Hakuba Now: Friday 21st December 2012
- Dec 21, 2012
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 5cm
Snowfall at base this season 159cm
Weather overview Cloud
Wind
Light
Temperature -
Visibility Fair
Posted on Friday 21st December 2012 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Hakuba. It's a cloudy start to the day and a few cm, up to 5cm or so, around the village with resorts report up to 20cm of snow on upper slopes since yesterday. The temperature is currently -3C with that set to rise to around +3C later on in the afternoon.
The forecast is for cloud today. Good visibility on the lower slopes but higher areas are covered in cloud.
Tomorrow will be quite mild with a chance of light rain in the daytime though it should be snowing on the mountains. Sunday is when the cold front begins to move in and bring with it the snow we are hoping for, still looking on for a good dump of snow Sunday into Monday.
While lots of area is open, we could really do with another good delivery of snow with less than perfect conditions. It was pretty icy out there yesterday, though the new snow overnight last night should improve things. I'd head up high if I were going out today.
More lifts at Happo-one will be operating from today (see below) including Skyline, with all areas planned to be open as soon as tomorrow. From tomorrow Happo-one also plan to have the Shirakaba 1 and 2 pair lifts, as well as the Usagidaira pair lift and Central pair lifts operating. The latter two are open on Saturdays, public holidays and over the New Year period).
This was mentioned last season - the area located around the top Grat Quad lift at Happo-one is designated as National Parklands. Because of that the resort is only able to open that lift and course when there is enough snow to do so, to maintain and protect the natural environment. They are ready to get that open tomorrow, though it's going to depend on the snow which at the moment seems to be hovering around the 150cm number needed. Lets hope they can and I will let you know tomorrow.
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Official snow depths and operations @ Friday 21st December 2012 AM:
Please note that resort lift operations are subject to change at any time.
Hakuba Goryu:
20cm of new snow up top, 5cm on lower slopes this morning.
Most lifts now operating.
All main areas and courses at Hakuba Goryu are now open.
Nighta at Goryu open from Saturday.
Official snow depths:
Alps daira - 175cm;
Toomi - 90cm;
Iimori - 35cm
Hakuba 47:
13cm of new snow reported by Hakuba 47 this morning.
All runs at Hakuba 47 are now open.
All lifts apart from Line D operating.
Official snow depth:
Upper - 135cm
Lower - 45cm
Happo-one:
Ski lifts/courses:
Lifts operating - Gondola, Alpen quad, Kurobishi No2 quad, Kokusai No3 pair, Sakka Kitaone quad, Sakka 2 pair, Kitaone triple, Panorama, Happo Riesen quad, Nakiyama No3 triple, Skyline 2 pair.
More lifts opening tomorrow.
You can now ride down to gondola base.
Official snow depth:
Usagidaira - 140cm
Nakiyama/Shirakaba - 30cm
Sakka - 30cm
Tsugaike Kogen:
More of the resort is now opening up, though still not so much snow on lower slopes.
Official snow depth:
Upper slopes - 230cm
Lower slopes - 40cm
Hakuba Cortina:
5-10cm of new snow to report from Hakuba Cortina.
Number 2 quad and Number 4 pair lifts operating.
Official snow depth:
Upper slopes - 130cm
Lower slopes - 60cm
Hakuba Iwatake:
The Gondola, 4 line East and 5 line South lifts are operating.
Official snow depth:
Upper slopes - 110cm
Lower slopes - 50cm
Hakuba Sanosaka:
Number 2 quad, Number 3 quad and Number 6 pair lifts operating.
Official snow depth:
50cm
Hakuba Minekata:
Minekata plans to open from Saturday 22nd December.
Hakuba Now 2012-2013 season |
Data as of Friday 21st December 2012 Total snowfall at base so far 159cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 30cm (9th and 10th December) November 2012 snowfall 47cm reported on 4 days December 2012 snowfall 112cm reported on 13 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.