Mike Pow

Although the skiing experience will be similar staying at either Annupuri or Hirafu (albeit less people starting the day in Annupuri generally), the non-skiing experience will be very different. Hirafu for greater variety of restaurant, bar and shops. Annupuri for limited choice in all three of the above. The quality is definitely there in Annupuri, just less choice.

Yeah loads of my mates teach skiing on Hokkaido for the Northern Hemisphere winter and then teach in Australia, NZ or Chile for the Southern Hemisphere winter. Some rack up over 200 days on snow per calendar year.

Daily buses to Kiroro and Rusutsu from Niseko Hirafu. Leave from the Hirafu Welcome Centre. Schedule comes out in the autumn.

You can do week 2 by public transport but a car would make it much easier.

+1 to snowhuntress' suggestion. Or for something completely different, Week 1 based in the Niseko Resort Area riding Niseko United, Niseko Moiwa and Rusutsu. Week 2 based in Otaru riding Kiroro, Sapporo Kokusai, Asari, Otaru Tenguyama and Sapporo Teine.

Thanks seemore and iiyamadude. Compared with a lot of my mates I'm a part-timer

From my records at village level in the Niseko Resort Area : 2009 / 10 Season Snowfall Total - 15.8 m (mean for 8 winters 14.3 m) October - 5cm November - 82 cm December - 359 cm January - 590 cm February - 260 cm March - 271 cm April - 13 cm Fingers crossed for a repeat

Cheers. Hoping to sneak another trip in this summer, but the way S America has started I could be looking west

Thanks guys. Only over the terrain park features from what I saw Go Native.

Cheers. To try and preserve the snow for as long as possible I think.

"ROYAL SKIING AT THE KINGDOM OF SNOW" Over lunch a month ago my uncle mentioned that he needed to move furniture from his home in Wales to his summer (ancestral) house in northern Italy. Being the dutiful nephew that I am, I offered mine and Nerys' services to drive the van to the small village of Granelli just outside Bardi in Emilia-Romanga - the area where a large number of the Welsh Italians "Taffia" originated from. And on the way back catch a couple of days skiing on the Stubai Glacier in Austria - Nerys' first taste of European skiing. We took the Dover - Dunkirk

Edited for Accuracy 1. Niseko Village 2. Akakura Kanko, Myoko 3. Hakuba 47

Fabulous. Thanks for sharing.

The most consecutive days of snowfall at MQ in Higashiyama during the 2013/14 season was 27 days between 22 December 2013 and 17 January 2014 when 534 cm (210") fell. There was no snowfall on 18 January and 25 January 2014 but it snowed every other day until 08 February 2014 with a further 202 cm (80") falling. That's 47 days snowfall in a 49 day period with 736 cm (290") of accumulation.

During the time the OP is intending to come, then yes the restaurants are busy.. The whole season, not in my experience. The OP specifically asked about the snow component.

Yep. Got to take what Mother Nature gives. A great day out.

That is complete nonesense.

Yeah. They're very aesthetic. Be great to ski amongst them. A very different look.

Plenty of precipitation, but not cold enough But it can change overnight and drop enough in one storm to be able to ski, like it did on 15 May last year. Always in hope

SATURDAY 19 APRIL 2014 Back in the 'Land Of My Fathers', and had a fabulous walk up Sugar Loaf Mountain in the Black Mountains above Abergavenny with Nerys, Sue, Mark, Ceri & Gemma. We did the Sugar Loaf Circuit as recommended by the National Trust http://www.nationalt...-1355786035621/ Easy access by car to the Llanwenarth car park (free car parking) and then a 60-90 minute walk to the summit (depending on conditions underfoot, the weather, and your fitness). We had intermittent sunshine and clouds with a strong breeze that dropped the tempeature down significant

In my experience over the past 8 seasons, 1. by 20 December between 2.5 - 3.5 m of snow has fallen in the Niseko Resort Area. 2. the snow falling from the sky won't be markedly different for the two time frames you've proposed. 3. the later date should see a greater base depth and more terrain open.

Honshu.

Thanks for following and commenting muikabochi, onehunga, SKI and seemore. Much appreciated.

DAY 137 : SUNDAY 13 APRIL 2014 0 cm in the past 24hrs at MQ For my final day on snow this Hokkaido winter I drove 90 min south west to the coastal fishing village of Shimamaki, the gateway to the Kariba Mountainous District. In the winter months the road beyond Chihasegawa Hot Spring onsen is closed, so it was a 9km (2hr) skin on a very gradual gradient to the car park area for the Garo-no-Taki waterfall and the base of Higashikaribayama (1319 m). A further 2 hr skin took me to the summit of Higashikaribayama and fantastic views of Mt Kariba (1520 m), the Sea of J

Thanks snowjunky and Nisoko. Great vid seemore. A legend. And a thoroughly nice chap.