Yuzawa Now: Friday 16th December 2016
- Dec 16, 2016
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 8cm
Snowfall at base this season 85cm
Posted on Friday 16th December 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
The snow continued falling for most of the day yesterday, though it didn't actually result in that much more cm on the ground. With more snowfall overnight I record another 8cm of fresh snowfall since my report yesterday morning. (Interestingly, Kagura are just reporting 5cm of fresh and so are Maiko Snow Resort).
Talking of Maiko Snow Resort - they are open this morning. They have their gondola moving as well as the two lifts in the upper Okusoeji area and about 2/3 of the courses up there open. They are reporting a snow depth of 95cm up top with about 30cm at base.
And it also looks like Kandatsu Kogen have opened this morning as well - their official opening was planned for tomorrow, but it seems they just can't wait! In what they are calling 'pre-open', 60% of their courses will be available.
GALA Yuzawa enjoys a high elevation and so expect a large part of that resort to be open. They have said that they will have their Central and North areas open with 7 courses available.
There's a bunch of ski and snowboard resorts in Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma preparing to open from tomorrow and with the snowfall we have received I expect them all to be able to - to varying degrees. There's still not a huge amount of snow at town level but more the higher up you go.
It's all happening now though, and it feels good. After the poor start to the season last year I think many people were wary but we need to remember that last year was not 'normal'. We have a promising start here now so hopefully we're back to normal and we can expect some very nice snowfall this season. For the moment, it will be really great if the resorts can all open as planned.
There's so much information to try and gather and with resorts themselves crazy busy in 'bata-bata' mode, I will do my best tomorrow morning to bring you all of the latest details.. and apologies in advance if the report is posted later than usual.
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Oops, I nearly forgot the forecast - snow through the day today and perhaps into tomorrow, some clearer skies and milder temperatures into early next week. Not too warm please!!
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Resort-specific info as of Friday 16th December 2016
Ski resorts that are currently open in the region:
Kagura
All areas of Kagura are now open. The top Kagura Number 5 pair lift and course will open from 1st January 2017.
The resort is reporting 5cm of fresh snow.
Official snow depth:
Kagura - 120cm
Mitsumata - 80cm
Tashiro - 100cm
Naeba
More of Naeba opening up now with the Number 2 gondola operating.
Official snow depth: 60cm
Maiko Snow Resort
The top Okusoeji area is about 2/3 of that area is open from this morning.
Official snow depth:
Upper - 95cm
Base - 30cm
Kandatsu Kogen
Special 'pre-open' today with the resort saying it is '60% open'.
Official snow depth: 80cm
Planned opening dates for other resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date):
Planned opening tomorrow:
GALA Yuzawa
Iwappara
Joetsu Kokusai
Ludens Yuzawa
Muica Snow Resort
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
Nakazato Snow Wood
Yuzawa Kogen
Yuzawa Nakazato
Yuzawa Park
Wednesday 21st December:
Ishiuchi Maruyama
Thursday 22nd December:
NASPA Ski Garden
Friday 23rd December:
Chateau Shiozawa
Ipponsugi
Itsukamachi
Saturday 24th December:
Hakkai Sanroku
Mt Granview
Wednesday 28th December:
Ishiuchi Hanaoka
Yuzawa Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Friday 16th December 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 85cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 26cm (11th December) November 2016 snowfall 2cm reported on 1 day December 2016 snowfall 83cm reported on 7 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. 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.