Yuzawa Now: Friday 22nd December 2023
- Dec 22, 2023
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 10cm
Snowfall at base this seas 88cm
Posted on Friday 22nd December 2023 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Good morning from a.... sunny Yuzawa.
Yes, it's one of those 'really?!' kind of mornings, considering we were expecting potentially heavy snow overnight. The heavier snowfall seemed to have been to the north of our valley.
There has been some, just not as much as we though we would get. Our Yuzawa measurement is 10cm, with about 7cm in Ishiuchi area.
There's more exciting news from Kagura, which is reporting 20-40cm of snowfall since yesterday at those higher elevations.
For now, though, the sun is shining but it has been clouding over... perhaps getting ready for the snowfall we are told to expect (again) later today and into tomorrow.
This morning sees Maiko Snow Resort, Yuzawa Kogen and Joetsu Kokusai opening up and the upper Takenokodaira run opening at Naeba.
Curiously, there is still no information is available yet regarding when the Tashiro section of Kagura might open (or indeed more of the main Kagura Area itself).
Once again, the report will be updated later on today with any further news.
6:00pm update:
It's snowing and hopefully tomorrow morning there will be some good numbers to report.
Iwappara and Muikamachi Hakkaisan plan to be part open from tomorrow. Iwappara plans to have the Number 2 and 3 pair lifts as well as the central quad lift operating. Hakkaisan is reporting lots of snow and that it will be 'fully open'. Nice.
And, at last, an update from Kagura! The Tashiro Ropeway and Tashiro Area will be open from tomorrow, with a much larger area of the wider Kagura ski area available from tomorrow.
The skiers-only NASPA Ski Garden and newly re-named Ipponsugi Snow Park (more on that at a later date, but look here) are both planning to be part open from Sunday.
Basically, ski areas are going to do everything they possibly can to be at least part open (and as widely open as they can be) this weekend, the weekend before Christmas. The exception being Chateau Shiozawa, which has a planned opening date of 26th December, once Santa has left).
With so much going on and so much to check, tomorrows report will surely take a while longer than usual to appear.
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Ski area information for Friday 22nd December 2023
The information below is manually checked with official sources and updated for every report.
Please note that details can change quickly, especially at the beginning of the season, and official information may take a bit longer to update.
All information is subject to change.
GALA Yuzawa
Part open
Lifts open (scheduled):
- Diligence Gondola
- All Central Area lifts
Courses available (scheduled):
- All Central Area courses (some restrictions on Edelweiss)
Official snow depth:
- 40cm
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Ishiuchi Maruyama
Part open
Lifts open (scheduled):
- Sunrise Express
- Green
- Kanko Number 4 express
- Kitamaruyama Family pair
- Tyrol triple
Courses available (scheduled):
- 6 courses
Official snow depth:
- 70cm
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Joetsu Kokusai
Part open
Lifts open:
- 5 lifts
Courses available:
- 4 courses (Panorama Zone)
Official snow depth:
- 50cm
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Kagura (via Mitsumata)
Part open
Lifts open:
- Mitsumata Ropeway (from 8:00am on weekends; 7:30am on weekends)
- Mitsumata Number 1 quad
- Mitsumata Number 2 romance pair lift
- Kagura Gondola
- Kagura Number 1 quad
Courses available:
- Kagura main slope
- Giant
- Gondola course
- Gondola line
- Family (Mitsumata)
Official snow depth:
- Top: 50cm
- Base: 30cm
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Kandatsu Snow Resort
Part open
Lifts open:
- A pair lift
- C quad lift
Courses available:
- 4 courses
Official snow depth:
- 40cm
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Maiko Snow Resort
Part open
Lifts open:
- Maiko Gondola
- Okusoechi quad
- Okusoechi pair
Courses available:
- 6 courses (need to get gondola back down to base)
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Naeba
Part open
Lifts open:
- Prince Number 2 Gondola
- Takenokodaira pair lift
- Number 4 romance pair lift
Courses available:
- Takenokodaira
- Number 4
Official snow depth:
- Top: 25cm
- Base: 20cm
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Yuzawa Kogen
Part open
Lifts open:
- Yuzawa Kogen Ropeway
- Cosmos pair lift
- Summit panorama pair lift
Courses available:
- 3 courses
Official snow depth:
- Top: 30cm
- Base: 20cm
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Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Resort
Part open
Lifts open:
- Number 2 lift
- Number 3 lift
Courses available:
- 2 courses
Yuzawa Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Friday 22nd December 2023 Total snowfall at base so far 88cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 26cm (19th December) November 2023 snowfall 14cm reported on 2 days December 2023 snowfall 74cm 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.