Niseko Now: Thursday 22nd November 2012
- Nov 22, 2012
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 15, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 10cm
Snowfall at base this season 51cm
Weather overview Cloud, light snow
Wind
Light to moderate
Temperature 0C base / -4C top
Visibility Fair
Posted at 9:05am on Thursday 22nd November 2012 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here.
Tomorrow is the day!
There's definitely enough snow for an opening tomorrow at Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Annupuri. By all accounts there is around a full 1m of snow out there on the mountain in places, so it certainly should be a good opening and a great early start to the season.
Since the last report we have probably had another 10cm or so at base with another 15cm higher up, and early this morning it has been snowing lightly with the temperature hovering just above 0C.
Anyway, yesterday afternoon the Grand Hirafu resort officially announced that they do indeed intend to go ahead with opening on Friday, and that they intend to have the Center Course open. There's a chance that more might open come tomorrow depending on how the weather sorts itself out and what the people in charge decide is good for us!
They plan to have the Ace No 2 Center Four lift moving from 8:30am until 3:20am (last one going up), along with the Ace No 3 pair lift operating from 8:40am until 3:30pm. 8 hour tickets will be 2000 yen for adults and 1000 yen for children and seniors up until 30th November.
I don't have any specifics on Annupuri's plans right at this moment.
Tomorrow is actually a national holiday in Japan, so it's a 3 day weekend. Resorts are of course really happy if they are able to meet that opening date and there's a few more ski resorts in the region planning to be opening up tomorrow as well, including Rusutsu Resort and Kiroro Snow World.
Taking a look at the forecast, it is going to be a cold one - especially Saturday - so be sure to be prepared. It might still be November but it's definitely winter.
Niseko Now 2012-2013 season |
Data as of Thursday 22nd November 2012 Total snowfall at base so far 51cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 4 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 20cm (19th and 21st November) November 2012 snowfall 51cm |
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.