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Hakuba Now: Thursday 8th December 2016

  • Dec 8, 2016
  • 3 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano


New snowfall at base 12cm
Snowfall at base this season 14cm

Posted on Thursday 8th December 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.


Hello and I bring good news.


Today is the first day of the season!


Yes, with a good 10cm on the ground in base areas and more up on the mountains, the first ski lifts are going to be moving this morning - and as far as I can confirm early morning, it's Happo-one and Tsugaike Kogen that win the first lifts of the season prize.


Hakuba Happo-one is going to be open from 11am with the Adam Gondola, Kokusai Number 3 pair lift and Panorama pair lift operating. It's just the Panorama course that will be open on this first day.


Tsugaike Kogen will have both sections of the Eve Gondola operating as well as the top Han-no-ki high speed pair lift. Part of the Upper Han-no-ki course area will be open.


Right now I don't have any word from Hakuba 47 or Hakuba Goryu but you can bet they'll be trying to open as well.


It's all panic-stations now with places now rushing to open and as such the situation may well change during the day. I'll give you an update on the situation tomorrow morning.


Right now the snow has eased off and there's more and while there is still a lot of cloud around there's more blue sky starting to appear and sun is on the forecast with a high of a mild +5C expected in the village. Later tomorrow we should see a return to snow and there's a decent chance of some cm piling up over the weekend too.


Exciting times. Here's to a great 16-17 season.


Planned season opening dates for the ski and snowboard resorts in the Hakuba region:


Hakuba Happo-one: part open from today

Hakuba 47: as soon as there is enough snow

Hakuba Goryu: as soon as there is enough snow

Tsugaike Kogen: part open from today

Hakuba Cortina: from 10th December

Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field: from 16th December

Hakuba Norikura Onsen: from mid December

Hakuba Sanosaka: from mid December



Hakuba Now 2016-2017 season

Data as of Thursday 8th December 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 14cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 12cm (8th December) November 2016 snowfall 1cm reported on 1 day December 2016 snowfall 13cm 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.


SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for.



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