Dog Sled & Ski Slalom in Yuzawa - Sunday February 1st

An event based around dogs and snow can only be fun. Head to Nakazato Ski Resort on Sunday February 1st and you can check out the 7th Dog Sled/Ski Slalom Race.

If you have a dog and a long enough leash you are welcome to join in. No experience required for either canine or human. Competitor registration starts from 0820 with the main event kicking off at 0940. There will be some proper sled dogs around but also expect lots of people out for some fun on the slopes with their four-legged friends. [Please send us photos of any dogs in ridiculous outfits!]

Anyone got a dog they can lend me?

Big Winter for Snow

It has been an amazing start to the winter season with lots of snow falling since mid-December. There are all sorts of statistics being thrown around: best start to the season for a decade, more snow by early Jan than the whole winter last year....

One of our favorite places to go to for snow information in the Snow Country region is the Tsunan town website. Tsunan is just on the border of Niigata/Nagano and always seems to get masses of snow. They have a daily update of temperatures, snowfall and snow depth. It makes for great reading and there is even a comparison with the same date last year.

This is the Tsunan Town Snow Information Page
Scroll town for the tables with the snow data starting in November.
Here is the table for December
Date on the left
The next four columns are for the town hall and are (1) temperature at 0900, (2) snowfall for the 24 hours, (3) snow depth at 0900, and finally (4) snow depth for same date last year.
The next four columns are for a different location in Tsunan.

The numbers for the snowfall in the day show you what a big winter we are having.

It's not called Snow Country for nothing!

Candle Live 2015 - Saturday January 17th

The crazy busy period of Christmas/New Year has passed, so we can all kick back and take a bit of a breather. Time to enjoy the snow (locals are saying that the snow levels are more like February than January!) and also some of the upcoming events.

Saturday January 17th sees the return of the ever-popular Candle Live event in Yuzawa. Thousands of candles light up a ski slope and there are a whole host of events going on around town.

Candle Live has been moving around in recent years, but this year it is going to be centered along the main Onsen Street on the West Side of Echigo-Yuzawa Station. Things are due to kick off around 6.30pm and there should be plenty to see and do for a couple of hours after that.