Niseko Now: Saturday 19th December 2015
- Dec 19, 2015
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 10cm
Snowfall at base this season 180cm
Posted on Saturday 19th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Another 10cm of fresh snow to report this morning which is good - conditions are certainly improving and we'd like to see more!
Something else this morning. Yes, just when we were hoping that more terrain might be able to open for the weekend, strong winds on the mountain are affecting operations early on.
As far as I can tell here's what is being affected at the time of writing:
Niseko Grand Hirafu: Ace Number 2 Quad Center Four, Ace Number 3 pair, King Number 3 triple, Swinging Monkey lifts on hold at time of writing due to strong winds
Niseko Hanazono: Number 3 lift on hold at time of writing due to strong winds
Niseko Village: Gondola on hold at time of writing due to strong winds
Niseko Annupuri: All lifts on hold at time of writing due to strong winds
So it's all a bit limited at the moment this morning I'm afraid.
Never mind, the bigger picture is positive with the fresh snowfall and it's good and cold.
Hopefully we might get a bit more today though I wouldn't expect too much - the forecast is for clearing conditions later on, but there's even hints of blue sky and sun in places now so perhaps the clearing is starting already. Fingers crossed that the wind will calm down too.
Then we are likely due some sunshine tomorrow and back to the fresh snowfall around Monday. Looking ahead to Christmas it would seem there's snow on the way around that period too.
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -5℃, 15cm of new snow in 12hours with moderate development of snowdrifts. 600m elevation: W15m/s, 15cm of new snow with notable development of snowdrifts. 1000m elevation: NW15m/s. Coastal data: Benkei cape NNW19m/s, Kamui cape NW11m/s, 1021hPa, 3.4m waves.
Cornices and snowdrifts are slowly developing under the winter weather pattern and are forming soft slabs of unstable snow in cliffs and steep slopes, likely to slide from Dec 18th layer.
50cm surface slab avalanches are likely to occur in 800m upper SE aspects and knolls. Better stay away from those aspects until the wind calms down and the snowpack stabilize. Avalanche accidents are most likely to occur in developing sniwdrifts.
Out of bounds areas are still closed due to lack of snow. Please remain patient and respect the Niseko Rules.
This information is released for the safety of all resort users.
The snow is good but visibility gets bad sometimes.
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Planned resort operations (subject to change due to weather conditions during the day)
The lifts market with an asterix (*) below are planned to be open for night skiing
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Lifts planned to be running:
- Ace Family pair*
- Ace Number 2 Quad Center Four (for transport)
- Ace Number 3 pair
- Hirafu Gondola (for transport)
- King Number 3 triple
- Holiday Number 1 pair
- Swinging Monkey
Courses planned to be open:
- Family
- Beginners access
- Center
- Shirakaba
- Green
- Kokutai (upper part)
- Alpen
- Sennoki
- Kogen
- Boyo
- Holiday
- Rinkan (part)
- Jumbo
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts planned to be running:
- Hanazono Number 1 quad
- Hanazono Number 2 quad
- Hanazono Number 3 quad
Courses planned to be open:
- Connecting
- Parallel
- Silver Dream
- Stairway to Heaven
- Setsuzoku course
- Crystal Garden
- Yotei Sunset (ungroomed)
Niseko Village
Lifts planned to be operating:
- Niseko Gondola
- Community Chair*
- Banzai Chair*
Niseko Annupuri
Lifts planned to be operating:
- Annupuri Gondola
- Jumbo Number 1 quad*
- Jumbo Number 2 pair
- Jumbo Number 3 pair
Courses planned to be open:
- Utopia
- Shirakaba
- Paradise
- Junior
- Family
- Dynamic
- Silver
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Official resort snow depths as of 19th December 2015:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 175cm
Base - 60cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 80cm
Base - 50cm
Niseko Annupuri:
Top - 70cm
Base - 60cm
Niseko Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Saturday 19th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 180cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 13 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 20cm (30th November) November 2015 snowfall 61cm reported on 4 days December 2015 snowfall 119cm reported on 9 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.