Niseko Now: Saturday 10th December 2016
- Dec 10, 2016
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this season 162cm
Posted on Saturday 10th December 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It's Saturday morning and there's a 15cm of lovely fresh light snow on the ground outside my place this morning. I am hearing of more than 20cm higher up on the mountains.
It is back to being cold again and it has been pretty crazy weather overnight actually, with strong winds and the snow really dumping down at times - though as I put this report together it has eased off somewhat and it is now just coming down lightly and visibility has improved. Still, continued snowfall is forecast for the day and it's looking good for the weekend. (Though not if you want to see the sun!)
Tonight is of course the planned opening of nighta operations. From what I can gather, Niseko Grand Hirafu plan to only have the Ace Family lift (and Family Course) open for nighta today as they are delaying the nighta operations of the Ace Number 2 Center Four and Gondola until there's more snow.
Niseko Village plan to have their main Niseko Gondola operating from this morning and also plan to start nighta today. They plan to have the Village Express, Upper Village Gondola and Community Chair operating tonight.
And over at Niseko Annupuri they also have another lift moving and a few more courses open, and are planning on opening for nighta tonight with the Jumbo Number 1 quad operating. Details as I have them updated below, hope they are all correct.
Today will surely be the best day of the season so far, and while it's exciting to see more snowfall and more open up (obviously!), we're still not fully open. So there's lots to look forward to, and in the meantime I'm going to go and have some fun out there this morning.
Take care out there!
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Oh yes, today is the first day of the 'on season' (ie. more expensive) lift ticket prices. Yey!
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -4℃, 20cm snowfall in 12 hours, light storm and bad visibility. Coastal data: Kamui cape N15m/s, 1009hPa, 2.5m waves.
The wind and snow has picked up under the winter weather pattern (High West/Low East), heavy snowdrift slabs are developing fast, reaching up to 80cm in leeward knoll terrain above 800m and are easily collapsing from the weak bonding between the low-pressure snowfall of Dec 9th.
Looking at all observations, data and snowfall transition, the avalanche risk is high. Better not carelessly drop into course side steep slopes or under chairlifts.
Many of the avalanche accidents occur during storms. The unstable snowdrifts will stabilize as the weather turns better. Better not push limits today.
Treacherous conditions not only in the mountain but on the road as well.
Beware of slippery mirror-like road and limited visibility. Drive safe.
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Resort specific opening news at time of writing (subject to change during the day):
All four resort areas appear to be able to open as planned at the start of the day, though watch out for windy conditions that might affect some lifts.
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Lifts planned to be operating:
- Ace Family pair
- Ace Number 2 Center Four
- Ace Number 3 pair
- Hirafu Gondola
- King Number 3 quad
- Swinging Monkey
Courses planned to be open:
- Family course
- Alpen course (experts only)
- Green
- Beginners access course
- Shirakaba course
- Center course
- Boyo (lower part only)
- Kokutai (experts only)
- Holiday
- Rinkan
- Jumbo course
- Parallel course
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts planned to be operating:
- Hanazono 1 quad
- Hanazono 2 quad
- Hanazono 3 quad
Courses planned to be open:
- Silver Dream
- Stairway to Heaven
- Setsuzoku
- Legend of Shinya
- Crystal Garden
- Renraku
- Yotei Sunset
Niseko Village
Lifts planned to be operating:
- Niseko Gondola
- Community Chair
- Upper Village Gondola
- Village Express
Niseko Annupuri
Lifts planned to be operating:
- Jumbo Number 1 quad
- Jumbo Number 2 pair
- Jumbo Number 3 pair
- Annupuri Gondola
Courses planned to be operating:
- Utopia
- Shirakaba
- Silver
- Paradise
- Junior
- Family
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Official resort snow depths as of Saturday 10th December 2016:
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Hanazono
Top - 175cm
Base - 60cm
Niseko Village
Top - 70cm
Base - 50cm
Niseko Annupuri
Top - 70cm
Base - 50cm
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Night skiing is planned from today until Monday 20th March 2017 at the Niseko Annupuri, Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Village resort areas. There is no nighta in the Hanazono area.
Niseko Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Saturday 10th December 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 162cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 21 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 25cm (25th November) November 2016 snowfall 110cm reported on 14 days December 2016 snowfall 52cm reported on 7 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Kutchan/Niseko. 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.