Yuzawa Now: Monday 1st January 2024
- Jan 1, 2024
- 6 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this seas 151cm
Posted on Monday 1st January 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Yuzawa. And Happy New Year.
For us snow lovers, it's impossible to not be disappointed this morning. We were expecting some fresh snow, but it just didn't really happen - at town level anyway. Rather, we got continued heavy rain and that, of course, has not helped matters.
There was some light (wet) snow falling earlier, and there does appear to have been some snow higher up - though I don't have any specific numbers to report other than around 10cm at Naeba.
At the moment ski area specific noticeable news this morning is that only the Mitsumata section of Kagura is open at the start of the day due to strong wind forecasts. That's all the information that is available there just now.
We should not be surprised if some runs that were open have to be closed due to the snow situation. This will be so particularly ski areas at lower elevations... higher areas should be fine. If you are heading out to a specific ski area, we recommend checking their website for the latest as conditions might change even during the day.
It isn't the most inspiring New Years Day, but we hope you have a good one wherever you are.
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A message from SnowJapan
Happy New Year!
2024 is SnowJapan's 25th year. A quarter of a century!
I still remember first putting together a simple webpage version of the printed guidebook I had made introducing the ski areas in Yuzawa and Myoko here in Niigata Prefecture in the mid-to-late 1990s.
So much has happened since then, of course, including about six major site redesigns.
So much has changed, including the site's dramatic increase in size, scope, and usage.
Also, the 'inbound market' has become a thing. Believe it or not, it really wasn't back then! (Side note: it still isn't noticeable at many local remote ski areas, so there is still much of that kind of adventure left if you want to find it).
Many of you might also remember the Forums. They were a lot of fun and proved valuable for many, but unfortunately, they became something of a burden behind the scenes. From our position, while the decision to turn them off in November 2014 was tough at the time, it proved to be the correct one and significant for the well-being of the site (and to the benefit of its wider audience) as a whole.
Then, there was the more recent period when COVID abruptly halted international travel. It was, of course, a problematic, worrying and uneasy time for everyone. SnowJapan continued to operate and be updated as usual throughout that period. Site usage stats show that many of you were still reading our reports from overseas, even if you unfortunately couldn't visit Japan.
I took that quiet period to start SnowJapanHistory in 2020. Since I first came to Japan, I've always been interested in the ski areas in my region and beyond. And I had often wondered what to do with information about ski areas that closed (and indeed ones from much further in the past). Simply deleting that information from SnowJapan and wiping it from memory seemed wrong. Still, there wasn't really anywhere appropriate within SnowJapan to keep that information. Starting the history project and discovering the many fascinating stories really took my interest in the history of skiing in Japan to a new level and has given me a new appreciation for the whole subject. (There have been many fun trips to take photographs of locations, too).
That project also helped inspire some aspects of the latest SnowJapan redesign launched in 2022.
But for all the things that have changed, some things have stayed the same.
The most important is this website's basic concept, focus, and values that keep it on track. SnowJapan enjoys being 100% independent. We don't have any obligations to anyone in how we run things. No one has any influence over our content. Also unchanged is that we are not here to persuade you to visit Japan (though many people have told us how they came to Japan after using the resources on SnowJapan).
The ongoing aim is to offer trustworthy and honest information and almost to be a countermeasure against all the hype and marketing messages (not to mention a fair amount of incorrect and misleading information) that are out there. If anything, that outlook actually becomes more stubborn as time passes.
I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the trusted reporters who tirelessly provide our daily updates throughout the winter. Doing it every day for 5+ months is a big ask, and with so many people reading them, it's a real responsibility, too.
Also, a thank you to everyone who has been friendly towards and supported SnowJapan over the last two and a half decades.
SnowJapan is a year-round (and essentially never-ending) project. There is always something to update and something to try and improve. We love doing what we do and as long as it's fun... here's to the next however many years!
Back to this season, and while it got off to a promising early start in some regions, it has since (generally) slowed down as we wait for the Japan-like heavy snowfall we all love. It's still relatively early, so hopefully, the snowfall will come soon and be consistent through the season.
Thank you for reading, and all the best for 2024, wherever you might be reading this from. If you visit Japan this winter, we hope you return home with fine memories of the country.
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GALA Yuzawa
Lifts open:
Diligence Gondola, all Central Area lifts and all but the Buggy lift in the Northern Area are open
Courses available:
All the Central Area courses are open
All the Northern Area courses apart from Super Swan and Roman Holiday B are open
Official snow depth:
80cm
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Ishiuchi Maruyama
Operations:
11 lifts and 16 courses open
All three base areas are now open but there are restrictions
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Iwappara
Operations:
The central to summit area is open
The lower Number 1 pair lift is open to get to the open area
Official snow depth:
30cm
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Joetsu Kokusai
Operations:
17 lifts and 15 courses open (mostly open)
Official snow depth:
70cm
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Kagura
Lifts open:
Affected by wind this morning only Mitsumata Area open early on
Official snow depth:
Top: 80cm
Base: 40cm
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Kandatsu Snow Resort
Operations:
4 lifts and 9 courses open
Official snow depth:
40cm
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Maiko Snow Resort
Lifts & courses:
9 lifts and 16 courses open (both base areas are open and connected via the Shuttle pair lift)
Official snow depth:
Top: 80cm
Base: 25cm
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Muikamachi Hakkaisan
Operations:
All scheduled lifts and runs are open
The Number 2 pair lift and associated run is scheduled to be open on weekends, holidays and between 29th Dec and 3rd Jan
Official snow depth:
Top: 110cm
Base: 30cm
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Naeba
Operations:
4 lifts and 6 courses open
Dragondola closed today due to wind
Official snow depth:
Top: 40cm
Base: 20cm
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NASPA Ski Garden
Operations:
2 lifts (4 and 5) and 3 courses open
Official snow depth:
35cm
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Yuzawa Kogen
Operations:
5 lifts and 6 courses open
Both the Kogen and lower sections are open with some restrictions
Official snow depth:
Top: 40cm
Base: 20cm
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Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Resort
Operations:
5 lifts and 8 courses open
Official snow depth:
35cm
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Yuzawa Park
Operations:
2 lifts and 5 courses open
Official snow depth:
20cm
Yuzawa Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Monday 1st January 2024 Total snowfall at base so far 151cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 11 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 55cm (23rd December) November 2023 snowfall 14cm reported on 2 days December 2023 snowfall 137cm reported on 9 days January 2024 snowfall 0cm |
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.