shuigao

Thouroughly enjoyed myself at Zao, thanks for the "vote of confidence" you gave it


Note1: I got lucky with 42cm on the 2days that I ski'ied (and 72cm of snowfall the 2 days before).
Note2: I'm probably an early/middle-intermediate at best, so I obviously don't know anything about the off-piste or expert terrain.

Pros:
- If, as a good tourist, you go on the weekdays, there are literally no queues for any of the lifts, so your ski time is limited only by the strength of your thighs.
- There's a good variety of courses and terrain that can keep an intermediate / (or even strong-beginner) occupied for easily 3 full days. There's a nice mix of wide, groomed slopes, narrow ones that snake down the side of the mountain, and scenic cruising runs (particularly the one among the Juhyo).
- Lift infrastructure isn't as bad as some other review sites make it seem. Sure, the gondolas are a little slow, and the 2-seater lifts have no safety bars, but at no time did I fear for my life or anything like that. Similarly, ski rental shops are widely available and are well stocked with decent condition gear.
- Skiing was great!
- Public onsens / baths around town were great (logistics of walking there in the freezing cold are a little tricky though).

Cons:
- Zao (and I guess all of Japan?) has a Green-Red-Black classification system, i.e. "Green" = European Green + Blue. So for beginners it's a little difficult to know which greens are 'early beginner' slopes and which ones are 'strong beginner' ones.
- Signage is a little lacking in some spots. Once I went down an easy green slope which ended with a fork, both of which were steep ungroomed blacks (I took off my ski's and walked back up the slope). On Day2 I was on a cruising green run which suddenly, with no warning, transitioned to a narrow, ungroomed, mogul section. Very weird.
- Although it's a single combined lift ticket, the mountain is run by 3 separate lift companies with 3 separate base areas, and very little effort made to link those 3 areas together properly. So traveling from Uwodanai (the North-most base area) to the Juhyo (snow monsters) course requires you to literally ski a couple of hundred meters on flat terrain, plus crab walk an upward slope to some of the lifts.
- Group lessons are available only in Japanese, and despite going on a weekday, both Zao Heim Ski School and Zao Ski School had no english-speaking instructors available.
- I thought Nozawa Onsen was quiet at night, but Zao takes it to another level. As far as I can tell, the entire village has 1 konbini, a handful of restaurants, and no bars. Also, ski-in/ski-out properties are FAR from town. If you choose to stay closer to town, and have your own ski's, it's a 300+m uphill walk to the lifts, which sucks (if you rent you can store your ski's overnight at the rental shop of course).

Oddly I listed more cons than pros, but really, the mountain more than makes up for them. Would totally consider a return trip in the next season(s).