Myoko Now: Monday 20th February 2023
- Feb 20, 2023
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Myoko region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 22cm
Snowfall at base this season 864cm
Posted on Monday 20th February 2023 This is an archived report. The latest Myoko Now report can be found here.
One nasty day of rain, and now we're back to the white stuff. It's snowing pretty hard, with some wind behind it as well. It's hard to see out there, but that's always better than the wetter form of water.
I wanted to write about what I saw two nights ago, which looked like police emergency lights way up on the mountain.
It in fact turned out to be a helicopter trying to do a rescue right on the edge of its operational hours. Sure enough, it flew off to the north and Niigata City just as it really got close to darkness. Apparently another skier got stuck in the valley just above and slightly to the south of Akakan - and this certainly wasn't the first time someone got lost/stuck/made a bad decision (and it was a guided tour, too). There's a reason it's called Takizawa - waterfall valley - as there are a series of rocky drops in there. But it's not just here; the terrain in Myoko is lots of valleys and ridges that head off in unpredictable ways. Why people would be in a valley in the first place is hard to understand, a tiny sluff could quickly become a big problem in you're at the bottom of a valley. Yet we see tracks going into the worst possible places. Real backcountry skiing is a lot of fun, the risks can be controlled, but you can't just take off and expect to get safely off the mountain. A lot of people need less fancy gear and more knowledge (their own, and local experience). Well, they need the good gear, too, but there are a lot of people out there now with thousands of dollars in gear and just a few cents' worth of sense.
Akakura Kanko:
240cm, -5°
Akakura Onsen:
300cm, -4°
Ikenotaira Onsen Alpen Blick
Top 240cm, bottom 210cm; 2° (no new report)
Myoko Suginohara:
Top 180cm, bottom 115cm; -4°
Seki Onsen:
410cm, -4°
Kyukamura RunRun:
270cm, -1°
Tangram Madarao Tokyu Resort:
180cm, -5°
Madarao Mountain Resort:
280cm, -5°
Lotte Arai Resort
408cm, 0.6°
Myoko Now 2022-2023 season |
Data as of Monday 20th February 2023 Total snowfall at base so far 864cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 48 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 64cm (15th February) November 2022 snowfall 0cm December 2022 snowfall 134cm reported on 19 days January 2023 snowfall 491cm reported on 19 days February 2023 snowfall 239cm reported on 10 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Myoko. 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.