Yokone is a ski area in Yamagata, Japan, on slopes between roughly 132 and 350 m. Its mapped area is about 1.0 km across, with 2 marked runs and 2 lifts (about 0.6 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 446 cm of snowfall a season, 54th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2024/25 (595 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (289 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 173 cm. Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 1.1 km away measured 675 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 481 cm from the model. Snowfall days average 0.1 °C at mid-mountain, close to freezing, so the snow is often heavy, and its snow-quality score ranks 313th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Yamagata, about 57 km away. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tainai Ski and Snowboard area | 21 km | 629 cm | 34 |
| Doshojidaira Ski Area | 22 km | 273 cm | 602 |
| Tenoko Ski Area | 23 km | 312 cm | 439 |
| Ninox Snow Park | 27 km | 567 cm | 54 |
| Onogawa Onsen | 36 km | 314 cm | 430 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 25% 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 44 cm, about the same as the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 446 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 289 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 595 cm (2.1 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
- Rope tow1
- Chairlift1
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 小国 weather station — 1.1 km from this ski area, 101 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 675 cm |
| 2023/24 | 494 cm |
| 2024/25 | 866 cm |
| 2025/26 | 666 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 481 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
3 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 33.2 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| おぐに横川二宮の湯 | 2.2 km | 33.2℃ lukewarm | 7.2 neutral | — | — |
| 小国松風館 | 3.7 km | 14.1℃ cold | 6.2 neutral | — | — |
| 小国鉱泉松風館 | 3.7 km | 14.1℃ cold | 6.2 neutral | — | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yokokawa Dam横川ダム (山形県) | Nature | 9.3 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
3 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 2.2 km
Nearest first
- ビジネスホテルいづみ Hotel 2.2 km
- Tsutaya Ryokan Hotel 2.3 km
- 民宿さいとう Guest house 10.2 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Yamagata
- 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 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.
- When Is the Best Time to Ski in Japan? January, measured over twelve winters at 397 ski areas. Last season was not typical — its January ran high and its March ran less than half of normal — so here is the average alongside it, month by month.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52