Yesterday ended up being bright but cloudy - more silver than blue. Overnight we had some strong noisy wind and it remained quite mild. This morning we start again with some blue cloud and quite a lot of cloud, but it is bright and some moderate winds forecast for the morning. Rain is forecast for later, hopefully it will be snowing higher at Kagura.

And talking about Kagura...

Yesterday after my report was posted some changes were announced for Kagura - with the Mitsumata Family course and the Technical Course opening up. And they have also announced that from tomorrow (Friday), the Giant Course and the Gondola Course will also be open for skiing and snowboarding. And from Saturday, the Panorama Course will be open too, if all goes to plan. Good to see that more terrain is opening up, even if we aren't getting much in terms of natural snowfall.

Iwappara has a planned opening date of this coming Saturday, but that obviously isn't going to happen. Along with Joetsu Kokusai in neighbouring Minamiuonuma, they'll be going into standby mode.

---

A recap on what is planned to be open today at Kagura:

Open courses are:

- Kagura main course
- Technical course
- Family Course

Operating lifts are:

- Mitsumata Ropeway
- Mitsumata Number 1 quad
- Mitsumata Number 2 romance pair
- Kagura Gondola
- Kagura Number 1 quad lift

---

Ski resorts currently open:
Kagura - part, via Mitsumata Ropeway

Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date):

Saturday 3rd December:
Iwappara
Joetsu Kokusai

Saturday 10th December:
Kagura (Tashiro)
Maiko Snow Resort
Naeba

Friday 16th December:
Muica Snow Resort
Yuzawa Park

Saturday 17th December:
GALA Yuzawa
Ipponsugi
Kandatsu Kogen
Muimamachi Hakkaisan
Nakazato Snow Wood
Yuzawa Kogen
Yuzawa Nakazato

Wednesday 21st December:
Ishiuchi Maruyama

Thursday 22nd December:
NASPA Ski Garden

Friday 23rd December:
Chateaux Shiozawa

---

Ski resorts in Yuzawa town
Ski resorts in Minamiuonuma City