Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 20cm Snowfall at base this season 325cm Posted on Wednesday 17th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . We did end up with rain yesterday from the afternoon and continuing into the evening. I'm guessing (and this is a guess, sorry) that it would have been snow higher up. Rain down in town. It wasn't as cold as it had been but still didn't rise above 3 degrees. The news last night was full of this "once every however many years" winter storm will be over Japan today and tomorrow - with Hokkaido getting special mention for extra strong typhoon like winds - and while this morning has started snowy and windy, it's not crazily so. A look at the weather charts shows more snow falling to the north of us here, perhaps around Koide and Horinouchi, with slightly less here in the Yuzawa region... but that's just for the moment. The forecast is for heavy snow and strong winds for all of today and tomorrow. 25-30cm of snow on the top of my car parked in Ishiuchi overnight and it's definitely rather windy, but from what I can tell the ski resorts that are open should be open as normal this morning. Kagura reports 20cm of snowfall and... well, that's actually it for reported numbers. I do wish they'd all tell us every day! --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 150cm Maiko Snow Resort: 170cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 17th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 325cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 325cm reported on 8 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 80cm Snowfall at base this season 95cm Posted on Sunday 7th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . It has been a Snowtastic 24 hours here, a bit mad to be honest. We have been well and truly snowed on. The best measure I can give is that I wiped 30cm off the top of my car at 5pm last night. And this morning there's 50cm on the top there. No kidding. So that's a confirmed 80cm of snow since yesterday. It's still snowing and forecast to until this evening, so that will only be added to. We usually get some snow around now and it usually melts before the 'proper' snow arrives and sets in the for the season, but this feels 'proper'... it may well warm up a little in the coming week but I can't see this lot going. That means of course that it's very probably a really great base for the resorts around town. Locals seems to be in a bit of shock though. I think my Myoko friend mentioned it yesterday but as much preperation as people seem to do, there's always a bit of a mad dash panic when the first snow hits. And when it hits in this kind of style...! --- OK so let's look at resort news. This morning Kagura are curiously only reporting 50cm of fresh snow. Perhaps they don't want to frighten away people who don't like hearing about 'too much snow' (believe it or not, they exist!) As you might expect with all the new snow they are opening up more. Mitsumata: -Main Course -Technical Course -Gondola Course -Family Course -Gondola Line Lifts operating: Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad, Mitsumata Number 3 Romance lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 Quad (every day), Kagura Number 1 Romance lift (holidays) Tashiro: Tashiro Number 1 Course Rakuraku Course Tashiro Ladies Course (* but men allowed) Shirakaba Course Number 1 Quad connecting course Skyline Course Tashiro Aries Course Lifts operating: Tashiro Ropeway, Tashiro Number 1 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 2 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 1 high speed, Tashiro Number 4 Romance lift (holidays) So Kagura isn't connected up with Tashiro yet, but fairly big chunks of either side are now open. --- No detailed news yet from Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai (who yesterday were saying that they will be considering opening from Wednesday this coming week, but with the snow we have now...) --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): As soon as possible (not confirmed at time of writing): Iwappara Joetsu Kokusai Saturday 13th December: Maiko Snow Resort Naeba Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Sunday 7th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 95cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 2 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 95cm reported on 2 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 15cm Snowfall at base this season 15cm Posted on Saturday 6th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . This is a bit more like it! The morning rain yesterday turned into sleet and then in the afternoon it was snowing. It's still snowing now actually and outside SnowJapan HQ in Minamiuonuma we have probably around 10-15cm of snow on the ground. Not a massive amount for sure, but it's the first cm on the ground and a very welcome sight indeed. The forecast is for continued snow through the day today and tomorrow as well, so let's see it build up. Kagura were last night reporting 15cm in the Mitsumata car park and this morning reporting 20-40cm of fresh snow up there on their slopes. From today the Mitsumata area will be used as a 'connection' to Kagura. Which means no more shuttle bus needed. So here's the line up at Kagura this morning, the first four being 'lifts open to get you there' so to speak: - Mitsumata Ropeway - Mitsumata Number 1 Quad lift - Mitsumata Number 3 Romance pair lift - Kagura Gondola - Kagura Number 1 Quad (every day) - Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift (holidays) I would imagine that with continued snowfall today, they will quite quickly be getting more terrain open up, (perhaps even today and probably tomorrow - just guessing there). The Tashiro Ropeway is now scheduled to be open from tomorrow, so no opening there this morning. There's no word yet from Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai but surely there's not enough snow yet to open. They both planned to open today so will now be opening up as soon as they can. --- Ski resorts in Yuzawa town Ski resorts in Minamiuonuma City --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata Ropeway) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Sunday 7th December: Kagura Tashiro As soon as there's enough snow to open: Iwappara Joetsu Kokusai Saturday 13th December: Maiko Snow Resort Naeba Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 6th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 15cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 1 day Most snowfall observed in 1 day 15cm (6th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 15cm reported on 1 day Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 0cm Posted on Sunday 30th November 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Some cloud around but blue sky as well and the sun is out as I write this report. Mild overnight and only just dipping below 10 degrees down in town here, with a high of about 15 degrees forecast for later in the afternoon today. Things still set to start changing from tomorrow. Rain likely but by Tuesday morning it should be snowing in higher areas at least. Kagura is looking forward to the prospect of daily fresh snow up there Tuesday onwards, so hopefully by next weekend the season might be able to kick into action more. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura: A 600m run at the main Kagura area is open, access via Mitsumata Ropeway. A shuttle bus takes people from the top of the Ropeway to the base of the Kagura Gondola, which then takes them up to the base of the main Kagura area. The Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift is operating to service the open course. --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town: Saturday 6th December: Kagura Tashiro Iwappara Saturday 13th December: Naeba Friday 19th December: Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: NASPA Ski Garden GALA Yuzawa Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Ipponsugi Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Kandatsu Kogen Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Sunday 30th November 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 0cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 0 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 0cm November 2014 snowfall 0cm Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 25cm Snowfall at base this season 120cm Posted on Monday 8th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . After that continued snow for most of the day yesterday, this morning it's an absolute beauty. Clear blue skies all round and the sun is out as of 8am. Everywhere looks stunning. It almost felt like it would never stop snowing yesterday. It really did come down with well over 1m observed. Easily 20cm or more since my last report yesterday morning I would say. Whatever the 'exact number', if such a thing exists with things like this, it doesn't really matter... a lot. By the time it got dark, skies were generally clear and it was actually a fine but cold and icy evening. So with the clear skies this morning there is no new snow to report overnight. The number I add to the report this morning is what fell during the day yesterday. A few lifts not moving today that were yesterday aside, it looks like the same Kagura parts of Kagura are open today. They have a map saying that this is what will be open from today until Friday. Presumably that is in the absence of any further heavy snow. Joetsu Kokusai and Iwappara, while covered in a nice layer of snow, seem to have made the decision to wait for more to open up. Still they will certainly be happy with how things are looking this morning rather than waiting around with no snow like we sometimes are at this time of the year. It will be interesting how this week goes. Traditionally, the first snowfall in town melts away before the real snow for the season comes. But with so much falling this time, I find it hard to think that it will all go from town. But you never know I suppose. There isn't much snow forecast for the week until late Friday into Saturday actually, even a bit of rain here and there in the meantime as it won't be quite as cold. A high of 5 degrees forecast for today but after today it doesn't look like it should warm up too much, so fingers crossed it will keep on the colder side. --- Mitsumata: -Main Course -Giant Course -Technical Course -Gondola Course -Family Course -Gondola Line Lifts operating: Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad, Mitsumata Number 3 Romance lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 Quad (every day) Tashiro: Tashiro Number 1 Course Rakuraku Course Tashiro Ladies Course (* but men allowed) Shirakaba Course Number 1 Quad connecting course Skyline Course Tashiro Aries Course Lifts operating: Tashiro Ropeway, Tashiro Number 1 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 2 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 1 high speed Kagura isn't connected up with Tashiro yet, but fairly big chunks of either side are now open. --- No detailed news yet from Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai (who yesterday were saying that they will be considering opening from Wednesday this coming week, but with the snow we have now...) --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): As soon as possible (not confirmed at time of writing): Iwappara Joetsu Kokusai Saturday 13th December: Maiko Snow Resort Naeba Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Monday 8th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 120cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 120cm reported on 3 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 15cm Snowfall at base this season 135cm Posted on Saturday 13th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . There's 15cm of snow on the top of my car this morning. Not as much as I was hoping for really. Not snowing at the moment. And a bit shocked to see a bit of blue sky over parts of Yuzawa as well at the moment. A quick look at the webcams shows the sun shining down on the main run at Kagura (who are also reporting 10cm of fresh snow this morning). Hmmm, wasn't expecting (or hoping for) that. The forecast still has us down for snow and heavy snow tonight and into tomorrow, so I'm hoping that this surprise clear will be shortlived. Yesterday it was snowing on and off during the day - sleet at times in places - but rather not that kind that had snow piling up on the ground. Bit wet. Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai both opened part of their resorts as detailed yesterday. Today Naeba and Maiko Snow Resort open for the first time this season as well. Naeba has a fairly large area open, including the Daishamen course and downhill from the Number 2 Gondola along with part of the lower slopes of the resort. They are reporting 2-5cm of snow since last night and the sun is shining over there for the moment. Lots of 'events' going on over there and no doubt the TV cameras will be there as well.... they seem to be every single season. Naeba is still a big name. Maiko Snow Resort has the top Okusoeji area open, accessed via the Gondola. I was over there yesterday evening and it was interesting seeing a ski resort get ready for opening. I get the feeling they might have been there late last night (all night?) getting everything ready. We'd really like lots of snow rather than clear weather for the moment. Hopefully those snow clouds will arrive in force a bit later on today. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) Iwappara (part open) Joetsu Kokusai (part open) Naeba (part open) Maiko Snow Resort (part open) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 13th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 135cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 4 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 135cm reported on 4 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 120cm Posted on Tuesday 9th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . No new snow to report this morning. Yesterday the sun stayed out for pretty much all day, some clouds gathering as the day progressed. But generally a really lovely day, and though it did warm up slightly and there was the sound of dripping melting snow, it didn't get too warm. This morning it wasn't snowing but just now I have just speaking with my colleague in Minamiuonuma where it has just started snowing in the last 10 minutes. Looks like it's coming south and the bit of sunshine that we have had this morning will be replaced by snow soon. Bit wetter compared to the mid-season snow we got over the weekend. Will be interesting to see how much we get on the ground today, not a huge amount expected. It has been on the news to look for heavy snow at the weekend again though, starting around Friday. --- Mitsumata: -Main Course -Giant Course -Technical Course -Gondola Course -Family Course -Taikai -Gondola Line Lifts operating: Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad, Mitsumata Number 3 Romance lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 Quad (every day) Tashiro: Tashiro Number 1 Course Rakuraku Course Tashiro Ladies Course Number 1 Quad connecting course Skyline Course Tashiro Aries Course Lifts operating: Tashiro Ropeway, Tashiro Number 1 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 2 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 1 high speed Kagura isn't connected up with Tashiro yet, but fairly big chunks of either side are now open. --- No detailed news yet from Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai. They'll be opening as soon as they can. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): As soon as possible: Iwappara Joetsu Kokusai Saturday 13th December: Maiko Snow Resort Naeba Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 9th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 120cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 120cm reported on 3 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 35cm Snowfall at base this season 532cm Posted on Friday 26th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Snow for most of the day yesterday along with a moderate wind, though it didn't actually end up with the amount of snow that you'd think. It was really blowing around in the evening though, and the snow obviously set in good and proper overnight with a nice thick layer to report this morning. The on-top-of-the-car number is 35-40cm. Maiko Snow Resort report over 40cm. Kagura report 50cm. Naeba report 30-50cm. Looking good! Top conditions this morning wherever you go in the area, I'd say. But... Quite strong winds are messing with operations at Kagura early in the morning though - the Tashiro area will be closed for the day and from the Mitsumata Station it's open up to the Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift (possibly that the quad will open later depending on conditions). Looks like the wind is affecting top areas of Naeba as well today. A quick look round other resorts and they all seem to be planning to be open as normal. It's snowing still this morning though a bit on and off over the last hour or so. Snow is forecast to be with us for the day today though so any breaks are probably just temporary. It should ease off by tomorrow morning though and we will probably get some sunny conditions over the weekend, especially on Sunday according to the local forecast. There's some impressive walls of snow around town and on Route 17. The tallest I have seen are around the traffic lights near the base areas of Ishiuchi Maruyama. Tomorrow sees the opening of the remaining two ski hills in the area.... Ishiuchi Hanaoka and the famous Mt Granview! --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 250cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 240cm Iwappara: 190cm Joetsu Kokusai: 170cm Kagura: 250cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 240cm Naeba: 170cm NASPA Ski Garden: 190cm Yuzawa Kogen: 210cm (Kogen) 160cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 150cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Mt Granview --- Nighta in the area Nighta 'night skiing' - where some slopes are floodlit for skiing and snowboarding in the evening, is available at the following resorts in the area. Ishiuchi Maruyama: Every day until 21st March (until 8:50pm) Iwappara: Every day until 22nd March (until 8pm on weekdays and Sundays, 9pm on Saturdays) Joetsu Kokusai: Every day until 22nd March (until 9pm) Kandatsu Kogen: From 23rd January, 'all night' on holidays (6pm or 10pm until 4am the next morning) Maiko Snow Resort: Every day until 14th March (until 8pm) Naeba: Every day until 29th March (until 9pm) NASPA Ski Garden (skiers only): 27th December until 3rd January; 11th January; Saturdays until 29th February (until 7pm) Yuzawa Nakazato: 27th December until 3rd January; 11th January; Saturdays from 10th January until 14th March (until 8:30pm) Chateaux Shiozawa also have nighta but only on certain days - no fixed schedule available at the moment). Resorts not mentioned above do not operate 'nighta'. Some resorts offer tickets that include nighta, others need a seperate lift ticket. Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Friday 26th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 532cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 14 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 532cm reported on 14 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 20cm Snowfall at base this season 480cm Posted on Tuesday 23rd December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Snowfall remained half-hearted for much of the morning at least and into the afternoon, though around 2pm it started snowing more heavily... didn't amount to that much snow on the ground though. So it was surprising to see on the news how much snow had been falling elsewhere in Niigata to the north of us here - the clouds had kind of missed us out of the main event. My friend over in Tokamachi said he had to move over 40cm off his car yesterday evening, that had fallen during the day. So the forecast was for 50cm and over in the mountains of the region for overnight, so we were looking forward to that. Didn't quite turn out like that though. There's 15cm of snow on the top of my car this morning; I'd guess that resorts around town saw about 20cm upwards. Kagura are reporting 30-40cm; Naeba reporting 20-40cm. Nice to get the layer of fresh, but let's have more today ok?! Today is a national holiday in Japan - Emperor's Birthday - so I would expect places to at least be busier than a normal Tuesday. The weekend didn't see too many crowds so just how many people will turn out for today, I don't know. Christmas isn't a holiday here in Japan and while people might eat a cake and friend chicken on Christmas Eve (as is the 'tradition' here), for most it's just another day. Indeed you'll probably see Christmas trees taken down late on the 24th, to be replaced with New Year gear. Oh yes and lots of ski hills will get visited by Santa. Busy guy. The forecast for today remains snow and it is snowing now, so hopefully we can get some more fresh snow on the runs. Tomorrow looks set to be milder with some forecasts telling us that we might have clearer sunny skies (others just cloudy). Itsukamachi resort in Minamiuonuma opens from today. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 230cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 165cm Joetsu Kokusai: 160cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 160cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 23rd December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 480cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 11 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 480cm reported on 11 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 460cm Posted on Saturday 20th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Yesterday the clouds gradually broke up leaving us early afternoon with lots of blue sky above Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma. It turned into a beautiful afternoon with just a bit of cloud hanging on. Snow was great too - one of the things about this early snowfall was not just how much there was, but the quality... was like mid-season really nice condition. It didn't warm up too much during the day yesterday, but it's a milder start this morning and cloudy - or is that overcast? Just generally grey skies basically. As of 9am it's around 3 degrees here in town and it might rise to as high as around 8 degrees later on in the day. Bit too warm that, and while it will get colder later on there's a good chance it will rain. It should be snowing overnight though with tomorrow set to be colder. Fingers crossed for it to get colder quicker than the forecast suggests and we avoid that rain stuff. --- Today sees another bunch of resorts open for the first time including GALA Yuzawa and NASPA Ski Garden and most places are either fully or close to be being fully open. It's great that we are in that position so early in the season and not worrying about the amount of snow. Noticably more people around this morning as well, it's probably what you might call the first big weekend of the season and I reckon lots of people will be enjoying their first slides of the season today. As most ski resorts in Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma are now at least part open, I'll just make a note below of which are still waiting to start their season. Just Itsukamachi, Hakkaisanroku, Ishiuchi Hanaoka and Mt Granview left now. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 270cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 230cm Iwappara: 175cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Naeba: 140cm NASPA Ski Garden: 195cm Yuzawa Kogen: 190cm Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 20th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 460cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 460cm reported on 10 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 15cm Snowfall at base this season 497cm Posted on Thursday 25th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Good morning from Yuzawa and Merry Christmas! It's a White Christmas too, with snow coming down very nicely at the moment. First of all back to yesterday. Those early morning clouds lightened up and by mid morning there was some blue sky around and for a few hours before noon we enjoyed lots of sun and lots of blue sky. Lovely morning it turned out to be, and not cold either. The sun softened up the snow a bit too. More cloud just after lunch but it stayed generally fine for the day. The photos on the report this morning were taken yesterday morning at the Joetsu Kokusai resort in Minamiuonuma. So back to this morning and there's around 15cm or so of fresh snow on the top of my car. Kagura reporting 30cm. Naeba reporting 10-20cm. Maiko Snow Resort reporting 20cm. (By the way, someone asked why we only report the 'new snowfall' for a few resorts. Basically we want to post any useful information that we can find. Unfortunately lots of resorts don't mention the new snowfall every morning. If the info is available, we'll post it... as simple as that!) It's not too cold, in town at least hovering around zero, and so definitely colder than yesterday. The forecast for today and tomorrow is basically... snow. Once we get into the weekend some clearer skies are due and milder conditions as well. Just to remind Kagura fans that the too Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift will be starting up for the season on New Years Day. Sounds good to me. Fresh snow, so it should be good out there today. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 240cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 155cm Joetsu Kokusai: 170cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 180cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 182cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Thursday 25th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 497cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 13 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 497cm reported on 13 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 2cm Snowfall at base this season 482cm Posted on Wednesday 24th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Mostly cloudy over the region, some quite dark clouds there early on as well. Yesterday it was snowing on and off for most of the day and into the evening, though the kind of snow that didn't end up with much in terms of new cm on the ground. There were a few times when blue skies appeared as well, only to be fairly quickly covered again by the clouds. Fairly hard packed snow conditions on lower slopes yesterday afternoon and a bit icy - it felt pretty cold out there - so while there's still a large amount of snow delivered to the area. Perhaps Santa could help rather than skiing around! And perhaps he will. While today is expected to be quite mild and temperatures rising to maybe around 6 degrees early afternoon, it should be getting cold by evening and hopefully snow falling by the end of the day (though some local forecasts give us the chance of rain before snow). After that, snow for all of tomorrow, so bring it on Mr Christmas. I'm posting the report too early this morning to catch the official snow depth number updates and so most of those are as they were yesterday. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 230cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 165cm Joetsu Kokusai: 160cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 160cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 24th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 482cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 482cm reported on 12 days Previous report Next report 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. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com