| カルルス温泉 | Hot spring town | 2 km |
| Noboribetsu Onsen登別温泉 | Hot spring town | 4.8 km |
| Noboribetsu Bear Parkのぼりべつクマ牧場 | Museum | 6.2 km |
| Lake Kuttara倶多楽湖 | Nature | 7.5 km |
| Noboribetsu Marine Park Nixe登別マリンパークニクス | Museum | 10.2 km |
| Shōwa-shinzan昭和新山 | Mountain | 19.2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 森の湯 山静館 | ¥7,150 | 4.44 84 reviews | 0.9 km | 新千歳空港から道央自動車道、登別東IC下車。車で60分。ＪＲ登別駅から車で15分 |
| 登別カルルス温泉 湯元オロフレ荘 | ¥13,800 | 4.47 435 reviews | 0.9 km | JR登別駅車で２０分 ・ 登別温泉から車で１０分 無料送迎あり（前日までに要予約 対応時間14：00～17：00） |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
25 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 0.8 km
Nearest first
- 深山の庵いわい Hotel 0.8 km
- 森の湯山静館 Hotel 0.9 km
- 鈴木旅館 Hotel 0.9 km
- 湯元オロフレ荘 Hotel 1 km
- Bourou NOGUCHI Noboribetsu Hotel 4.3 km
- Noboribetsu Sekisuitei Hotel 4.4 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Hokkaido
- 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.
- Australia Just Had Its Worst Season in Twenty Years. Here Is What Japan's 12-Winter Record Says About Booking It Instead. Snow depth at Spencers Creek peaked at 94.5 cm, the third lowest since 1954, and resorts closed in August. Our own measure — snowfall, not depth — puts Australia at 50% of its 12-year average. The gap between those two numbers is the story: it was the warmth, not only the lack of snow. New Zealand, meanwhile, finished at 108% of normal.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52