Niseko Now: Sunday 27th December 2015
- Dec 27, 2015
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 20cm
Snowfall at base this season 232cm
Posted on Sunday 27th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
There are lots of smiling faces at the moment here as our Christmas period haul of fresh snowfall continues.
I have another 20cm of fresh snow outside my place here in Hirafu base this morning, and it is still snowing now, and forecast to continue for the next few days as well.
This is what we like. I am happy that Santa and his creature friends held on to their promise. Not that I ever doubted them of course.
Some of the smiles might be temporarily wiped off faces when people realise that it's also very windy this morning and affecting some lifts at the start of the day. Though maybe not! After the start to the season we have had lovely fresh snowfall and lots of it is by far the biggest thing right now and I think we can put with some wind if that's part of the deal for getting the snow. Though it would be good if we could just get the snow without the wind.
At the time of writing, strong winds on the mountain are affecting resorts in this way:
Niseko Grand Hirafu - Top King Number 4 lift on hold. Snow moving going on at King Number 3 which may open a bit late.
Niseko Hanazono - Top Hanazono Number 3 lift on hold.
Niseko Village - Gondola and top Wonderland lift on hold.
Niseko Annupuri - Jumbo Number 1 running slow with all other lifts on hold.
It's limited visibility on the slopes this morning along with the windy conditions.
Have fun in all that snow, but don't forget to be careful and to always stay safe. An extra layer and face masks are recommended today - it's cold out there.
As I mentioned snowfall is due through until around Tuesday; the resort areas should be 'all open' sometime soon I think.
Oh yes! :)
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -9℃, 20cm of crushed crystal snow in 12hours, small development of snowdrifts. Moiwa 800m: -12℃, NE15m/s, large cornices and snowdrifts development up to 100cm. Annupuri 1000m:-16℃, NW25m/s, poor visibility and large development of snowdrifts.
Coastal data: Benkei cape NW17m/s, Kamui cape W12m/s, 1007hPa, 3.1m waves.
The strong winter pressure distribution has generated powerful wind and snowfall during the night. The wind at lower elevation has calmed down in the morning, however the storm is persisting above 600m elevation. Snowdrifts and cornices are continuing to grow and are extremely unstable. Avalanche risk is very high in leeward slopes above 800m and open leeside steep slopes above 600m in all mountain areas in Shiribeshi sub-prefecture.
Many of the accidents occur in those slopes loaded with snowdrifts. Stay away from these aspects when planning your touring routes.
Great condition in the trees.
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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 1 pair
- Ace Number 2 Quad Center Four* (for transport)
- Ace Number 3 pair
- Hirafu Gondola*
- King Number 1 pair
- King Number 3 triple
- King Number 4
- Holiday Number 1 pair*
- Swinging Monkey
Courses planned to be open:
- Family
- Beginners access
- Center
- Shirakaba
- Green
- Kokutai
- Ni-kabe
- Alpen
- Sennoki
- Kogen
- Boyo
- Rinkan
- Jumbo
- Dynamic
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*
- Morino Chair
- Wonderland Chair
Niseko Annupuri
Lifts planned to be operating:
- All lifts planned to be operating
Courses planned to be open:
- Champion
- Utopia
- Shirakaba
- Paradise
- Junior
- Family
- Dynamic
- Silver
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Official resort snow depths as of Sunday 27th December 2015:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 230cm
Base - 80cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 100cm
Base - 100cm
Niseko Annupuri:
Top - 105cm
Base - 80cm
Niseko Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Sunday 27th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 232cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 24cm (26th December) November 2015 snowfall 61cm reported on 4 days December 2015 snowfall 171cm 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.