Morning from Yuzawa.

Yesterday the weather was just, frankly, ridiculous.

Strong southerly winds. Temperatures over 11C in Yuzawa (town). A totally bonkers temperature of 16C being recorded not too far to the north of us in Uonuma city. It felt more like April than January.

All this happening while on the national news it was showing that it had actually snowed in Tokyo. There was 20+cm of snow being reported in places like Hakone and southern Yamanashi. Oh, and it was over 19C in Osaka.

Madness.

And this morning I was woken up at 3am by the sound of heavy rain. And it is raining now, with even Kagura reporting rain. One good thing is that it is not as warm today, though it is still mild and +5C as of 8:30am.

It's almost as if we are trapped in some weird parallel universe or something....

Jokes over, I’d like to wake up now please!

Forgive me. I’m just really trying to keep myself in good humour as we battle through this bizarre and challenging period.

So a bunch of ski resorts were closed yesterday due to the windy conditions. They are back open again today, but they might not feel like it and I doubt that many people will be wanting to be out in this weather.

I truly feel for them; and for us all. :(

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The bit we all want so much --- potentially good news.

There is snow on the forecast. Starting from tomorrow night.

And it DOES actually look promising.

If we get a decent amount, perhaps we can have a kind of reset/restart button for the season. I think we’d all love it if that were the case.

I don’t want to get too excited only to be disappointed if it doesn't happen, so one day at a time and lets see what nature brings us... onegai shimasu!

As I have said before, things can change very quickly once the snow gets stuck in.

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If you did not read the general message from SnowJapan that was in the report yesterday, please do take a few moments to check it out.

You can find it in the report from yesterday or here.

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Individual ski resort information: Wednesday 29th January 2020
All information checked and updated manually for each report. Subject to change.

GALA Yuzawa

- All lifts are now operating, including the Ropeway link with Yuzawa Kogen
- All of the Central Area and Northern Area courses are open
- The Batman and Eliza courses in the Southern Area are open
- Take the Gondola back down at the end of the day (Falcon downhill course not yet available)
- Official snow depth: 100cm

Ishiuchi Maruyama

- Access via the Chuo and Kanko base areas
- Upper courses open
- Official snow depth: 60cm (upper); 40cm (mid)

Iwappara

- 5 lifts are operating with the central to upper area of the resort open
- Official snow depth: 40cm

Joetsu Kokusai

- 8 lifts operating (the Nagamine quad is operating to get up to the open top area)
- 5 courses open in the Panorama and Atema areas
- Official snow depth: 50cm

Kagura

- All areas of Kagura are normally open
- 21 of 23 courses open
- The Dragondola connecting with Naeba is operating
- Official snow depth: 150cm

Kandatsu Snow Resort

- A, B, C and E lifts plan to be operating
- Official snow depth: 80cm

Maiko Snow Resort

- The Gondola and top Okusoechi quad and pair lifts are operating with 8 courses in that top area open.
- Take the Gondola back down to base.
- Maiko Area is currently closed.
- Official snow depth: 55cm (upper); 0cm (base)

Muikamachi Hakkaisan

- Ropeway and Number 3 lifts operating
- 5 of 14 courses open
- Official snow depth: 100cm

Naeba

- Naeba is open with most courses available
- 19 of 22 courses open
- Official snow depth: 70cm
- Details on Naeba Now report here

NASPA Ski Garden

- Number 3, 4 and 5 lifts operating
- F and G courses are open
- Kids Garden open
- Official snow depth: 30cm

Yuzawa Kogen

- Yuzawa Ropeway operating
- All Kogen lifts now operating and Kogen Snowland is open
- Base area is currently closed
- The Ropeway connecting Yuzawa Kogen with the Southern Area of GALA Yuzawa is operating
- Official snow depth: 80cm (Kogen); -cm (base)

Yuzawa Nakazato

- Number 1, 2, 3 and 4 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 35cm

Yuzawa Park

- Number 1 and 7 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 15cm

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Photos (below) from around 8:30am on Wednesday 29th January 2020:

- GALA Yuzawa (2)
- Yuzawa Kogen (2)
- NASPA Ski Garden
- Ishiuchi Maruyama (2)
- Route 17/Yuzawa IC exit