Niseko Now: Friday 2nd December 2016
- Dec 2, 2016
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 4cm
Snowfall at base this season 114cm
Posted on Friday 2nd December 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Well first of all I'm glad that yesterday is out of the way! Warm conditions and rain aren't much fun when you're eagerly expecting powdery snow, but the good thing about that is that it will have helped in compacting the base, in preparation for all of the fresh snow to come. That's the theory anyway.
Strong winds are blowing around this morning and windy and at times rather extreme conditions are forecast for the day. Niseko Annupuri are reporting south-westerly winds of up to 16m/s up top early on and with such winds there's a very good chance that lifts will be affected of course - for part or all of the day.
Indeed at the start of the day, lifts at Niseko Annupuri are on hold - but it does look like the planned open lifts at Niseko Village and the quad at Niseko Grand Hirafu are actually operating.
While it isn't mid-winter cold this morning, it is definitely colder than yesterday morning with the temperature currently hovering around the zero mark.
Wind blown for sure, but I am measuring 4cm of fresh snowfall this morning.
Anyway, I hope to have more snow to report tomorrow morning but during the day tomorrow we can expect some sunshine and fairly mind conditions once again... before a dip in temperatures and snowfall once more around Tuesday.
Hopefully lots!
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What is planned to be open today?
Apparently, Niseko Grand Hirafu were hoping to be able to operate the Ace Family pair lift from yesterday but weren't able to due to the still-not-enough amounts of snow.
Today strong winds may well affect the lifts that are planned to be open:
Niseko Grand Hirafu plans to be part open from 8:30am with the Ace Number 2 Center Four quad lift taking folk up to the Ace Number 3 pair lift and the open Center Course. The last lift servicing the open run will be at 3:30pm and the last quad lift coming back down to base at 4pm.
Niseko Annupuri also plans to be part open. The Annupuri Gondola starts moving at 8:30am, taking people up to the Jumbo Number 3 pair lift which is open from 8:45am until 3:15pm. The last Gondola down is at 3:30pm.
Niseko Village plans to be part open from 8:30am until 4pm. The lower Community Chair and Annupuri Village Gondola will be operating. For more information on the new lifts at Niseko Village, check out the resort page on SnowJapan.
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Official resort snow depths as of Friday 2nd December 2016:
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Top - 105cm
Base - 45cm
Niseko Village
Top - 30cm
Base - 10cm
Niseko Annupuri
Top - 55cm
Base - 30cm
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Planned season dates for the four main Niseko United ski resorts:
Niseko Grand Hirafu: partly open already, until Sunday 7th May 2017
Niseko Annupuri: partly open already, until Sunday 7th May 2017
Niseko Hanazono: Saturday 3rd December 2016 until Sunday 2nd April 2017
Niseko Village: partly open already, until Sunday 2nd April 2017
Night skiing is planned from Saturday 10th December until Monday 20th March 2017 at the Annupuri, Grand Hirafu and Village resort areas.
Niseko Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Friday 2nd December 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 114cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 15 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 25cm (25th November) November 2016 snowfall 110cm reported on 14 days December 2016 snowfall 4cm 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.