GRANSNOW Okuibuki is a ski area located in Maibara City in the northern region of Shiga Prefecture.
This ski area is in the mountains east of the northern part of Lake Biwa and close to the border with Gifu Prefecture. It is one of the larger ski areas in the Kansai region and is popular with people visiting from Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya.
Gransnow has one 800m quad lift, one 500m triple lift and seven pair lifts (350m, 450m, 600m, 600m, 300m, 800m, 300m), two running in parallel.
This ski area makes several claims of records. First, the Variety Quad lift is celebrated as being the speediest ski lift in Japan at 5m per second. Second, the Heavenly 46 course features the steepest gradient of 46 degrees, making it the steepest in Japan. (That record is shared with the Pioneer course at Snow Resort Romance no Kamisama, previously known as Kijimadaira, in Nagano Prefecture). They also say that their Kids Park is one of the biggest in Japan.
The ski area also says the Ibuki region enjoys the 'world's largest snowfall' at 11.82m. The wording of that claim is (perhaps purposefully) rather vague - no doubt some other regions might have something to say about it!
Mountain
statistics
Top/peak (m)
1250
Vertical (m)
550
Bottom/base (m)
700
Beginner runs (%)
30
Intermediate runs (%)
40
Advanced runs (%)
30
Longest course (m)
2500
Steepest slope (°)
46
Number of courses
14
Ski lifts
9
Ropeway cable car
0
Gondola
0
Quad lift (4-person)
1
Triple lift (3-person)
1
Pair lift (2-person)
7
Single lift (1-person)
0
Surface lift
0
Information
Normal season dates
This ski area usually plans to be open from late November until early to mid-April. See below for the actual opening and closing dates in recent seasons.
Normal opening times
The lifts are GRANSNOW Okuibuki are normally open from 8:00am until 5:00pm.
Night skiing
There is no night skiing at GRANSNOW Okuibuki.
Park
The Snow Park is located off the Variety quad lift and features a bunch of items.
Families & children
The Kids Park area is close to the Rental House building by the base area. It features various items and activities and covered moving walkway and that costs 1500 yen. The ski area itself describes the Kids Park as 'one of the biggest in Japan'.
Lessons
Ski and snowboard lessons are available at GRANSNOW Okuibuki.
Rental
Ski and snowboard equipment & wear rental is available along with other facilities at the base of the ski area.
Lift ticket prices
2025-2026 season
Information for the upcoming 2026-2027 season will be added by December 2026
1 day (weekends & holidays)
Adult: 6,300 yen
Child: 3,500 yen
Senior: 5,800 yen
1 day (weekdays)
Adult: 4,900 yen
Child: 3,000 yen
Senior: 4,400 yen
Season ticket
Adult: 62,000 yen
Child: 20,000 yen
Senior: 57,000 yen
Season ticket (weekdays)
Adult: 42,000 yen
Child: 20,000 yen
Senior: 40,000 yen
January & February
Adult: 49,000 yen
Lift ticket pricing for the 2025-2026 season is rather complicated as there are now four distinct prices that depend on the day.
A 1-day lift ticket ranges from 4,000 yen (early and late season) to 7,000 yen on three specific days (11th January, 11th and 22nd February).
The prices shown above are for most weekdays and most weekends during the main season.
The season ticket shown above is valid from 20th December 2025 until the end of the season. A season ticket that also includes the early season is 72,000 yen.
A PM ticket is also available and also has four distinct prices.
Historical snow depth data
The following ski season and official snow depth data have been independently compiled by SnowJapan for publication on this website. Where available, the data is updated annually after each ski season.
First and last dates of recent seasons
2025-2026 season: 14th November - 12th April (150 days)
2024-2025 season: 22nd November - 13th April (143 days)
2023-2024 season: 18th December - 10th April (115 days)
2022-2023 season: 16th December - 2nd April (108 days)
2021-2022 season: 18th December - 13th April (117 days)
Deepest recorded snow depth
2025-2026 season: 260cm on 9th-11th February
2024-2025 season: 370cm on 26th February - 1st March
2023-2024 season: 200cm on 26th-31st January
2022-2023 season: 230cm on 31st January - 10th February
2021-2022 season: 340cm on 23rd February - 1st March
2020-2021 season: 250cm on 12th-15th January
2019-2020 season: 95cm on 12th February
2018-2019 season: 180cm on 29th January -3rd February
2017-2018 season: 300cm on 13th-25th February
2016-2017 season: 280cm on 12th-17th February
2015-2016 season: 140cm on 26th-27th January
2014-2015 season: 330cm on 14th February
Resources
Weather & snowfall (Japan Meteorological Agency) [open in new window]
Introduction to the region
Shiga Prefecture is located in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshu in western Japan. It encircles Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake, and borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu to the east, Mie to the south, and Kyoto to the west.
The ski areas in Shiga are located in the northern region of the prefecture.
Gransnow Okuibuki, one of the larger ski areas in the Kansai region and previously known as Oku Ibuki, is in the northern region of Maibara City, close to the border with Gifu. Biwako Valley, near the western shores of Lake Biwa in Otsu City, is popular with visitors from the Otsu and Kyoto areas.
Shiga Prefecture should not be confused with the popular highland area in the northern region of Nagano Prefecture known as Shiga Kogen.
Gransnow Okuibuki is the only ski area currently operating in Maibara City.
About the information on this page
SnowJapan independently researches, checks and updates the information on this page at least once each year, in the lead-up to every ski season. We also update it whenever we become aware of other changes. The information published on SnowJapan is based on independent research using official Japanese-language sources and is not supplied by ski areas. If you are planning to visit a ski area, we recommend checking the official ski area website for the latest operational information. We take great care to keep the information on SnowJapan accurate and up to date. However, SnowJapan accepts no responsibility for decisions made based on information published on this website.
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