Slopes - busy?

[BillTheBinMan 0]

As there are still only relatively few places open (and lots of them struggling) I was wondering how busy the slopes that are open are? Is Niseko busy right now or still fairly quiet?

 

I suppose as Christmas and New Year approaches and more of the masses start to think about skiing/snowboarding it will only get busier.

[neversummer 0]

It is still very quiet here at them moment. I think there will be a large increase in both foreigners and Japanese arriving tomoorw and many more on the 26th Dec.

[fukdane 2]

Empty round here.

 

Probably has something to do with the fact that there's no snow!

 

[s3phis 0]

Generally speaking, pre-christmas up until new years is the peak for foreign tourists and then new years and early jan is peak for Japanese. Then it goes back to foreign tourists. I'd expect the foreign tourists numbers to be lower now... the Japanese customers are going to be a bit hard to predict since they're quite conservative... I think the 3 day weekends etc will be busy but otherwise it'd be fairly quiet.

[ug 0]

Surely the overseas guests still though only account for a relatively small % (while still important of course)?

[best skier in hakuba 5]

Will be getting busier now with holidays and more people turning up. Now if only we could get more snow to allow more area to open.

[thursday 1]

this is really interesting. A few years back, I remember the slopes were empty coming up to Christms. We spent Christmas days riding sparsely occupied slopes.

 

I guess this year, it will return to the wonder years. Here's hoping for me, not for you business people.

[Endless Winter 0]

Last year the week prior to Christmas I spent 3 days at Happo. There was an abundance of fresh powder everyday and very few people at resort. It was awesome. I think if the snow is on, pre-Christmas is one of the best times to hit the slopes. No crowds + abundant snow = bliss. It seems like Niseko is the only place this year where that's happening.