It is another fine morning.

Lovely sea of cloud to the north of Yuzawa over the Minamiuonuma valley, but that should clear quickly enough leaving us with clear skies and sunshine.

It is going to be warm too today. Perhaps as high as 15 degrees in town. So it's not feeling very wintery just now and we are going to need to remain patient. And indeed remember that it is still November!

Conditions up at the open Kagura (as of yesterday)? Well, there's some places that are a mix of snow and mud, pretty firm in parts. But the snow is not deep. To get back down to the Mitsumata Ropeway at the end of the day you need to either take the Mitsumata lift or risk your gear by riding down on the snow mats. I know which I'd choose! Thanks to Dan and Patrick for the information.

Actually this morning Kagura are saying that due to the snow conditions they are having to shorten the course area that is open. So it is down from 1,300m to 600m in length and they are now operating just the Number 1 romance lift at Kagura to service the open course.

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Lifts:

Mitsumata Ropeway: 8:00am until 5:00pm (last going up at 2:30pm)
Mitsumata Number 1 high speed lift: 8:00am until 3:00pm
Mitsumata Number 2 romance lift: 9:00am until 4:30am
Kagura Gondola: 8:15am until 4:00pm

Courses:

Kagura main course - 600m in length, 30-40m wide

Notes:

The Mitsumata area is open just as a connecting area.
The Tashiro area is closed. It plans to open from 8th December.
The open course is not recommended for beginners.
Return to Mitsumata Ropeway via Mitsumata lift or snow mats.

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Planned opening dates - subject to change of course depending on weather/snow conditions.

NOW PART OPEN
- Kagura (via Mitsumata Ropeway)

Saturday 8th December 2018
- Iwappara
- Joetsu Kokusai
- Kagura (Tashiro)
- Naeba

Friday 14th December 2018
- Maiko Snow Resort
- Yuzawa Park

Saturday 15th December 2018
- GALA Yuzawa
- Kandatsu Kogen
- Yuzawa Kogen
- Yuzawa Nakazato

Friday 21st December 2018
- Ishiuchi Maruyama
- Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- NASPA Ski Garden

Saturday 22nd December 2018
- Chateau Shiozawa
- Ipponsugi
- Nakazato Snow Wood

Sunday 23rd December 2018
- Hakkai Sanroku
- Itsukamachi

Friday 28th December 2018
- Ishiuchi Hanaoka

Saturday 29th November 2018
- Mt Granview