Snow in Gala Yuzawa in end of december?

Dears

I am planning to spend 5 days in Gala Yuzawa from Dec 23 to Dec 28.

Is there enough snow to sky? (especailly in the easiest slopes where I want to bring my kids?

Thanks
David

Likely, but depends on years.
http://www.snowjapan.com/japan-ski-resorts/niigata/yuzawa/gala-yuzawa?...

This year, they had much snow even on 24 Nov.
https://www.facebook.com/GALAyuzawa/

The 30 year (1982 - 2010) mean snow height in late December is 106 cm in Yuzawa.
http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/nml_amd_10d.php?prec_no=...

They do have many ski resorts in the area.
http://www.e-yuzawa.gr.jp/english/winter-sports-in-yuzawa.html

Kagura is the most popular.
http://www.princehotels.com/en/ski/naeba.html

Ipponsugi holds 80% slopes for beginners.
http://www.e-yuzawa.gr.jp/yuzawa-winter/guide

Gala's SpongeBob Lesson Court admit a child starting from 4 years old.
https://gala.co.jp/winter/map.html

thanks all!

so do you suggest me to go to Gala Yuzawa or to another place (still for beginenner and 1-1.5h by train from Tokyo) but with more snow ?

If you place such a time constraint, you would have to limit the red zone in this Japan map.
http://image.itmedia.co.jp/l/im/news/articles/1504/09/l_haru_report1.j...
Coupling with a kind of snow map here,
http://www.hcpc.co.jp/collections/img/F04L.jpg
the Yuzawa area should be the only solution.

The detailed pages for every ski resorts in Yuzawa could be reached by clicking HERE in this page. I recommend to read them thoroughly.
http://www.e-yuzawa.gr.jp/english/winter-sports-in-yuzawa.html

Just glancing them a bit, I found the snow depth could be deeper in Kagura, Gala, and Yuzawa Kogen. The number of lifts in Kagura doubles that in Gala. My impression is that 5 days only in Gala would be too much. Kagura might be OK.

Kagura is a bit away from the JR line. Yuzawa Kogen is almost in the town area. Kagura and Gala would have a somewhat western flavor, while Yuzawa Kogen is more Japanese with Onsen spa nearby. Yuzawa itself is the famous Onsen town.

The choice is yours. You could pick up one resort, or a few. Most resorts here are neighboring each other. If the snow permits, you could choose others on the above list. In one of the recent popularity rankings (among Japanese) Kagura is nominated as No 1 in Japan and Naeba as No 5. Naeba is located between Kagura and the JR line and has a better rating in Apres ski.
http://www.snowjapan.com/japan-ski-resorts/niigata/yuzawa/naeba?resid=...

Sorry, I made a mistake. Kagura is between Naeba and the JR station.

The overall layout in the Yuzawa area is like below.

Ishiuchi-Maruyama
|
Gala Yuzawa
|
Yuzawa Kogen
|
JR Echigo-Yuzawa station
| (bus 20min)
Kagura
|
Naeba

--- Gala is a part of the three ski resorts.

I: Ishiuchi-Maruyama - JR Ishiuchi
|
G: Gala Yuzawa - JR Gala Yuzawa
|
Y: Yuzawa Kogen - JR Eichiogo Yuzawa

I: http://ishiuchi.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/course.jpg
G: https://gala.co.jp/winter/course/gelandemap.pdf
Y: http://www.yuzawakogen.com/winter/piste_map.html

right Y - left G|right G - top I

--- Kagura(Mitsumata) area is 20 min away from the JR station.

Kagura
|
Naeba

K: http://www.princehotels.co.jp/ski/kagura/coursemap/pdf/coursemap.pdf
N: http://www.princehotels.co.jp/ski/naeba/files/pdf/naebamap.pdf

right N - left K|right K - (bus 20 min) - JR Echigo-Yuzawa

I've never been to Gala so I can't comment, but a lot of the ski resorts I've been to in Gunma and Niigata are not THAT big, so I'd be bored in 5 days. Now, if you're bringing your kids, you might be teaching them, so in that case a smaller resort might be better to get them used to the runs. But for a big, multi-day resort, I like both Myoko in Niigata and Shiga Kogen in Nagano. Unfortunately they are both a lot longer than 1 1/2 hours from Tokyo; if that is a hard rule, then Yuzawa or perhaps some of the Gunma resorts are really your only choices. I find Tanbara in Gunma particularly good for beginners, but it really isn't a big resort at all.