Hakuba Now: Friday 27th April 2018
- Apr 27, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 17, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 547cm
Posted on Friday 27th April 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
It's Friday morning and tomorrow is the start of 'Golden Week' (see below for more on that).
Are we going to have Golden Week-like fine weather? Well, looks like the first part - the upcoming 3 day weekend - should be fine weather and getting quite warm. The second part of GW looks more unclear at the moment but we'll deal with that nearer the time.
For now there is a lot of cloud about. There might be a little rain later on. But we should be looking at clearer skies in time for tomorrow morning.
Golden Week
Golden Week is a period from the end of April through early May containing a number of national holidays. Those holidays are as follows:
- 29th April is 'Showa Day' (Showa-no-hi), the birthday of former Emperor Showa
- 3rd May is 'Constitution Day' (Kenpo-kinenbi)
- 4th May is 'Greenery Day' (Midori-no-hi)
- 5th May is 'Children's Day' (Kodomo-no-hi)
What this means for 2018 is that most people will enjoy two long weekends - 3 days this upcoming weekend and then 4 days off the weekend after:
Long Weekend 1: Saturday 28th April - Monday 30th April
Long Weekend 2: Thursday 3rd - Sunday 6th May
Some people may even be lucky enough to have/take Tuesday and Thursday off next week, giving them a long 9 day holiday!
The weather is often really good over the Golden Week period and of course the end of Golden Week is also the end of ski lift operations here in Hakuba.
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Hakuba Happo-one
Lift info:
- Gondola
- Alpen quad
- Usagidaira pair (* open only on weekends/holidays)
- Panorama pair
- Grat quad
- Kurobishi Number 3 pair
- Kurobishi Number 2 quad
- Skyline Number 2 pair
- Kokusai Number 3 pair (* open only on weekends/holidays)
Course info:
- Usagidaira
- Kurobishi
- Panorama (part)
- Skyline (part)
- You can no longer ride back down to base areas - all base areas now closed
- Take the Gondola back down to base
Official snow depth:
- Kurobishi: 130cm
- Usagidaira: 45cm
- Lower: -cm
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Hakuba Goryu
Lift info:
- Gondola
- Alps Number 1 pair
- Alps Number 3 pair
- Alps Number 2/4 pair (* plans to be open 28th Apr - 6th May)
Courses that remain open:
- Panorama
- Grand Prix
- Technical
- Super
- Take the Gondola back down to base
Official snow depth:
- Top: 160cm
- Toomi: -cm
- Iimori: -cm
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Hakuba 47
Lift info:
- Gondola
- Pair Line A-B
- Quad Line C
- Pair Line E
Course info:
- Part of R-1 closed
- R-6 getting rather narrow in places
- Lower part of R-7 closed, only part of upper area R-7 open
- You can still just about ride back down to base but...
- ...the resort recommends that beginners take the Gondola back down to base
Official snow depth:
- Top: 130cm
- Base: 30cm
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Tsugaike Kogen
Lift info:
- Gondola
- Tsugaike Ropeway
- Tsuga Number 1 pair
- Tsuga Number 2 pair
- Han-no-ki high speed
Courses info:
- Only the top Tsuga-no-mori and Han-kou courses remain open
- You can no longer ride back down to base areas - all base areas now closed
- Take the Gondola back down to base
- The Tsugaike Ropeway plans to be open daily until 6th May
- The Ropeway is open only for hiking and climbing; a special form must be submitted
Official snow depth:
- Tsuga-no-mori: 155cm
- Han-no-ki: 150cm
- Lower areas: -cm
Hakuba Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Friday 27th April 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 547cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 60 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 42cm (25th January) November 2017 snowfall 47cm reported on 5 days December 2017 snowfall 158cm reported on 15 days January 2018 snowfall 202cm reported on 18 days February 2018 snowfall 103cm reported on 15 days March 2018 snowfall 17cm reported on 5 days April 2018 snowfall 20cm reported on 2 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.