Please note that all
reviews in this section of Snow Japan are those send
in by our readers, and not the views of Snow Japan.
DETAILED SEARCH ON ALL REVIEWS SINCE OCTOBER 2002:
| RESORT
NAME : |
Yamagata Zao Onsen, Yamagata |
Skier |
| READERS
NAME : |
Age
|
| DATE VISITED: |
6th -8th February 2010 |
| SNOW CONDITIONS: |
Firm base with good powder. |
| PROS : |
Lots of choice for the intermediate skier |
| CONS : |
Some flat areas, particularly in and out of the lifts |
| REVIEW: |
We arrived in Zao at lunchtime on Saturday, and the weather was terrible. 50km/hr winds and blizzard conditions. Many lifts were closed, however there were still some hardy souls braving the element and having some fun. We had 2 runs until our goggles iced over, and we retired to one of Zao's famous onsens.
Sunday, although still windy, the upper runs were covered in cloud with limited visibility but the lower runs were plentiful and provided us intermediates with a fun day. The gondola had queues, but all the regular lifts had a steady stream of skiers with no delays.
On Monday the weather turned Zao into a winter wonderland. The sky was blue, and sun was shining, there was hardly a breath of wind. The legendary snow monsters on the summit were gleeming. All the lifts were running, but with so many runs to choose from, there were often moments when you felt like the only people on the mountain.
In all, a terrific weekend. |
| OTHER REVIEWS of Yamagata Zao Onsen Resort (50 in total) |
| READER JOURNALS submitted about Yamagata Zao Onsen Resort (9 in total) |
| READER PHOTOS submitted of Yamagata Zao Onsen Resort (627 in total) |
| This Resort Review was submitted : Tuesday 9th February 2010, 9:05am |
| |
| YAMAGATA ZAO ONSEN - READER RANKINGS (Vote Here) |
| GENERAL SCORE |
SNOW CONDITIONS |
COURSES TERRAIN |
LIFT SYSTEM |
APRES SKI |
78
( 34 votes)
|
78
( 34 votes) |
73
( 34 votes) |
70
( 32 votes) |
60
( 31 votes) |
|
|
| RESORT
NAME : |
Karuizawa Prince Hotel, Nagano |
Both |
| READERS
NAME : |
brightrob
|
| DATE VISITED: |
8th Februar 2010 |
| SNOW CONDITIONS: |
Poor |
| PROS : |
Close to station, good for beginners, good views |
| CONS : |
Poor snow, poor lift management, very little for intermediate and upwards, short courses max is 1,000m |
| REVIEW: |
Have you ever cheated on your partner?
That's how I felt today - I normally go to the yuzawa area as am most comfortable with it. Know where to go, which places have the best conditions, etc. But thought this season I should try some other places, and this came up on the JR site, 7500 for shinkansen and lift pass. But something felt wrong.
Wow! Cheap!
Now I know why.
I managed to get up for 1st tracks, only to find the bottom slopes open, which meant green runs for 1hour until the lifts higher up opened, around 9am.
In that time, these runs got chopped up fairly quicker, lumps everywhere and turned to ice pretty quickly. Not the best start to the day.
At 9am, the "high speed" lift opened up to the top - talk about a misnomer. It's 1000m long and took 8 mins to get to the top. But the views were well worth it! Minami alps, Mt Asama amongst a few more mountains can be seen on a clear day and more choice of courses.
Thought I'd try the first intermediate run of the day, Panorama, which proved to be quite fun. Nice first few hundred metres at 25degrees, then back to 12degrees or so. A let down.
Switched over to the snow park - which contained one 2m kicker, a small 0.5m kicker onto a curved rail, and then three boxes: small, sloped down, and a wide flat one. Good fun, but not very accessible once done. You either have to hike up again or take a lift up way past it and then down again on the aforementioned chopped up run.
Decided to go back up to the top again, only to find the high speed lift now had a queue developing. Went into the single person lane, but the staff weren't very useful, essentially just letting me decide when to go in and not managing the people in the groups. A few times, I saw people go up in pairs or singles when there was space on other chairs.
Anyway, got back up to the top and dived down into some of the black runs towards the west area. First of all was Aliesuka course. This proved to be a good decision - no one was here. This is good black level run, steep incline of 30degree that peters out to a 12degree at the lift. The best of the day, but not very accessible in all. Later on, about 20 instructors came along and managed to pick up some free tips from the snowboard staff, which was nice of them.
Only trouble was, the lack of snow was evident on the edges of the course, and then the snow making machines got "turned on" in preparation. This did help matters a bit, but with today's weather being very sunny, it pretty much turned the slope into ice and got chopped up.
After spending an hour going up and done, I realised that simply I had had enough after only 3 hours, and decided to head home. Came back down under the high speed lift and saw a queue of about 30m had developed. There were plenty of other lifts around, but they weren't operating, due to "not being busy" according to some of the staff.
Apres ski at the resort is nil unless you are staying at the hotels, so not much choice except to come home. But no buses. Not until 3pm. So had to walk. Which wasn't a bad thing as there were plenty of shops on the way back, but these shops were part of a modern shopping mall, something evident about this area. The snow resort and surrounding area were developed because of the train line, not the other way around.
Overall, a major disappointment, and I feel guilty that I didn't go to my usual area. An experience that I may not tell Yuzawa about. If you were to win a ticket, or someone gives you one, then it'll be ok, but paying? Give it a miss and go elsewhere. |
| OTHER REVIEWS made by reader
brightrob (1 in total) |
| OTHER REVIEWS of Karuizawa Prince Hotel Resort (9 in total) |
| READER JOURNALS submitted about Karuizawa Prince Hotel Resort (6 in total) |
| READER PHOTOS submitted of Karuizawa Prince Hotel Resort (17 in total) |
| This Resort Review was submitted : Monday 8th February 2010, 4:56pm |
| |
| KARUIZAWA PRINCE HOTEL - READER RANKINGS (Vote Here) |
| GENERAL SCORE |
SNOW CONDITIONS |
COURSES TERRAIN |
LIFT SYSTEM |
APRES SKI |
43
( 7 votes)
|
34
( 7 votes) |
44
( 7 votes) |
62
( 7 votes) |
58
( 7 votes) |
|
|
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Please
note that all reviews in this section of Snow Japan
are sent in by our readers, and not necessarily the
views of Snow Japan.
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