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Nozawa Now: Sunday 17th December 2017

  • Dec 17, 2017
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Nozawa Onsen region of Nagano


New snowfall at base 22cm
Snowfall at base this season 112cm

Posted on Sunday 17th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Nozawa Now report can be found here.


Good morning.


The resort is reporting 20cm of fresh snow across the mountain - with up to 50cm up top on Yamabiko. I concur with that 20cm number, actually my number is 22cm. A nice new layer of snow and apparently lots of it the higher up you go.


Visibility is poor this morning as snow continue to fall and it feels pretty cold to me. So you need to get wrapped up but should be rewarded with some fine conditions if you brave the elements.


Schneider, Challenge and Isemiya courses are now open and we can now ride back to base via Rinkan (Forest), Ushikubi or Kurokura courses.


Skyline yet to make the debut for the season, but there's still lots to choose from with most of the mountain now available.


Hope you have a good Sunday.


Operating lifts:


- Nagasaka Gondola

- Hikage Gondola

- Yamabiko four lift

- Yamabiko Number 2 lift

- Uenotaira four lift

- Skyline connecting lift

- Paradise four lift

- Challenge pair

- Utopia pair

- Hikage triple

- Hikage pair

- Shinyu pair

- Nagasaka triple

- Yu Road


Planned open courses:


- Yamabiko A-E

- Kokenashi

- Uenotaira

- Paradise

- Yunomine

- Mizunashi

- Bunabayashi

- Schneider

- Challenge

- Rinkan

- Ushikubi

- Kurokura

- Hikage

- Isemiya

- Nagasaka (part)

- Kumataka


Fresh snowfall (as reported by the resort):


- Yamabiko (1407m): 50cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 20cm

- Hikage (660m): 20cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 20cm

- Karasawa (563m): 20cm


Official snow depth numbers:


- Yamabiko (1407m): 160cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 135cm

- Hikage (660m): 80cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 75cm

- Karasawa (563m): 50cm



Nozawa Now 2017-2018 season

Data as of Sunday 17th December 2017 Total snowfall at base 112cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 41cm (14th December) November 2017 snowfall 21cm reported on 2 days December 2017 snowfall 91cm reported on 8 days




All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Nozawa Onsen. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report.


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