Tayama Ski Area (Hachimantai City) is a ski area in Iwate, Japan, on slopes between roughly 304 and 573 m. Its mapped area is about 1.2 km across, with 3 marked runs and 2 lifts (about 1.4 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 265 cm of snowfall a season, 170th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (366 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (131 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 82 cm. Snowfall days average −2.6 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 209th of 397 in Japan.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanawa Ski Area | 12 km | 263 cm | 657 |
| Appi Kogen | 17 km | 377 cm | 211 |
| Okunakayamakogen Ski Area | 20 km | 185 cm | 1281 |
| Akita Hachimantai Ski Area | 21 km | 437 cm | 122 |
| Hachimantai Resort Shimokura Ski area | 26 km | 329 cm | 360 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 56% of January’s snowfall. That is in line with 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 265 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 131 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 366 cm (2.8 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
100% 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
- Chairlift2
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.
Appi and Hachimantai webcams & snow report — all 11 ski areas →
Official YouTube channel
More than we show here.
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 32 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 田山米代 | 0.7 km | 32℃ lukewarm | 8.8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yuze Onsen湯瀬温泉 | Hot spring town | 9.7 km |
| Fudō Falls不動の滝 (八幡平市) | Nature | 12 km |
| Hachimantai Onsenkyō八幡平温泉郷 | Hot spring town | 17.9 km |
| 安比温泉 | Hot spring town | 18 km |
| Historic Sites Osarizawa Mine史跡 尾去沢鉱山 | Mountain | 18.3 km |
| Ōyu Stone Circles大湯環状列石 | Historic site | 19.9 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 ↗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 Iwate
- 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%.
- 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.
- Where in Japan Do You Get the Most Powder Days? Season snowfall totals do not tell you how often it snows. We counted the days that deliver 5 cm or more at all 397 Japanese ski areas. Hokkaido's median is 12 days a winter and Honshu's is 21 — and Honshu rains about three times as often.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52