Niseko Now: Monday 16th December 2024
- Dec 16, 2024
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 23cm
Snowfall at base this season 202cm
Posted on Monday 16th December 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It snowing quite heavily at the moment! Nice big fluffy flakes too. Excellent!
Hanazono is reporting an impressive 30-35cm of fresh snow this morning, and it looks like that northern area might have received the most cm. Still, I have measured almost 25cm, and at the rate it is falling that will continue to rise. (Well, I've cleared my measuring point, but you know what I mean).
Generally limited visibility this morning with the snow, though looking at the various cams it appears that visibility is actually fairly good in some places. Feels like that might well be temporary.
When I was out just before it didn't feel too windy and at the start of the day, all of the lifts appear to be opening as planned.
With more snow expected, I wonder when the top lifts will get moving. I'm guessing this coming weekend might be the target, but we'll see.
I see that the scaffolding has suddenly gone from the structure by the base lifts at Hanazono, revealing a surprisingly small building. (Is it a Yurt?) My first impression was that it looks like a big bolt. Or perhaps a Mario warp pipe. But I can see what looks like the words Blue Label written on the side, so can probably now guess what it is. They'll probably officially tell us all about it soon, but it is looking like I'll have to find somewhere else to buy my new bag.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain base: -8℃, 25cm new snow in last 12hrs, mild storm. Moiwa800m: -11.8℃, NNW5.6m/s (2am:20m/s). Hanazono 1000m: -14.1℃, SSE3.4m/s(2am:20m/s), snowpack growing. Coastal data: Benkei Cape NW16m/s(2am:NNW20m/s), Kamui Cape WNW12m/s, 1009hPa, 2.3m waves. Mikaeri Electric Tower 750m -11℃, WNW4.4m, visibility 500m
The winter pressure pattern continues, blizzards on the seas and mountains peaked at 2am. There has been rapid cornice and snowdrift development above the 800m tree line. Snow drifts at 1150m on the south side have grown significantly due to the northerly wind and snow, snowdrifts are unstable and weak layers will break easily. High avalanche risk in the morning. Scale: 80cm deep broken surface; fracture surface: temperature gradient layer on December 15th. Type: surface-occurring surface avalanche. Until the weather improves and the snowdrifts are consolidated and stabilized, it is best not to ski on 30-degree leeward slopes above 1000m. The situation is the same for the surrounding mountains that are affected by weather from the Sea of Japan. The undergrowth has mostly filled in, but it is still unsuitable for skiing. In the forest, snow is a little heavy and wind packed. But not too bad. It's deep, so be careful of falls and suffocation. Accidents are more likely to occur on snowstorm days. Be careful on high-wind days (18+m/s) when cornices develop drastically. Whether there are notable weak layers or not, these quickly growing windloaded slabs are extremely unstable and can slide. Weak sunlight today and the slope undulations are hard to see. Have a nice day.
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Individual ski area information for Monday 16th December 2024
The below snow depth and snowfall numbers are manually checked each morning from official sources.
Lift information is the planned operations for the day at the time of writing.
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 35cm
Base: 33cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 170cm (+30cm change since yesterday)
Base: 130cm (+20cm since yesterday)
Lifts:
All four lifts scheduled to be operating
Courses:
All courses scheduled to be open
Gondola open until 7:00pm
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Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 25cm
Base: 15cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 200cm (+10cm since yesterday)
Base: 100cm (+10cm since yesterday)
Lifts:
Ace Family quad (open until 7:00pm)
Ace Gondola (open until 7:00pm)
Ace Number 3 pair
King Gondola (open until 7:00pm)
King Holiday pair (open until 7:00pm)
King Number 3 quad
Swinging Monkey
Courses:
Most courses apart from the top runs are now open
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 150cm (no change since yesterday)
Base: 110cm (+10cm change since yesterday)
Lifts:
Niseko Gondola
Upper Village Gondola (open until 7:00pm)
Village Express (open until 7:30pm)
Community Chair
Banzai Chair (open for night skiing until 7:30pm)
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 140cm (+15cm change since yesterday)
Base: 110cm (+20cm change since yesterday)
Lifts:
Annupuri Gondola
Dream Number 1 quad
Jumbo Number 1 quad (open until 7:30pm)
Jumbo Number 2 pair
Courses:
Utopia
Shirakaba
Paradise
Family
Junior
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Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Lifts:
Number 1 pair lift
Number 2 pair lift
Quad lift
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Night skiing
Floodlit night skiing is planned from Saturday 14th December 2024 until Wednesday 23rd March 2025.
Niseko Now 2024-2025 season |
Data as of Monday 16th December 2024 Total snowfall at base so far 202cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 21 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 23cm (16th December) November 2024 snowfall 38cm reported on 8 days December 2024 snowfall 164cm 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 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.