Hakuba Now: Wednesday 17th December 2014
- Dec 17, 2014
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 30cm
Snowfall at base this season 139cm
Posted on Wednesday 17th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
Sorry for the later report this morning, I have been digging myself out of snow and also trying to get as much information as I can for this report.
Very large amounts of snow falling in Hakuba at the moment.
Here's what the resorts are reporting in terms of fresh snowfall:
Hakuba 47 - 30cm at base since last night, 60cm on upper slopes. Strong winds higher up.
Hakuba Goryu - 30cm at Iimori, 30cm at Alps Daira upper slopes.
Hakuba Happo-one - 60cm.
Hakuba Cortina - 35cm at base; 40cm at top.
Basically lots of snow, with more on the way as it is not stopping any time soon.
Snow storm style conditions out there this morning, though some lifts are managing to be open. It's one of those days when conditions and status can change often, so what I post below is just the snapshot for early morning as I write the report and collect the info. If you are planning to be out in these mad conditions (!), I recommend you check with the resort.
The Number 4 pair lift at Hakuba Cortina is closed this morning, due to avalanche danger according to the resort. It's highly recommended to stay on the official courses. All of this new snowfall, very poor visibility and wind blowing around... extra care is needed at times like this. It feels a bit of a downer talking about potential dangers, but we need to always keep those in mind while having our fun. It's not worth risking your life for.
For those waiting for the end of the storm, Friday might bring us calmer conditions and some clearer skies and sun.
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Happo-one
Reporting 60cm of fresh snow this morning.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 60cm
Usagidaira - 180cm
Open lifts:
-Kokusai Number 3
-Panorama
-Adam Gondola
--
Hakuba 47
30cm at base, 60cm of fresh on the mountain this morning. All lifts on hold due to the weather conditions early on but hope to get open.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 110cm
Upper - 230cm
--
Hakuba Goryu
Reporting 30cm at base and higher up this morning. Top Alps Daira lifts closed along with Panorama Course due to the weather. Other areas remain open.
Official Snow depths:
Iimori - 130cm
Toomi - 120cm
Alps Daira - 190cm
Open lifts:
-Gondola
-Toomi Sky Four lift
-Mikly Four lift
-Cosmo Four lift
-Iimori Number 6 Pair lift
-Iimori Number 1 Pair lift
Open courses:
-All courses are generally open, but the top Panorama course is closed this morning because of the weather conditions.
--
Tsugaike Kogen
The upper part of the Gondola and top lifts not open due to the weather conditions this morning. At opening just the lower part and the Shirakaba Quad lift and subsequently only the lower Shirakaba and Oya-no-hara course areas open.
Official Snow depths:
Maruyama - 120cm
Oya-no-hara - 120cm
Tsuga-no-mori - 220cm
Planned open lifts:
-Shirakaba Quad
-Gondola (lower part only)
Open course areas::
-Shirakaba
-Oya-no-hara
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Hakuba Cortina
Cortina reporting 35-40cm of fresh snow this morning. Number 4 lift closed along with courses due to avalanche danger.
Official Snow depths:
Base - 160cm
Upper - 210cm
Open lifts:
-Number 2 Quad
Open course areas:
-Ikenota
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Kashimayari
Reporting 40cm of new snowfall.
Part open, fully open from this weekend.
Official Snow depth:
110cm
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Hakuba Norikura Onsen
Reporting 30cm of new snowfall.
Part open
Official Snow depth:
150cm
---
Other planned opening dates:
Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field - Friday 19th December
Hakuba Sanosaka - Saturday 20th December
Hakuba Now 2014-2015 season |
Data as of Wednesday 17th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 139cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (14th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 139cm reported on 12 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.