The run to the train at GALA Yuzawa comes with a warning

If you’re going to turn back, now’s the time. That’s what the yellow sign says near the start of Falcon at GALA Yuzawa in Niigata. It’s a 2.5 km run from the North Area to the ski center with the Shinkansen gates. The resort rates it for intermediate and advanced riders. One sunny Friday last winter, a snowboarder made it down Falcon around noon and figured they could finish the day the same way. By afternoon the snow was slushy and their legs were shaking. The turns and stops they’d managed at lunch kept ending in falls. One more lap can be on the easier slopes by Cheers. Take the gondola from there and you can meet the friends who skied Falcon at the train gates.