Niseko Now: Friday 1st December 2023
- Dec 1, 2023
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 25cm
Snowfall at base this season 145cm
Posted on Friday 1st December 2023 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Good morning from Niseko.
It's December and we are starting the month in style with a large amount of snow. I have just measured a cool 25cm of it, and it's extremely fine quality snow too. Beautiful. :)
Light snow is forecast today and perhaps tomorrow with clearer (and milder) weather due Monday through Tuesday. It might just be temporary but there is even a bit of sunshine breaking through as I write this.
OK, so... will any ski lifts be moving this morning?
It looks like the Annupuri Village Gondola and Community Chair lifts at Niseko Village will be open today, from 9am. The other ski areas should be opening from tomorrow.
I plan to be here every day through until Golden Week in early May. Hope you stay with me and enjoy the commentary on the season.
To commemorate the beginning of the 2023-2024 season, I will now have my traditional celebratory toast.
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Poor Nakayamatoge Ski Area over in Kimobetsu Town, between here and Sapporo city.
That ski area has a unique season in that it usually plans to open for a short period very early on and then for a more extended period in the spring. This year's planned early season was Saturday, 18th November, until Thursday, 30th November. Struggling for snow, they could not open and will not be open until spring.
I'm sure the spring season will… happen! I believe the spring park over there is quite popular. They plan to be open from Monday 1st April until Monday 6th May 2024.
It is interesting to note that the SnowJapan page for Nakayamatoge (here) says that at one time this ski area was open throughout the winter. And last year, the early season period was 3rd-9th December. This kind of detail really interests me!
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Individual ski area operations: Friday 1st December 2023
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.
Official snow depth numbers in brackets show the change since previous report.
Niseko Village
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: ?cm
- Base: ?cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: ?cm (+?cm)
- Base: ?cm (+?cm)
Planned lift operations:
- Upper Village Gondola (9:00am-3:30pm)
- Community Chair (9:00am-3:30pm)
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Planned opening date: Saturday 2nd December 2023
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Planned opening date: unconfirmed (probably late December)
Asahigaoka
Niseko Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Friday 1st December 2023 Total snowfall at base so far 145cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 25cm (1st December) November 2023 snowfall 120cm reported on 11 days December 2023 snowfall 25cm reported on 1 day |
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.