Yuzawa Now: Wednesday 19th December 2018
- Dec 19, 2018
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 2cm
Snowfall at base this season 89cm
Posted on Wednesday 19th December 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Just a slight bit of snow overnight (after some rain, so rather wet), with Kagura reporting 3cm of fresh snowfall and Maiko reporting 10cm (presumably higher up).
And as the morning has progressed, the clouds have been clearing and right now there is a lot of blue sky and sunshine over Yuzawa. A high of around 6C is expected.
It's a lovely morning. As much as we would prefer the snow clouds to be over us and delivering!
We are still looking at warmer conditions late week into the weekend and really hoping to avoid rain and get snow instead. (Obviously). We can just hope temps remain on the lower side of the forecasts.
Thanks to that blast of winter last week, it's feeling like we are not quite there yet once again. Ski resorts that planned to be open by now are mostly part open, though - apart from Kagura - it is limited openings as we wait for more snow to get things deep.
NASPA Ski Garden and Ishiuchi Maruyama (with the unveiling of their impressive new gear) plan to open from Friday.
The photos today are from GALA Yuzawa, Yuzawa Kogen and NASPA Ski Garden.
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Ski resorts in Yuzawa:
GALA Yuzawa
- 80cm (official snow depth)
* GALA Yuzawa is part open
* The Chuo (Central) Area of GALA Yuzawa is open
* The Gondola, Coach pair, Barouch quad, Sociable quad and Phaeton pair lifts are operating
* The Melody, Entertainment, Gigi and Grenoble courses are open
* The ‘Snow Enjoyment Park’ is open
Iwappara
* Iwappara is not yet open
* They will open as soon as there is enough snow
Kagura
- Kagura area: 130cm (official snow depth)
- Mitsumata area: 90cm (official snow depth)
- Tashiro area: 110cm (official snow depth)
* All areas and almost all lifts and courses across Kagura are now open
* The top Kagura Number 5 romance lift should be open from 1st January 2019
Kandatsu Kogen
- 85cm (official snow depth)
* Kandatsu Kogen is part open
* The Tozawa base pair and Ikenodaira quad lifts are operating
Naeba
- 40cm (base)
* Naeba is part open
* The Prince Number 2 Gondola, Number 4 pair lift, Number 5 high speed lift and Takenokodaira pair lifts are operating
* You can ride back down to base from the upper Takenokodaira area
NASPA Ski Garden
* NASPA Ski Garden is not open yet
* NASPA will be open from Friday 21st December
Yuzawa Kogen
- Top: 50cm (official snow depth)
- Base: 30cm (official snow depth)
* Yuzawa Kogen is part open
* The Yuzawa Kogen Ropeway, Cosmos lift, Summit Panorama lift and Nunoba Family lift are operating
Yuzawa Park
- 38cm (official snow depth)
* Yuzawa Park is part open
* The Number 7 lift is operating with the Beginners course open
Yuzawa Nakazato
- 50cm
* Yuzawa Nakazato is part open
* The Number 1 high speed lift, Number 2 and Number 3 pair lifts are operating
* The Joyful course, Number 3 Romance course and Panorama course are open
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Ski resorts in Minamiuonuma - just to the north of Yuzawa:
Ishiuchi Maruyama
* Ishiuchi Maruyama is not open yet
* It will be open from Friday 21st December
Joetsu Kokusai
- 40cm
* Joetsu Kokusai is part open
* The Nagamine quad, Panorama quad and two Panorama area pair lifts are operating
* Three Panorama courses and the Panorama forest course are open
Maiko Snow Resort
- Top: 60cm (official snow depth)
- Base: 25cm (official snow depth)
* Maiko Snow Resort is part open (the Gondola side)
* The Gondola itself is not operating
* The two Nagamine quads as well as the top Okusoeji quad lift are operating
* Most of the top Okusoeji area courses are open and you can ski back down to base
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
* Muikamachi Hakkaisan is not open yet
* It plans to open from Friday 21st December
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Other planned opening dates for ski hills in the region
Saturday 22nd December 2018
- Chateau Shiozawa
- Ipponsugi
- Nakazato Snow Wood
Sunday 23rd December 2018
- Hakkai Sanroku
- Itsukamachi
Friday 28th December 2018
- Ishiuchi Hanaoka
Saturday 29th November 2018
- Mt Granview
Yuzawa Now 2018-2019 season |
Data as of Wednesday 19th December 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 89cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 9 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 32cm (15th December) November 2018 snowfall 2cm reported on 1 day December 2018 snowfall 87cm 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 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.