Skied at Yuzawa Kogen twice whilst staying in Yuzawa City. Our accomodation was across the road from the Yuzawa Kogen ropeway making it super convenient to get to. However this resort didn't warrant multiple visits in my opinion. It's quite small and you could ski all of the marked runs within an hour.
Altitude of the area is ok and on a sunny day the views at the top are spectacular but it’s quite small and only has a handful of runs. One sweeping green run for beginners that’s long but boring, two short red runs that a decent intermediate will also be bored with quickly. The top long snaking black run that runs to the bottom of the tram car is essentially an icy cat trick with steep and dangerous terrain off the side.

The one saving grace is that the resort is fairly quiet, I only saw a few advanced riders playing around and almost no one trying to find any powder off-piste. Ski petrol were therefore very lax and didn’t seem to mind a bit of rope ducking. After some fresh snow on my second visit I went sniffing for some fresh lines. There are some nicely spaced trees off the top lift back down into the valley and all runs eventually hit the sweeping green run that wraps around the mountain so you can’t really go wrong. Almost no one was skiing here, must have had about 6-7 runs in knees deep powder before calling it a day. Short but sweet area.

Lastly, there is a gondola connection with Gala resort next door, but it must only open on weekends as it was never running when I skied Yuzawa Kogen. This would obviously open up your ski options quite a bit, but only on weekends?
See our video here

We’re glad we had a look at Yuzawa Kogen because we could see its big attraction for beginners and families seeking snow play. However as powder hounds, it didn’t excite us particularly. The off-piste looked tempting but it would have been difficult to do discretely, and waiting for the ropeway was a bit painful. And some of the runs don’t head fall-line so you’re either on a cat track like run, or skiing on camber.

We visited on a weekend, and the majority of the top area was closed for ski racing, leaving only a small slither of a slope for the public. It’s a small enough ski resort already without closing most of it off.

We were happy to escape across to Gala and Ishiuchi where there were some nice fall line runs.
See our video here