Yuzawa Now: Wednesday 29th April 2026
- Apr 29
- 3 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this seas 917cm
Posted on Wednesday 29th April 2026 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Today is Showa Day and a national holiday in Japan.
Golden Week often brings us warm and sunny weather, but this morning Kagura looks rather foggy and dull early on. Looks like it should be quite cold up there and some forecasts even mention a chance of light sleet or snow.
It feels quite mild in town and we expect a good chance of some rain.
Kagura seemed rather excited yesterday to share with us news about their 'special price' (55th Anniversary Plan commemorative project!) for car parking during the holiday days within the Golden Week period. Only 1,000 yen! (The usual price this year is 1,500 yen). Forgive me for being less than excited about that news.
Update:
From today, Mitsumata is no longer available as a connecting course. What does that mean? Well, on the way back from the still-open ski runs at Kagura to Mitsumata at the end of the day, this is what you need to do:
- after getting off the Kagura gondola, take the Mitsumata Number 2 pair lift (as usual)
- walk 170m to the top of the Mitsumata quad lift
- ride the Mitsumata quad lift down
- walk 230m over to the top of Mitsumata Ropeway
- take the Mitsumata Ropeway back to base
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Kagura:
Official snow depth:
Top: 150cm
Base: 50cm
Notes:
12 of 17 lifts remain open.
Both the Mitsumata Ropeway and Tashiro Ropeway bases are open.
Some walking is now involved on the way back to base using Mitsumata Ropeway. (See above).
22 of 30 ski runs are still available, according to the official website this morning.
The Tashiro Area (and Tashiro Ropeway) plans to be open until 7th May.
The Kagura Area (via Mitsumata Ropeway) plans to be open until Sunday 17th May.
Closing dates are subject to change - it will all depend on how much snow remains!
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All other ski areas in the Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma region have now closed for skiing and snowboarding.
Yuzawa Now2025-2026 season |
Data as of Wednesday 29th April 2026 Total snowfall at base so far 917cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 52 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 68cm (on 25th January) November 2025 snowfall 12cm reported on 1 day December 2025 snowfall 144cm reported on 9 days January 2026 snowfall 595cm reported on 23 days February 2026 snowfall 132cm reported on 13 days March 2026 snowfall 34cm reported on 6 days April 2026 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.