Yuzawa Now: Tuesday 20th December 2022
- Dec 20, 2022
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 16cm
Snowfall at base this seas 26cm
Posted on Tuesday 20th December 2022 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
At last, some snow on the ground!
There is around 15cm or so of snow, give or take, at our trusted measuring points around town.
Kagura is reporting 20cm of fresh snowfall and curiously they are mentioning that 'it has snowed, but not as much as you see on the news'. That is because on the national news last night it was showing the really heavy snow that was causing trouble in central Niigata Prefecture. They have well over 1m in places. While we had sunshine during lots of the day yesterday, it was hard to believe that it was happening so close by... and in regions that usually don't get much snow too. At one point there was 22km of stationary traffic on the Route 8 road in Kashiwazaki! Interesting (and no fun for those involved), but bring it down here please!
Back to ski area news:
GALA Yuzawa is open from this morning. They have the gondola and three lifts in the Central Area open, with four ski runs available - Melody, Entertainment, Edelweiss (part) and Gigi. The playing in the snow area is also open.
So there are now 4 ski areas open: Kagura, Naeba, GALA Yuzawa and Joetsu Kokusai.
Other ski areas are still on standby. This fresh snowfall is of course most welcome, but not enough yet. We might get some light snow during the day today and the next potential for decent snow seems to be for late week. Good snowfall for Christmas would be a popular present.
For the moment it is mostly cloudy, light snow falling in places, and some hints of blue sky in others.
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GALA Yuzawa
Part open
Lifts:
- Gondola
- Barouche quad lift
- Sociable quad lift
- Phaeton pair lift
- 4 courses in the Central Area (Melody, Entertainment, Edelweiss, Gigi)
Official snow depth:
- 35cm
Kagura
Mostly open
Lifts:
- Mitsumata Ropeway (from 8:00am on weekdays)
- Tashiro Ropeway (from 8:00am on weekdays)
- 11 lifts operating
Courses:
- Most of the main ski runs at Kagura are planned to be available today
- 21 our of 32 courses officially open
Official snow depth:
- Top: 60cm
- Base: 30cm
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Naeba
Part open
Lifts:
- Prince Number 2 Gondola (8:00am until 3:15pm, last one down at 3:45pm)
- Takenokodaira pair (8:15am until 3:30pm)
Courses:
- Takenokodaira
Official snow depth:
- Top: 30cm
- Base: 0cm (...but there is some snow down there)
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Joetsu Kokusai
Part open
Lifts & Courses:
- 4 lifts
- Panorama (2 courses)
Official snow depth:
- Top: 45cm
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Other ski areas in Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma
Ready to open when there is enough snow
- Ishiuchi Maruyama (the Gondola is open for sightseeing)
- Iwappara
- Kandatsu Snow Resort
- Maiko Snow Resort
- Nakazato Snow Wood
- Yuzawa Kogen (the Ropeway is open for sightseeing)
- Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Resort
Planned opening date: Friday 23rd December 2022
- Muica Snow Resort
- NASPA Ski Garden
Planned opening date: Saturday 24th December 2022
- Chateau Shiozawa
- Hakkai Sanroku
- Ipponsugi
- Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- Yuzawa Park
Planned opening date: Late December 2022
- Mt Granview
Confirmed as not opening for the 2022-2023 season
- Ishiuchi Hanaoka
- Itsukamachi
Yuzawa Now 2022-2023 season |
Data as of Tuesday 20th December 2022 Total snowfall at base so far 26cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 6 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 16cm (20th December) November 2022 snowfall 0cm December 2022 snowfall 26cm 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 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.