Hakuba Now: Friday 12th December 2014
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 2cm
Snowfall at base this season 42cm
Posted on Friday 12th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
The rain didn't do us any favors yesterday in terms of melt and snow conditions... but quickly and happily moving on, snow is about to make another hopefully dramatic entrance.
For those of you in Japan you might have seen on the news about the winter low pressure weather pattern that is about to hit Japan and bring with it lots of snow. We're probably going to get our fair share, and hopefully more - it's lining up to be a very snowy weekend. There's another wave of snow due mid week next week as well. So hopefully we will soon not need to be talking about which lifts and courses are open - because they'll soon all be open. That's the plan anyway.
Weather this morning? It's 0 degrees, and there's a few cm of snow on the ground in places from overnight, but while it has been snowing very lightly it's just cloudy right now. Looks like really bad visibility on the mountains early on this morning.
The snow I keep on going on about (see above) is due to start later on today, perhaps this evening, so I am crossing all fingers that we'll have something decent to report tomorrow morning.
Hakuba Norikura Onsen, Kashimayari and Hakuba Cortina all planning on being part open from tomorrow. I'll try to bring details of that in my report tomorrow (sorry if that means it might be a bit later - so much to check!)
--
Happo-one
Part of upper areas open.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 20cm
Usagidaira - 85cm
Open lifts:
-Kokusai Number 3
-Panorama
-Alpen Quad
-Kurobishi Number 2 Quad
-Adam Gondola open to take people up to the open area.
Open courses:
-Panorama (part)
-Usagidaira
-Kurobishi (part)
-Please note, can't ski back down to base.
--
Hakuba 47
I think I'm reading this correctly - due to lack of staff, Line E won't be opening today (!), but Line C is open once again. Hakuba 47 plans to be fully open from tomorrow, Saturday.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 20cm
Upper - 80cm
Open courses:
-Route 1 Upper
-Route 1 Lower
-Route 2
-Route 3
-Route 5
-Route 6
-Route 7
-Route 8
-The Tree Riding Zone is not open yet.
Open lifts:
-Gondola
-Line A
-Line C
--
Hakuba Goryu
The top area of Hakuba Goryu is open. Goryu is reporting 3cm of fresh snow on upper slopes and 2cm in the Iimori area. Open area remains unchanged for the moment.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 30cm
Alps Daira - 90cm
Open lifts:
-Alps Number 1 Pair lift
-Alps Number 3 Pair lift
-Gondola is open to take people up to the open area
Open courses:
-Alps Daira Panorama
-Alps Daira Grand Prix
-Super Course
--
Tsugaike Kogen
4000m long course is open from top to bottom.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 30cm
Upper - 100cm
Open lifts:
-Han-no-ki High Speed Pair
-Gondola
Open course areas:
-Upper Han-no-ki
-Lower Han-no-ki
-Part of Maruyama
-Part of Oya-no-hara
---
Other planned opening dates:
Hakuba Norikura Onsen - Saturday 13th December
Kashimayari Sports Village - Saturday 13th December
Hakuba Cortina - Saturday 13th December
Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field - Friday 19th December
Hakuba Sanosaka - Saturday 20th December
Hakuba Now 2014-2015 season |
Data as of Friday 12th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 42cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 7 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 10cm (4th, 5th and 7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 42cm reported on 7 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Hakuba. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report.