Sarufutsu Sonei Ski Area is a ski area in Hokkaido, Japan, on slopes between roughly 17 and 61 m. Its mapped area is about 0.5 km across, with 1 marked run and 1 lift (about 0.3 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 215 cm of snowfall a season, 243rd of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (323 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2016/17 (137 cm). December brings as much snow as January here (65 and 65 cm on average). Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 5 km away measured 511 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 281 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −3.3 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 189th 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wakkanaishi Komadori Ski Area | 33 km | 224 cm | 924 |
| Toyotomi Ski Area | 35 km | 191 cm | 1235 |
| Higashigaoka Ski Area | 40 km | 191 cm | 1235 |
| Nakatonbestucho Eikotobuki | 41 km | 221 cm | 945 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in December. March brings 62% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 40 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 215 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2016/17 with 137 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 323 cm (2.4 times as much).
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 2% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. More of the terrain faces the sun.
By difficulty
Lift types
- T-bar1
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
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.
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 浜鬼志別 weather station — 5 km from this ski area, 26 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 511 cm |
| 2023/24 | 521 cm |
| 2024/25 | 519 cm |
| 2025/26 | 493 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 281 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
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Roadside station Sarufutsu park道の駅さるふつ公園 | Park | 5.7 km |
| Soya Hills宗谷丘陵 | Mountain | 11.8 km |
| カムイト沼 | Nature | 13.8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 笠井旅館 | — | 3.50 85 reviews | 1.0 km | JR稚内駅 / 稚内空港より車で約60分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
2 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 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