Niseko Now: Sunday 19th December 2021
- Dec 19, 2021
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 19cm
Snowfall at base this season 191cm
Posted on Sunday 19th December 2021 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Lots more lovely snow to report to you this morning. Hirafu are reporting another 50cm of fresh and now have an official snow depth of 200cm on their upper slopes. That is good to see.
I am measuring 19cm since my report yesterday. Right now it's generally cloudy with some light snow falling and the forecasts for the coming week has consistent snowfall lined up. Nice.
Night skiing at Niseko Grand Hirafu will start from tonight. It looks like night skiing at HANAZONO will have to wait a little bit longer to get started. Currently the shiny new gondola is open until 4:00pm.
It's interesting that this season night skiing is until 7:00pm at Niseko Hirafu and Niseko Village and until 7:30pm at Niseko Annupuri. I can remember when night skiing was until 9:30pm. It kind of feels a bit like when your favourite chocolate bar shrinks a bit in size (and costs the same or more). Or your favourite restaurant starts cutting down on portion sizes. My toast will most certainly - and stubbornly - always remain the same size! But getting back to the subject at hand, I have noted in the lists below which lifts are scheduled to be open for night skiing.
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A shout out to the good folk who put together the Avalanche Reports every season. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
Niseko Avalanche Report
Moiwa Base -7 degrees, 15cm in the last 12hrs, calm. Benkei Cape NW15m/s, Caper Kamui, WSW9m/s, pressure 1008hPa, wave 1.9m. Annupuri 1000m: -9 degrees 30cm new snow, minor snowdrift development. Mountain Data n/a.
The atmospheric pressure gradient is flattening out, and the strong wind snow is starting to settle down. Significant snowdrift and cornice development came with yesterday's blizzard conditions where the snowdrifts themselves will easily collapse from rider stimulation. Along with this is the secondary risk from weak layers formed during cold, sunny weather. Caution is required on all fresh snow slopes during and immediately after a storm in the mountains along the Sea of Japan. Still lots of bushes off course, not recommended. Gates closed. Niseko Rules of put in place for riding out of bounds, you must follow the rules! Wear your helmet and beacon. The avalanche risk continues on leeward slopes above 1000m due to the underlying weak layers in the old snow below the new snow drifts of the last 2 days. Avoid riding open steep slopes like Kozan no Sawa side wall. Have a good day.
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Planned ski area operations: Sunday 19th December 2021
The below information is manually checked each morning and believed to be correct at time of report.
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 200cm (+30cm)
- Base: 100cm (+15cm)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 50cm
- Base: 50cm
Planned lift operations:
- Ace Family quad
- Ace Number 2 Center Four quad [* open for night skiing until 7:00pm]
- Hirafu Gondola
- King Number 3 quad
- Swinging Monkey
Planned open courses:
- Family
- Sennoki
- Alpen
- Detour for Beginners
- Green
- Center
- Shirakaba
- Kogen
- Boyo
- Ni-kabe
- Kokutai
- Holiday
- Jumbo
- Rinkan
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 165cm (+20cm)
- Base: 110cm (+23cm)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 165cm
- Base: 110cm
Planned lift operations:
- Hanazono Number 1
- Hanazono Number 2 quad
- Hanazono Number 3 quad
- Hanazono Symphony Gondola
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Niseko Annupuri
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 130cm (+40cm)
- Base: 85cm (no change)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 20cm
- Base: 15cm
Planned lift operations:
- Annupuri Gondola
- Dream Number 1 quad
- Jumbo Number 1 quad [* open for night skiing until 7:30pm]
- Jumbo Number 2 pair
Planned open courses:
- Utopia
- Silver
- Shirakaba
- Junior
- Paradise
- Family
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Niseko Village
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 100cm (no change)
- Base: 55cm (no change)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 0cm
- Base: 15cm (probably just not being updated)
Planned lift operations:
- Niseko Gondola
- Village Express
- Community Chair [* open for night skiing until 7:00pm]
- Banzai Chair
Niseko Now 2021-2022 season |
Data as of Sunday 19th December 2021 Total snowfall at base so far 191cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 32cm (18th December) November 2021 snowfall 85cm reported on 6 days December 2021 snowfall 106cm reported on 11 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.