Seeing the Zao monsters feels as difficult as chasing northern lights. Coming during the right period is important, but having good weather is equally important. I came on 22 Dec and there wasn’t much snow on the trees yet. Visibility was also terrible, I could barely see 20k infront of me.

Getting there was difficult. From Yamagata station, take an express bus (1000Y one way, 40mins ride) to Zao Onsen bus terminal and walk roughly 10 mins to the starting ropeway. The bus comes only every hour so make sure to time it well. The walk can be quite slippery as the is a lot of snow. There are 3 ropeway stations, the one you start at, the middle one and the top one. Return ticket costs 3500Y.

At the starting ropeway I could already tell visibility was bad and could hardly see much but I still went ahead as it was already 2pm. The first leg takes 7mins whereas the second leg takes 10mins to get to the highest station. There are some tall trees on the way to the second station. From the middle to the top station is where you ought to see the Zao Monsters. Unfortunately, visibility got very bad and it did not get any better. Moreover, the Zao monsters were still pretty naked so it wasn’t very impressive.

At the top, there is a small area to walk but the pathway isn’t very clear so it can be quite easy to walk into deep snow. There is an area demarcated to ward off people from venturing too far. I waited till it was almost dark but visibility was still bad so I went back down. Do note that the gondolas are also not frequent as there wasn’t many people using it so they will wait for a group of people to be in the cabin before departing. Do also account time for that if you do not want to miss the bus back to Yamagata station.

All in all, it was a disappointing trip for me.