Shiratake Choei is a ski area located in Shirataka Town in the central region of Yamagata Prefecture.
The town operates this small local ski area with one pair lift and west-facing slopes.
The ski area is about 20-25km west of central Yamagata City.
Shiratake Choei is the only ski area in Shiratake Town.
Mountain
statistics
Top/peak (m)
617
Vertical (m)
107
Bottom/base (m)
510
Beginner runs (%)
20
Intermediate runs (%)
40
Advanced runs (%)
40
Longest course (m)
600
Steepest slope (°)
25
Number of courses
2
Ski lifts
1
Ropeway cable car
0
Gondola
0
Quad lift (4-person)
0
Triple lift (3-person)
0
Pair lift (2-person)
1
Single lift (1-person)
0
Surface lift
0
Information
Normal season dates
Shirataka Choei usually plans to be open from late December until mid-March. See below for the actual opening and closing dates in recent seasons.
Normal opening times
Shirataka Choei is open from 9:00am until 4:30pm during the daytime.
Night skiing
Night skiing is from 5:30pm until 9:00pm.
Lift ticket prices
2025-2026 season
Information for the upcoming 2026-2027 season will be added by December 2026
1 day
Adult: 2,200 yen
Child: 1,500 yen
Night
Adult: 1,200 yen
Child: 800 yen
1 lift coupon
Adult: 150 yen
Child: 150 yen
4 hours
Adult: 1,500 yen
Child: 1,000 yen
Season ticket
Adult: 20,000 yen
Child: 10,000 yen
A season ticket for Junior High School students is 13,000 yen.
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: 9th January - 27th February (50 days)
2024-2025 season: 20th December - 9th March (80 days)
2023-2024 season: 25th January - 14th February (21 days)
2022-2023 season: 24th December - 12th March (79 days)
2021-2022 season: 27th December - 13th March (77 days)
Deepest recorded snow depth
2025-2026 season: 85cm on 30th January - 1st February
2024-2025 season: 170cm on 10th February
Resources
Weather & snowfall (Japan Meteorological Agency) [open in new window]
Introduction to the region
Yamagata Prefecture is located in the southwestern corner of Tohoku, facing the Sea of Japan. Yamagata is bordered by Akita Prefecture to the north, Miyagi Prefecture to the east, Fukushima Prefecture to the south, and Niigata Prefecture to the southwest.
There are quite a lot of ski areas across the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture. In fact, after Hokkaido, Nagano Prefecture, and Niigata Prefecture, Yamagata is home to the fourth-most ski areas in the country. However, many are small and have only one or two ski lifts (some of which are surface rope-tow type lifts).
The larger ski areas in Yamagata Prefecture are located in the mountainous eastern and southern regions, close to the borders with Miyagi Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture.
The largest ski area in Yamagata Prefecture, by far (and one of the largest individual ski areas in Japan), is Zao Onsen in Yamagata City.
Shirataka Choei is the only ski area currently operating in Shirataka Town.
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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