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Ski News Published 2026-11-01

First on Snow: Yeti Opens Japan's 2026-27 Ski Season on 23 October

Snow Park Yeti, on the southern slopes of Mt Fuji, opened on 23 October 2026 — the first outdoor ski area in Japan to open for the 28th year running. How a snowless mountainside in Shizuoka starts the national season.

Japan's ski season has officially begun — in a prefecture with almost no natural snowfall. Snow Park Yeti, in Susono City, Shizuoka, opened its slopes on Friday 23 October 2026, becoming the first outdoor ski area in the country to open for the 2026-27 season. According to the operator, PICA of the Fujikyu Group, it is the 28th consecutive year Yeti has taken that honour.

A slope built in fourteen days

There is no snow on Mt Fuji's southern foothills in October, so Yeti makes its own. Snowmaking began on 9 October, with the resort's Ice Crush System — a machine that manufactures snow regardless of air temperature — running 24 hours a day for fourteen days. By opening morning it had produced a course roughly 1,000 metres long and about 3 metres wide, with snow 30 centimetres deep. Unseasonably warm weather and stormy conditions in the run-up made this year's preparation harder than usual, the operator said.

About 500 skiers and snowboarders turned up for the first day, many in fancy dress — an opening-day tradition at Yeti. The first guest in line had driven from Minamiuonuma in Niigata, one of Japan's heaviest snow regions, and had been waiting in the car park since the previous lunchtime. The day itself was sunny and 12 degrees Celsius; at 10 a.m. a countdown, a balloon release and a DJ set sent the costumed crowd down the single white ribbon of snow together.

Opening day, by the numbers

Season: 23 October 2026 to 28 March 2027 — 157 days
First outdoor opening in Japan: 28 years in a row
Opening course: about 1,000 m long, 30 cm of machine-made snow
Snowmaking: 14 days, 24 hours a day, from 9 October
Opening day crowd: about 500 skiers and snowboarders
Elevation: 1,300–1,450 m, on the southern foot of Mt Fuji

Small mountain, long season

Yeti sits at 1,300 to 1,450 metres on the southern side of Mt Fuji, which fills the view from the slopes on clear days. It is a compact area — four courses and three lifts, with a longest run of about 1,000 metres and 150 metres of vertical — arranged unusually, with the base facilities at the top. What it lacks in size it makes up for in season length: the resort plans to stay open until 28 March 2027, with skiing under lights until 10 p.m. on most days. A one-day ticket costs ¥5,300 on weekends and ¥4,300 on weekdays this season.

This year the resort is also trying to be more than a place to ski. Under a new theme that translates roughly as 'From Mt Fuji, a home for snow culture', the opening day mixed the traditional mass start and costume skiing with gear and experience booths from winter-sports brands, information from other ski areas, live music and free servings of Shizuoka oden. The idea, the operator says, is to use Japan's earliest opening as a shop window for winter itself.

What opens next

Getting there is part of the appeal: Yeti is about twenty minutes by car from the Susono interchange on the Tomei Expressway, with buses from Gotemba, Mishima and Fuji stations, so the first turns of the Japanese season are an easy day trip from Tokyo. Go early in the season and you ski a single white ribbon through autumn grass, in a T-shirt at midday if the sun is out; go in February and the same compact hill is a proper snow resort with night skiing until 10 p.m. Either way, the bargain is the same — the season starts here, a month before the famous names have their lifts turning.

Yeti's ribbon of artificial snow is the starter, not the main course. Through November, the snowmaking resorts at higher elevations follow, and by mid-December the big natural-snow areas of Nagano, Niigata and Hokkaido swing into full operation — all 655 resorts in this guide, with their opening dates, snow records and course data, are on the prefecture pages. If Yeti's 500 costumed first-day skiers are anything to go by, the country is ready.

Sources

This article was written for this guide from the sources above. Opening dates and conditions change with the weather — each resort's own announcements are the authoritative source.

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