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This section presents reviews of Japanese snow resorts sent in by our readers. If you've been to a Japanese snow resort, please send in a review and share your thoughts.

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.

 

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DETAILED SEARCH ON ALL REVIEWS SINCE OCTOBER 2002:

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Aichi - 1 Reviews Akita - 16 Reviews Aomori - 51 Reviews
Ehime - 2 Reviews Fukui - 10 Reviews Fukushima - 75 Reviews
Gifu - 63 Reviews Gunma - 117 Reviews Hiroshima - 11 Reviews
Hokkaido - 237 Reviews Hyogo - 19 Reviews Ishikawa - 20 Reviews
Iwate - 92 Reviews Kanagawa - 1 Reviews Kumamoto - 1 Reviews
Kyoto - 1 Reviews Miyagi - 22 Reviews Miyazaki - 2 Reviews
Nagano - 403 Reviews Niigata - 458 Reviews Okayama - 4 Reviews
Saga - 1 Reviews Shiga - 22 Reviews Shimane - 9 Reviews
Shizuoka - 3 Reviews Tochigi - 27 Reviews Tokushima - 1 Reviews
Tottori - 7 Reviews Toyama - 10 Reviews Yamagata - 77 Reviews
Yamanashi - 6 Reviews


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)

RESORT NAME : Biwako Valley, Shiga
Snowboarder
READERS NAME : Keen snowboarder
DATE VISITED: 2 times a year from 2008-2010
SNOW CONDITIONS: Sunny, great snow. Some cloudy days but still great
PROS : Close, better layout of rental shop etc after construction
CONS : Ropeway/Gondola is still expensive - adds to the total price.
REVIEW: We have been to Biwako about twice a year for the past three years so thought it was time I put a recent review up.

We have loved Biwako every time. Even on the busy days, or when a lift might be closed down it has still been good to us.

This season has been the worst of the three. Every other time we have gone up the whole mountain has been open, the snow has been fantastic (we had ice only once and wasn't that bad).

When it is busy and the restaurant is full we still manage to find somewhere to sit. The food is great, you get your monies worth.

Just wish the ropeway/gondola price would go down. Adding 1800yen to the lift pass and only being able to use the ropeway/gondola once (one trip up and down) in the day is a rip off. Though when we very first went to Biwako the ropeway was new so it was 3600yen!!

Buses to and from the station to the mountain aren't to regular either so make sure you check what time the bus leaves the mountain or you may be waiting for an hour for the next one.
OTHER REVIEWS of Biwako Valley Resort (8 in total)
This Resort Review was submitted : Saturday 6th February 2010, 4:10pm
 
BIWAKO VALLEY - READER RANKINGS (Vote Here)
GENERAL SCORE SNOW CONDITIONS COURSES TERRAIN LIFT SYSTEM APRES SKI
54
( 4 votes)
47
( 4 votes)
61
( 4 votes)
63
( 4 votes)
25
( 4 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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