Rusutsu First Snow: Resort Blog Reports Snowfall on Oct 22

Rusutsu Resort in Rusutsu Village, Hokkaido, has reported its first snow of the season on its official blog. The post is dated Thursday, October 22, 2026.

First snow at Rusutsu on Thursday, October 22

According to the blog, the autumn colours on the trees were in their final stage and winter was drawing near when the first snow fell on Thursday, October 22. The blog only says that snow fell. It gives no figures for how much, and it does not say whether any of it settled. It also does not describe snow depth on the slopes or lift operations. ^[1]

Note that this is the resort's own report of first snow. It is not the same as the "hatsu-kansetsu" (first snow cap) announced by the weather observatory, which is an observation that the mountain summit looks white.

Other items on the official site's news page

The news section of Rusutsu Resort's official website also lists the following items. Please check the official pages for details.

October 21: Notice of maintenance for online sales of the K-Winter Pass
October 9: Advance sale of 25-hour tickets
September 17: Notice that the winter-season "Sapporo ⇔ Rusutsu Resort" bus will become a paid service

If you plan to take the bus from Sapporo, it is worth reading the notice about the new fare first. ^[2]

How to check Rusutsu now

Even after first snow, it will be a while before enough snow settles to ski on. As the season approaches, these pages can help:

Rusutsu Resort live cams: see the mountain as it looks right now.
Opening dates page: planned opening dates for each ski resort, updated every morning from the official sites.

For Rusutsu's opening this season, we will check the official announcement first and then post it on the opening dates page above.

Sources

Prepared with AI assistance from public sources. Always check each resort's official website for the latest information.