Morning from Yuzawa. I was kind of hoping to be waking to clearer skies and sun this morning but it's more cloud and overcast for the most part.

Yesterday it got quite bright late morning before snow started to fall on the mountains from clouds that were clearly moving in from the north west. Unfortunately it ended up raining, and quite heavily at times late night. We'd much prefer the rain keep away, thank you very much.

There's actually a break in the clouds over the Ishiuchi area just now, so maybe it will clear up.

A high of 4C and then warmer still with temperatures perhaps rising as high as 7C degrees tomorrow.

We should be back to snowfall going into Wednesday though.

After the New Year holidays we are now back to a 'normal Monday'. Even yesterday didn't seem that busy out on the slopes, but it should be quite quiet out today.

Kagura have announced revised opening times for the top Romance Number 5 lift and here they are: 9am until noon on weekends and holidays; 9:30am until noon on weekdays. They're also stressing that you need to give a 'tozan todoke' (basically your plan to go backcountry) if you intend to do that. Perhaps due to the incident over the new year with some people missing. Talking of which...

---

Happy news about the three people who were missing as of this time yesterday. They have been found alive, with no life-threatening injuries. Seems they had gone backcountry without letting people know and nature got the best of them. Anyway it is good to hear that they have been found. They did an interview on the news last night and were obviously quite overwhelmed acknowledging the real dangers of winter mountains. Message: be safe.

---

Official snow depths:

GALA Yuzawa:
320cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama:
270cm
Iwappara:
190cm
Joetsu Kokusai:
190cm
Kagura:
290cm
Kandatsu Kogen:
250cm
Maiko Snow Resort:
250cm
Naeba:
220cm
NASPA Ski Garden:
230cm
Yuzawa Kogen:
250cm (Kogen)
200cm (Nunoba)
Yuzawa Nakazato:
200cm

---

Nighta in the area

Nighta 'night skiing' - where some slopes are floodlit for skiing and snowboarding in the evening, is available at the following resorts in the area.

Ishiuchi Maruyama:
Every day until 21st March (until 8:50pm)
Iwappara:
Every day until 22nd March (until 8pm on weekdays and Sundays, 9pm on Saturdays)
Joetsu Kokusai:
Every day until 22nd March (until 9pm)
Kandatsu Kogen:
From 23rd January, 'all night' on holidays (6pm or 10pm until 4am the next morning)
Maiko Snow Resort:
Every day until 14th March (until 8pm)
Naeba:
Every day until 29th March (until 9pm)
NASPA Ski Garden (skiers only):
11th January; Saturdays until 29th February (until 7pm)
Yuzawa Nakazato:
11th January; Saturdays from 10th January until 14th March (until 8:30pm)

Chateaux Shiozawa also have nighta but only on certain days - no fixed schedule available.
Resorts not mentioned above do not operate 'nighta' (or do not plan to have more this season).
Some resorts offer tickets that include nighta, others need a special lift ticket.

---

Ski and snowboard resorts in Yuzawa town
Ski and snowboard resorts in Minamiuonuma City