Hakuba Now: Friday 13th January 2017
- Jan 13, 2017
- 5 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 57cm
Snowfall at base this season 153cm
Posted on Friday 13th January 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
Good morning to you from here in Hakuba.
And this is what you've been waiting to hear.
Close on 60cm of fresh snowfall in places. At base. It might even be more, but I'll keep it on the conservative side and from my usual measuring point.
My car was almost buried this morning. Actually it still is. But what a sight to behold.
There has been some serious snowfall overnight in the region. So much so that early morning the ski resorts are struggling to get open as planned. Not because of bad weather as such, but because of having to deal with all of the snow. Hopefully that should quickly not be an issue and places will open as normal.
Here is what the resorts are reporting this morning (fresh snowfall):
Hakuba Goryu: 40-60cm
Hakuba 47: 50cm
Hakuba Happo-one: 60cm
Hakuba Cortina: 50cm
Heavy snowfall is likely to not be far away through the coming weekend and so it looks like there's going to be more piling up.
With such large amounts of sudden snowfall, it's a case of resort folk running around and being... rather busy. Once things settle down I would expect lifts and course that have until now been unable to open to start opening up. Things might change very quickly too - parts of the resort-specific information may well be out of date soon after I post it. I will try to keep the information on this page up to date but if fine details are important to you over the next few days I would contact resorts directly to get their latest.
If you are heading out there in these conditions: don't forget the dangers out there especially with the sudden increase in fresh snow and visibility issues as well.
Extra caution and calm thinking absolutely required. Take care.
I'm so incredibly happy to see this happen at last. :)
And those of you planning to be here next week --- very nice timing!
Hakuba 47:
Hakuba 47 is reporting 50cm of fresh snowfall.
Early morning snow-moving delaying opening of some areas.
Operating lifts and course info:
- All lifts plan to be operating (Line D usually only operates when the gondola is not operating).
- The Tree Riding Zones are not yet open.
Official snow depth
Upper: 220cm
Base: 80cm
Hakuba Goryu:
Hakuba Goryu is reporting 40cm-60cm of fresh snowfall.
Early morning snow-moving delaying opening of upper areas.
Operating lifts and course info:
- All lifts plan to be operating apart from the Alps 2/4 and Cosmo quad lift.
- Nighta from 6pm until 9:30pm on the Toomi area.
Official snow depth
Alps: 205cm
Toomi: 90cm
Iimori: 70cm
Hakuba Happo-one:
Hakuba Happo-one is reporting 60cm of fresh snowfall.
You can ski or board back down to base via the Riesen Slalom and Nakiyama South course. Downloading via Gondola or lift required in the other areas.
I'd expect that to change soon with this new snowfall.
Operating lifts and course info:
- Most lifts are now operating with just a number of base area lifts still to get moving.
The following courses are open:
- Kurobishi
- Usagidaira
- Skyline
- Riesen
- Panorama
- Nakiyama South
- Kita-one 3
- Shirakaba (part)
Official snow depth:
Usagidaira: 150cm
Kurobishi: 185cm
Lower: 70cm
Tsugaike Kogen:
Operating lifts and course info:
- Most lifts are now operating.
- Uma-no-se and Forest course closed.
- Kane-no-naru-oka areas are only part open.
- All other course areas are available.
Official snow depth:
Tsuga-no-mori: 220cm
Han-no-ki: 180cm
Maruyama: 55cm
Oya-no-hara: 70cm
Kane-no-naru-oka: 35cm
Hakuba Cortina:
The resort is reporting 50cm of fresh snowfall.
Operating lifts and course info:
- Number 7 lift is not operating yet.
- Part of Warabidaira course closed; otherwise other courses open.
- Nighta (Number 1 pair lift) from 5pm until 8pm.
Official snow depth:
Top: 190cm
Base: 140cm
Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field:
Operating lifts and course info:
- Gondola
- Paradise triple
- View 2
- 3-sen North lift
- 4-sen East lift
- 5-sen South lift
The following courses are at least part open:
- View C
- East
- North
- South (part)
- Gezan (part)
- Sunny Valley (part)
- Paradise (part)
- by1
Official snow depth:
Top: 110cm
Base: 60cm
Hakuba Norikura Onsen:
Info:
All lifts but one are now operating with most courses available.
Official snow depth:
Top: 90cm
Kashimayari:
All but two lifts are operating at Kashimayari.
Official snow depth:
Top: 80cm
Hakuba Sanosaka:
Hakuba Sanosaka is part open.
Official snow depth:
Top: 50cm
Planned nighta operations - be sure to check with resorts for latest:
Hakuba Goryu:
Planned to be open daily from 6pm until 9:30pm
Tsugaike Kogen:
Planned at the Kane-no-naru-oka area on January 14th, 21st, 28th; Febraury 4th, 11th (6pm until 8:50pm)
Planned at the Katamatsu-Shirakaba area on January 14th, 21st, 28th; February 11th, 18th; March 4th, 11th, 18th, 19th (6pm until 9pm)
Hakuba Cortina:
Planned to be open daily from 5pm until 8pm (until 9pm on Saturdays)
Hakuba Happo-one:
Planned to be open daily on the Nakiyama area. Will open when there is enough snow.
Kashimayari:
Planned to be open daily.
There is no night skiing at the other resorts in the area.
Hakuba Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Friday 13th January 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 153cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 21 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 57cm (13th January) November 2016 snowfall 1cm reported on 1 day December 2016 snowfall 64cm reported on 11 days January 2017 snowfall 88cm reported on 9 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.