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Nozawa Now: Friday 22nd December 2023

  • Dec 22, 2023
  • 2 min read

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


New snowfall at base 12cm
Snowfall at base this season 44cm

Posted on Friday 22nd December 2023 This is an archived report. The latest Nozawa Now report can be found here.


We were all excited about the prospect of heavy snow. We do have snow, though perhaps not as much as we thought we might, certainly now down at base anyway.


Having said that, the ski area is reporting up to 30cm up top and that is allowing more of the mountain to open this morning. The Hikage gondola is moving, all Yamabiko runs are open and so is Kokenashi and Uenotaira.


We're still promised heavy snow later today. Early morning it is cloudy but quite bright at times. Cold too.


Fresh snowfall since yesterday morning (reported by the ski area):

Yamabiko: 30cm

Uenotaira: 23cm

Hikage: -

Nagasaka: -

Karasawa: -


Official snow depth numbers (reported by the ski area):

Yamabiko: 50cm

Uenotaira: 45cm

Hikage: -

Nagasaka: -

Karasawa: -


Lifts operating:

Nagasaka Gondola (from 8:30am)

Hikage Gondola (from 8:30am)

Yamabiko Four lift

Yamabiko Number 2 Four quad lift

Skyline connecting pair lift

Uenotaira quad lift

Yu Road (from 8:00am)


Courses available:

Yamabiko A-E

Kokenashi A/B

Uenotaira (some restrictions)


Top areas of the ski area are open.

You need to get the gondola back down to base.

All base areas are closed.



Nozawa Now 2023-2024 season

Data as of Friday 22nd December 2023 Total snowfall at base 44cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 13cm (25th November) November 2023 snowfall 21cm reported on 2 days December 2023 snowfall 23cm reported on 6 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.


SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for.



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