Zao in Late January

Hi! I am in the process of doing my itinerary for last week of January travel.I am thinking about Zao,I would love to see the Zao Ice monsters or Juhyo. Is it worth visiting this time of the year? I read that the best time is in late February. Also, can one just walk around and see the ice monsters or one has to ride a lift or something? I dont know any winter sports, but how can one have a great view of the ice monsters? I will appreciate any gem of info.
Thank you in advance
Elana

Most of your questions are answered here
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7927.html

The growing stage of the ice monster is explained at the bottom page
http://www.zao-spa.or.jp/english/ski.html

Some pictures and illumination schedule
http://www.zaoropeway.co.jp/w_season02.html

Hi Guear!

Thank you very much! These are very helpful!

Cheers!

Elana

Also the pamphlet in site #2 is very very helpful! Thank you!

It is about 10 min walk from Zao Onsen bus station to Zao Sanroku ropeway station (note that there are 3 different ropeway stations in town). From Zao Sanroku station it is about 7 min ride up to Jukyo Kogen station where there is a small Juhyo Museum with a photo collection of the snow monsters. 3 minutes walk from Jukyo Kogen station is the 10 min ropeway further up to Jizo Sancho station. You can already see those snow monsters on this leg of the ropeway ride from inside the cable car. Jizo Sancho station at the top is small and the view of the snow monsters is just a couple of minutes walk from the station. You may need to go in and out of Jizo Sancho station several times (we did) as the blazing wind is hard to bear! Within the station are free snow boots but you need to arrive early to be sure they are still available.

Under average years indeed Feb is a better time for seeing the snow monsters. We were there during early Feb and the snow monsters were only "half baked".
https://plus.google.com/photos/117006987794372147390/albums/5307302726...

Hi William5,
geez you are right there, about the Juhyos just half baked! And I am travelling only end of January! Now, I am thinking..thinking...!
Anywa thank you so much for the information you gave, and they are very helpful!

Also,very nice photographs!

Cheers!

Elana

I was able to see in the Zao facebook account that the rimes formed early this year! I am hopeful for a fantastic Juhyo view in the last week of January!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=234625013382380&set=pcb.234625...

Oh I guess I held my hopes so high but a very reliable fellow traveler told me the same thing as the poster above,wind so strong and that visibility so bad even early Feb last year that they didnt get to see the Juhyos.

I might reconsider my Kusatsu onsen plan and do Zao next time.

Already back home from travel, I would like to add to these posts our experienced during our travel to Zao onsen last January. It was zero visibility the whole time we were there in our hotel area.It cleared a bit in the afternoon around 3 pm. We did the night Illumination but we were only restricted to a certain point, saw the Juhyo's up close and temp was -11.5 C. Despite the weather, it was a fantastic experience! The following morning there was a bit of sunshine around 8 in the morning,you can take clear picture around the Zao Senroku station,it was so beautiful out there! When we reached Juhyokogen Station, it was zero visibily. Can hardly see the Juhyos , but they are pretty well formed and many are gigantic already.