Snow on the slopes!

Okay, its only the man-made stuff, but its still good to see. I went to Naeba yesterday, and saw the resort preparing for the start of their season on 17th November. The snow-making has started in earnest.


The picture shows part of the snow being covered. The temperature when I visited at lunchtime was 11 degrees, with quite a wind chill and spitting rain. It certainly wouldn't take much to get the temperature down to 4 degrees overnight, and for that rain to turn to snow.


Apart from the forthcoming snow season, at the moment its actually a beautiful time to escape the concrete of Tokyo and get out into the Niigata or Nagano mountains. Its now the peak of the 'kouyou' season, when the leaves of the trees turn colour. The below picture shows Daigenta canyon, a 15min drive from Yuzawa.