dyna8800 3 Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Does the South area of Gala Yuzawa ever open up? It seems that it would have some decent intermediate terrain, and allow access to Yuzawa Kogen. Went on Sunday January 15 but the south area was closed. The only way to access Yuzawa Kogen would be to go back down the gondola and take the shuttle bus. Ishiuchi Maruyama area was sludge city, similar to the Sierra Cement I am so used to...but the higher slopes of Gala held up well, slight crust but otherwise good considering the rainfall on Saturday. Link to post Share on other sites
number9 0 Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I'm planning of going to the Yuzawa area in the next month and am curious about how the lifts and gondolas link up the three resorts. Weather was bad on the 14th, but are the three resorts not well linked, and often not linked because of unworking lifts? Having to take shuttle buses would suck. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Moderator SnowJapan.Com#4 5 Posted January 17, 2006 SnowJapan Moderator Share Posted January 17, 2006 The south part of Gala Yuzawa always opens later than the other parts - mainly because it is steep and needs more maintenance. It was open for a short time earlier in the season (I think!), but they closed it once more when the heavy snows after new year arrived and dumped more snow on the area....... the reason is there is a huge amount of snow there and a high risk of avalanches. They want to open it up asap but it might take more time. With that part closed, the link to Yuzawa Kogen is of course cut off (as the ropeway from Yuzawa Kogen goes to the bottom of the south part of Gala Yuzawa) and they will only be able to open that when that part of Gala opens up again. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted January 17, 2006 SnowJapan Admin Share Posted January 17, 2006 I have just spoken with the resort - they are doing all they can to open it up and of course want to open that area up asap. It seems that - particularly at the top of the lift - there is just so much snow (that has both fallen naturally and fallen as a result of avalanches up there) that they are having real trouble getting it sorted. Also because it is steep over there, there's a few places they still deem dangerous. It seems they have never had to deal with snow levels of this year, and they are playing catchup. I asked when they think they might be able to open that area up again and the response was basically they don't know...... Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 That area is fun when its actually open, which is not much at all this season by the looks!Don't bother with YK though, not really worth it - use Gala and Ishiuchi if you go there. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 They should put some pics of it all on their site to explain to people..... it just looks bad it being closed all the time, even if there is good reason. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I would avoid that slope anyway in February because of earthquake threats as predicted by myself in this thread. (That slope is in eastern Japan right?) http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/8/4289/14.html#000344 Precautions necessary. Link to post Share on other sites
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