You can't be serious! 6th January 2001 Niseko's dry spell hasn't come yet. It appears regardless of millennium, lots of little powder flakes are content to just keep on falling.

December was the best that I've experienced up here - good snow falls at night (we averaged over 20cm), then clear skies and good visibility for bottomless powder in the morning. Around lunch another powder top-up, then clear skies again for night skiing. Somebody wrote the script right! But will this continue...?

At an early stage in the season Niseko is supposed to have a "dry spell". It usually comes around the last week of December or the beginning of January, and during that time the standard daily powder dump goes on hold for anything up to two weeks. This is a time for recollection. For drinking sake and soaking in onsens and maybe for a bit of half-pipe sessioning. The truth is not many people here (myself included) are really any good at riding anything other than soft powder snow. Spoilt? Possibly, but Niseko is covered by powder so constantly that hard snow is a novelty. Treasured Niseko-born banana shaped powder boards get waxed and tuned over and over again as their riders try to find any excuse to avoid actually having to ride on something that hurts when you fall.

During this dry spell, with a forced grin and the equally forced pressure of delivering promised powder, mountain guides take their clients further and further into the forests in search of something soft underfoot. The further you go, the longer the hike-out becomes. This in itself can be kind of fun - Niseko does offer some really beautiful snow shoeing areas. However, Niseko's selling point is not its backcountry but its lift accessible powder. December thru March there are so many powder paddocks and knee-deep tree runs to choose from, all located within the resort boundaries. The problem is during the dry spell this lift accessible powder pretty much disappears. For the very brave, super tight tree runs do stay untouched right to the very end, but throw away your beacon, full-body armor and a good health insurance policy are probably higher on the requirement list.

At the moment longer-term weather forecasts do predict continuing snow. Maybe there will be no dry spell this season. Maybe us Niseko wimps will be ok. It was however these same long term forecasts that only about a month ago predicted a relatively snow-less season for '00/'01. Looking out my window, I see that my car has disappeared again and that the base on the mountain is almost at 3 metres - a metre more than what was here at the same time last year. Do I believe the weather forecast and keep shoveling, or do I give up and build an entrance out of my upstairs window? I guess only time will reveal how many more of those little powder flakes are going to decide to join us.

This season Weiss has picked up the pace and is a lot more attractive to those who want more than a mellow powder day. Split in half and owned by two separate companies, the right side of the mountain was sold last year and is now under new management.

Previously owned by "Tokyu" (the same people who own Hirafu) the right side of Weiss up to now has been a bit boring. Anyone who has been to Niseko before, or has had to deal with Tokyu management, will probably agree it's a company who are very conservative in approach and whose decision makers seem to be stuck in some kind of Meiji Era time warp. Tokyu only manages to make ends meet (the truth is they are actually running at a loss) because Hirafu is just such a good natural mountain with great tree runs, hits and powder snow. Tokyu bosses have no idea of what today's boarder or skier wants, nor are they willing to make the few changes that would make Hirafu so much better. Why is it that on so many of the Hirafu lifts, you step off one and then have to skate uphill to get to the next one...? Or why is it that they won't employ a groomer driver who can actually build a good and safe table-top jump that doesn't try and put you into orbit every time...? Maybe one day these questions will be answered. Imagine stepping off the gondola and being able to ski straight on to lift 6C! What a magical thought...

Anyway, before asking for a new exit to the Hirafu gondola station and a little grading work during summer, the good news is Tokyu is out of Weiss and the new company has put some great ideas into action. Weiss now offers a permanent park and boardercross track with rail-slides, good steep banks, humps, table-tops and a really nice big-air jump to finish off with. The guy who is building it knows what he's doing, and the landings on the jumps are steep and smooth. They are also thoughtful enough not to groom all powder off the landings making things a bit softer if you do decide to land head first. Serviced by a lift, there is no hiking needed to do the park or boardercross track - it's lots of fun!

A free shuttle bus leaves for Weiss (via Hanazono) from in front of KFC at the Hirafu gondola at 9:25. The return trip departs from Weiss at 16:25. One way takes about 55 minutes.

A bit of sad news locally when the Jam, one of Hirafu's smallest and grottiest, yet most dearly loved drinking bars burnt down a couple weeks ago. It is believed that the potbelly stove may have cracked, and the building went up in flames in a matter of moments. Luckily nobody was inside at the time and all surrounding buildings were ok. The word is Kato-san is going to build a new Jam over summer.

New Year's "New Millennium" party held at Hirafu was fun, but despite all the built up it didn't equate to last years Australian lawyer naked snowboarding performance. The fireworks cracked away for a moment or two, and the crowd cheered at the night skiing performances, but most seem to grab whatever free sake and food was on offer and run off to the parties at NAC's JoJo's, the Gentem Café, 3B and Mukkuri.

New Year holiday crowds have now gone, but the powder continues. Dry spell or not, here's to a safe and deep 2001 for all. Just please be careful of the new Alpen side table-top jump that has been suitably nicknamed the "launching pad" - it launches you all the way onto the flat. Ouch...