Shirao Ski Area is a ski area in Gifu, Japan, on slopes between roughly 717 and 1,242 m. Its mapped area is about 2.2 km across, with 9 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 6.1 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 220 cm of snowfall a season, 234th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2014/15 (399 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2019/20 (136 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 75 cm. Snowfall days average −3.0 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 254th 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motai Onsen Ski Resort | 4.0 km | 132 cm | 1929 |
| Washigatake Ski Area | 5.0 km | 220 cm | 953 |
| WhitePIA Takasu | 5.8 km | 220 cm | 953 |
| Gujo Vacances Mura Ski Area | 8.5 km | 220 cm | 953 |
| Meiho Ski Resort | 10.0 km | 193 cm | 1217 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 41% 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. In amount, March brings 31 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 220 cm, and 8 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 136 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 399 cm (2.9 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 17% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. More of the terrain faces the sun.
By difficulty
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
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.
Okumino webcams & snow report — all 15 ski areas →
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 蛭ヶ野鉱泉 | 4.9 km | 15℃ cold | 5.8 mildly acidic | — | 1955 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bokka no Sato牧歌の里 | Park | 9.4 km |
| ひるがの高原 | Nature | 11.5 km |
| Amidaga Falls阿弥陀ケ滝 | Nature | 12.8 km |
| Mount Dainichi大日ヶ岳 | Mountain | 14.5 km |
| Gujō Hachiman Castle郡上八幡城 | Historic site | 16.4 km |
| Shōkawa-zakura荘川桜 | Nature | 20 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ペンション リトルパイン | — | — | 1.3 km | 長良川鉄道美濃白鳥駅下車／東海北陸自動車道白鳥ＩＣより車で１０分 |
| うすけ Ｕｓｕｋｅ Ｍｉｎｐａｋｕ ＾ | — | — | 2.5 km | 美濃白鳥駅から車で約９分 |
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 Gifu
- When Is There Snow at Japan's Hot Spring Towns? If you want to sit in an outdoor bath with snow on the ground, the question is when, not just where. We measured the snow depth at 14 Japanese hot spring towns across three winters — arrival, departure, and how many days it is actually deep.
- Ski and Soak in Japan: Which Ski Areas Have a Hot Spring Source Next Door, and How Hot the Water Is We matched 7,203 analysed hot spring sources to Japan's ski areas. 255 of 397 have one within 5 km, 145 of them at 42 °C or hotter, and 54 have one within 1 km. These are the ski areas that pair top snow with hot water close by, and the ones where the water is strongly acidic.
- Shirakawa-go's Snow Falls at Around 0°C. That Is Why the Roofs Are 60 Degrees. Japan has thatched villages all over the country, and only one of them built roofs like praying hands. We measured the snow at four of them: Shirakawa-go gets twelve times Miyama's depth, and it arrives at the heaviest temperature snow can fall.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52