Yudonosan is a ski area located in Tsuruoka City in the northwestern region of Yamagata Prefecture.
The ski lift situation changed for the 2022-2023 season.
There are now two pair lifts operating at Yudonosan, 890m and 545m in length.
Mountain
statistics
Top/peak (m)
700
Vertical (m)
170
Bottom/base (m)
530
Beginner runs (%)
30
Intermediate runs (%)
50
Advanced runs (%)
20
Longest course (m)
2000
Steepest slope (°)
35
Number of courses
5
Ski lifts
2
Ropeway cable car
0
Gondola
0
Quad lift (4-person)
0
Triple lift (3-person)
0
Pair lift (2-person)
2
Single lift (1-person)
0
Surface lift
0
Information
Normal season dates
Yudonosan usually plans to be open from early to mid-December until late March or early April. See below for the actual opening and closing dates in recent seasons.
Normal opening hours
Yudonosan is normally open from 8:45am until 4:00pm.
Night skiing
There is no night skiing at Yudonosan.
Park
There is a Snow Park and also usually half pipe from early January. The snow on a few runs is left ungroomed.
Families & children
The Yuki Asobi Hiroba ('snow play') area is located at the base of the ski area and free to use. It has sledging and an area for complete skiing and snowboarding beginners, as well as playing-in-the-snow activities. There is also an indoor Kids Corner room at weekends which is also free to use.
Lessons
Ski and snowboard lessons are available at Yudonosan.
Rental
Ski and snowboard equipment & rental is available.
Lift ticket prices
2025-2026 season
Information for the upcoming 2026-2027 season will be added by December 2026
1 day
Adult: 3,700 yen
Child: 1,000 yen
4 hours
Adult: 3,300 yen
Child: 500 yen
1 lift coupon
Adult: 320 yen
Child: 100 yen
11 lift coupons
Adult: 3,200 yen
Child: 1,000 yen
Season ticket
Adult: 37,000 yen
Child: 6,100 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: 6th December - 31st March (116 days)
2024-2025 season: 12th December - 31st March (110 days)
2023-2024 season: 2nd December - 31st March (121 days)
2022-2023 season: 10th December - 2nd April (114 days)
2021-2022 season: 19th December - 3rd May (106 days)
Deepest recorded snow depth
2025-2026 season: 340cm on 3rd-4th February
2024-2025 season: 540cm on 23rd-26th February
2023-2024 season: 330cm on 10th-14th March
2022-2023 season: 560cm on 2nd-6th February
2021-2022 season: 560cm on 8th February
2020-2021 season: 520cm on 19th February
2019-2020 season: 270cm on 11th-12th February
2018-2019 season: 460cm on 14th-17th February
2017-2018 season: 560cm on 19th-22nd February
2016-2017 season: 420cm on 11th-15th March
2015-2016 season: 350cm on 26th February - 2nd March and 4th-5th March
2014-2015 season: 400cm on 14th February - 25th March
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.
Yudonosan is one of 2 ski areas currently operating in Tsuruoka 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.
Learn more about how we research, check and update information on SnowJapan.