Niseko Now: Saturday 30th December 2017
- Dec 30, 2017
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 22cm
Snowfall at base this season 594cm
Posted on Saturday 30th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Good morning from Niseko.
And I have another 22cm of quality fresh snowfall to report to you from base this morning. Most of that is from the day yesterday - this morning we are enjoying some blue skies and sunshine and it looks like it will be a lovely day.
And that's about all I have to say this morning. It should be a totally excellent day on the slopes.
I have started to put together my 'season until now' report that will appear in the first few days of January and in January I will also answer some of the questions that have been sent in over the last few weeks.
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -7℃, 15cm snowfall, calm. Moiwa800m: -7.35℃, N3.8m/s, 20cm snowfall, calm. Anupuri1150m: -9℃, light northerly breeze, 20cm. Hirafu1250m: -13℃, light north breeze, 30cm snowfall. Coastal data: Benkei cape N7m/s, Kamui cape calm, 1015hPa, 0.8m waves.
The isobars are spreading out and a light northerly breeze is blowing. The snowdrift development has settled down and 20-30cm of light snow is blanketing the mountain. According to observations, tests and snowfall transition, the overall avalanche risk is relatively low. Peak gates and gate 7 & 9 are scheduled to open today. Opening time undetermined. Please follow the patrol’s instructions. Always use gates to step out of bounds. Due to short day length at this time of the season, all gates will close at 2pm in order to minimize risk of night search and rescue operations.
Please use this information as a guideline only. The abundant snowfall of this season makes it difficult to generalize the evaluation throughout the mountain. According to past incidents, the avalanche hazard from Dec 24th or deeper layer is still to be highly expected in high altitude steep slopes, such as Backbowl walls, Higashi-One cornice slopes and other NE facing slopes.
Stay away from valley bottoms, avoid knolls and cornices and always ride one by one. Is your beacon turned on? Are you wearing a helmet? Niseko respects everyone’s freedom to step out of the resort, however is deeply concerned about their safety too. Have a great day.
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Friday 29th December 2017
Resort specific information (operations subject to change):
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts are operating
Official snow depth:
- Top: 350cm
- Base: 280cm
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts are operating
Official snow depth:
- Top: 230cm
- Base: 150cm
Niseko Village
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts except Country Road Chair are operating
Official snow depth:
- Top: 250cm
- Base: 170cm
Niseko Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Saturday 30th December 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 594cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 38 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 38cm (21st December) November 2017 snowfall 188cm reported on 11 days December 2017 snowfall 406cm reported on 27 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.