Nozawa Onsen Accommodation, Nagano, The Alps Japan
Nestled in the Japan Alps is a magical place steeped in culture and with some terrific skiing and boarding. Nagano was home to the Winter Olympics in 1998.
Get in touch if keen to get knee deep in powder or neck deep in a Hot Spring soon…
Video
Check out our video of our 4 main properties below.
Nozawa Onsen is a very traditional town with beautiful hot springs, friendly locals, and awesome snow. Our Lodge gives you amazing value and we have a range of accommodation to suit any budget.
The Lodge is only 100m to the slopes and short stroll to town
Relaxed and comfortable atmosphere
In the centre of Japan’s main Island Honshu easy access from anywhere
You can fly direct to Tokyo and there is a shuttle bus direct to the Lodge
English and Japanese Speaking Staff to help with all your needs
Unique and beautiful place with breathtaking nature and culture
Nozawa Village is also famous for its hot springs, there are many nearby
Lots of terrain, with Gondolas, high speed quads, and long runs – very few lift lines
Thanks Mark – we were first invited to Nozawa years ago and have been enjoyed the skiing, the village and your hospitality ever since. Thanks for helping us enjoy it so much,
What a day we have in Nozawa Onsen today. The weather does not get much better than this!
Looking out the window at the moment you will see bright full blue skies with not a cloud to be seen. The trees are standing dead still with not a breath of wind. To top it all off the powder snow is in pristine shape with cold overnight temperatures. I think it is safe to say that it will be an excellent day of skiing and boarding in Nozawa Onsen today.
Yesterday was also an outstanding day. Moderate snow showers continued until the early afternoon when the clouds parted to be replaced by sunshine and partly cloudy conditions. Moderate winds eased and became light during the afternoon.
Crowd levels were exceptionally low, typical for March weekdays in Nozawa Onsen. It was and is still easily possible to find pockets of untracked fresh even in the most obvious locations yesterday afternoon and today; such as the Yamabiko area and beside groomed runs. Off piste an icy base riddled with death cookies was menacing but this should improve today as the snow settles.
At the moment the forecast looks quite nice. Expect bluebird conditions to continue for the remainder of today before some unstable weather moves over the region tomorrow. Rain is a possibility during the day but by late afternoon, it will turn to snow. We then expect a good sized dump overnight Wednesday. Thursday will be a good day with light passing snow showers before clearing during the late afternoon. From Friday onwards we should see a run of cool clear day accompanied by light winds. Perfect spring weather.
Gabriel Sutter on his way to winning the 2013 Nozawa Onsen giant slalom.
Base up top: 340cm Temp Top; -15 Degrees
Base at bottom: 165cm
New Snow since close: 10-30cm
Winter has returned to Nozawa Onsen with a healthy overnight top up recorded. At the moment we have light to moderate flakes falling, very cold temperatures and windy conditions on the higher slopes.
Today will be a good day for skiing and boarding with 30cm of dry windblown powder recorded at Uenotaira, 10cm at Yamabiko. The forecast suggests the sun will make an appearance this afternoon and if this is correct conditions will be superb. Head for the tree runs to seek shelter from the wind and improved visibility before the sun comes out.
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day. About 11am the brief light rain showers turned to snow and it continued to fall as light snow showers for the rest of the day. With the sudden freeze after days of wet snow many places had an icy base but this will have improved today with the fresh snow falls.
Looking at the forecast ahead we should see a clear spring day tomorrow before another cold front moves across the region on Wednesday night. Predicted snowfall intensities for this system have been downgraded overnight, but we still expect moderate to heavy falls for about a 12 hour period into Thursday morning. Following this frontal system a string of clear cool days are expected.
It’s a sunny partly cloudy morning here in Nozawa Onsen, another classic spring day. Luckily the forecast overnight rainfalls have failed to arrive as we only received light drizzle for a short time last night.
We have quite a variation in temperature across the resort of Nozawa Onsen early on. Down in the village is a balmy +5C. However the top is quite cold with a temperature of -7C. It’s unusual to have such a significant variation between top and bottom.
Expect the lower runs to be very slushy this morning, whilst the upper slopes will be very fast and very firm. All runs will become slushy later with warm temperatures predicted. Again, the well groomed upper runs will be the pick today.
Yesterday was relatively poor day in terms of what we normal expect in Nozawa Onsen. Extremely warm conditions resulted in very sticky snow across all but the most well ridden slopes. Even higher areas such as through the Yamabiko trees suffered. Groomed runs on the upper slopes were slightly faster but still not great. Conditions improved by late afternoon with a drop in temperature which reduced the moisture content of the snow.
According to the weather predictions we expect a warm sunny afternoon today before a cold front moves through around lunchtime tomorrow. We expect light to moderate snow from this system which will persist into Monday. Following that we expect spring like conditions on Tuesday before another cool front moves across the region on Wednesday. Heavy snow is a possibility from this system.
The spring conditions are making hiking and exploring more accessible.
Base up top: 335cm Temp Top; -1 Degrees
Base at bottom: 175cm
New Snow since close: 0cm
Today will continue the trend of spring conditions we’ve had recently. Up the top will be fast and icy early in the day, but will soften as the temperature warms by late morning. On the lower half temperatures remained above zero all night so will be soft from first lifts onwards.
We expect a mostly sunny morning before the clouds roll through later this afternoon. Unfortunately there is the possibility of rain, but likely this should quickly turn to snow up high. Visibility early on is good, but limited over a long range with a haze blown in by south winds from the metropolitan area of Japan. This means views of surrounding big mountain peaks are somewhat limited.
Yesterday was a good day on the mountain but again long range views were limited by haze. The skiing and boarding was good early with fast conditions across the mountain. However with the warm temperatures most areas quickly became slushy. The Yamabiko area was the place to be all day as it held excellent quality spring snow that remained relatively dry. Off piste runs were heavy in the shade and slow and sticky in the sun. The park and pipe were in fine form.
The forecast still remains extremely variable over the next week or so. We expect snow showers overnight and a cold Saturday morning. This is a very brief cool front as the freezing level is set to skyrocket from 650 to 3000 meters by late afternoon.
On Sunday morning we expect another cold front to move across the region delivering snow and very cold temperatures until at least Monday afternoon. Tuesday should see another dramatic warming trend before yet another brief cool change moves through on Wednesday morning, with the likelihood of more snow showers.
Exploring one of the steeper areas of Nozawa Onsen.
Waking this morning in Nozawa Onsen we have been greeted with some hazy fog. The sun is already piercing through so it is unlikely for this to last and we expect a clear bluebird day later. No new snowfalls are expected in the next 24 hours.
Today should almost be a carbon copy of yesterday. We will see spring conditions that will be fairly firm during the early morning, before becoming slushy. There will be very light weekday crowds along with light winds.
Yesterday was a classic spring day. Very warm turned the snow into fun and forgiving slush by lunchtime. Up top even became somewhat slushy. The only complaint regarding snow quality was sticky areas on the lower slopes. Otherwise the riding was very good for such a warm day.
The forecast looks complicated at this point in time with some huge variation in weather and freezing level over a short space of time. Tomorrow we expect some light rain which will turn to snow later that night. It will be a cold morning Saturday before a dramatic warming period occurs. The freezing level is expected to climb 2000 meters in only a couple of hours. Following this warm peak another cool front is expected delivering snow Sunday and Monday.
