So there we are. After what seems like an extremely long 'spring season', the last ski lifts of the season came to a standstill a few hours ago.

Last two days coming up at Kagura.

Some lovely blue skies and equally lovely fluffy white clouds over Kagura yesterday, and lots of people on the slopes as well.

Good morning from Yuzawa - and the last day of the 13/14 snow season for GALA Yuzawa, Naeba and the Tashiro area of Kagura.

Cloudy at the moment, but there's a bit of sun shining through my window as I write this as well.

So, the last day of April. And back to a mid Golden Week weekday - meaning it's not a national holiday today.

The sun is out again this morning and clear skies all round. Not quite as blue as yesterday, a lighter shade.

We actually have something different this morning. Well yesterday was hazier than it has been but still sunny.

This morning the sun is back and it should be with us for a run of at least a few days now.

It almost felt like mid winter again yesterday at times.

Lots of rain yesterday and strong winds at times.

No jokes about huge amounts of fresh powder, though there are definitely huge amounts of pollen flying around at the moment with a lot of people suffering from hayfever.

Very heavy rain yesterday evening and the rain along with some crazy sounding wind actually woke me up a few times overnight.

Yesterday can't have been a particularly good day out there.