Hado

I was at Chisinappuri this morning and a Japanese guide told me six people were caught in the slide and the slab ran 400m down the mountain. He also said one of the six broke both legs. There are some very unstable layers in the snowpack. I have been in Niseko a week now and have been listening to the talk about the recent fatalities. I have heard the Finnish guy killed was with a group of nine skiers and he was the tail gunner. He fell into the 4m deep crack at Jacksons which is difficult to see until you are almost in it. The group returned after he did not follow them out of the long r

I don't arrive until Feb 1 and leave on 28th - so will miss out this time - sorry 27 days 11 hours and 48 minutes until I leave - but who's counting

I think the Japanese are concerned about large tracks of forest around Niseko being purchased by the Chinese and have changed regulations to prevent it.

I tried to go to Weiss in late Jan and drove all the way out there to find the operation wasn't running despite it being listed on websites etc. I just wanted to try it. As pointed out already - the terrain isn't very steep when you see it up close (just like it looks from the top of Hanazono) and it might not be worth this sort of money. You would be better off organizing a backcountry tour of one of the other nearby hills like Nitto if you want un-tracked powder.

Makes it hard to believe someone with so much experience could go missing. I can only half imagine how difficult this must be for his family and friends - my thoughts are with them.

Australian newspapers are reporting in a cruel irony: "A Brisbane man missing at a snow town in Japan helped develop a satellite tracking device for skiers which could have led searchers straight to him." http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/que...5237545249.html

For those who didn't like the lack of a mention of other Japanese resorts, who I assume have an interest in the resorts, they could send bestsnow their data. If we had all the data in one place it might help.

GoN The article cliams the following: "This story highlights the top 20 snowiest resorts on the planet, as tracked by Bestsnow, which pulls meteorological records from weather stations, data from avalanche-forecasting centers and monthly snowfall amounts from ski resorts. Bestsnow's numbers—which are used by publications like Skiing magazine and Powder magazine to rank resorts—differ from average snowfall numbers touted by some resorts. This is because, among other factors, Bestsnow looks at monthly averages spread over time periods of up to 40 years." However when you look

Forbes Traveller magazine did a survey to decide the top 20 snowiest ski resorts and, based on at least ten years of data, confirmed that Niseko averages 595 inches per season which slightly more than 15m.

MikePow I notice the sasa grass is still poking out of the snow. At what base does it disapear? At around 2m I didn't expect to see it. I mostly go to Niseko in Feb, but will be their this year in early Jan. Hado