Niseko Now: Wednesday 3rd January 2024
- Jan 3, 2024
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 6cm
Snowfall at base this season 391cm
Posted on Wednesday 3rd January 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It has, of course, been a very sobering start to the year for Japan. While the events of the last few days have not directly affected our lives up here, it's hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed by what has been happening with the earthquake and then that awful plane accident at Haneda.
Moving away from all that, as I write this, the sun is shining through my window and it looks like a fine morning. There is some cloud around. Today and tomorrow should bring us more sun than snow, with the next snowfall due from Friday.
Ski areas are reporting up to 20cm of snowfall on the mountain this morning, though there has been less than that lower down.
The gondola at Annupuri is going to be delayed this morning, though I can't find any details beyond that. The Swinging Monkey lift at Hirafu also looks delayed.
If you are one of the naughty people who did not check my report yesterday, including a bit of a summary of the season so far, you can find it here.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain base 6am: -6C, light snowfall in 12h, calm and good visibility. Oiwa800m: -9.3C, NNW5m/s, 10cm snowfall, good visibility. Mikaeri 764m: -11C, light breeze, 10cm snowfall, good visibility. Hirafu Hanazono 1000m: -9.4C, N4.2m/s, 20cm snowfall. Hanazono#3: -6.5C, NNE2.5m/s, 20cm snowfall, good visibility. Coastal data: Benkei cape NW5m/s, Kamui cape WSW5m/s, 1016hPa, 1.0m waves.
Calm morning on the sea and the mountains. There has been no notable development of snowdrifts and cornices. Looking at the weather transition, various data and reports, the slabs formed by the recent storm are stable and the avalanche risk is low. Peak gates cannot open yet due to lack of snow. The abundance of inbounds accidents are keeping the ski patrollers too busy for them to get the gates ready. Please allow some more time. Tourers beware when hiking to surrounding mountains. Overconfidence and greed causes accidents. Tour leaders are responsible for the safety of the whole group. The soft snow layer is shallow; ski carefully. Do not duck ropes.
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Individual ski area information for Wednesday 3rd January 2024
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 and subject to change.
Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 15cm
- Base: 15cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 210cm (+10cm since yesterday)
- Base: 80cm (+5cm since yesterday)
Lifts:
- Ace Family quad (until 7:00pm)
- Ace Number 2 quad (Center Four) (until 7:00pm)
- Ace Number 3 pair
- Hirafu Gondola (until 7:00pm)
- Holiday Number 1 pair (until 7:00pm)
- King Number 3 quad
- King Number 4
- Swinging Monkey
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 12cm
- Base: 15cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 160cm (+10cm since yesterday)
- Base: 115cm (+5cm since yesterday)
Lifts:
- Hanazono Number 1
- Hanazono Number 2 quad
- Hanazono Number 3 quad
- Hanazono Symphony Gondola (until 7:00pm)
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 140cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 110cm (no change since yesterday)
Lifts:
- Annupuri Gondola
- Dream Number 1 quad
- Jumbo Number 1 quad (until 7:30pm)
- Jumbo Number 2 pair
- Jumbo Number 3 pair
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 132cm
- Base: 95cm
Lifts:
- Niseko Gondola
- Upper Village Gondola (until 7:00pm)
- Village Express (until 7:00pm)
- Community Chair
- Banzai Chair (until 7:00pm)
- Morino Chair
- Wonderland Chair
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Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Lifts:
- Number 1 pair
- Number 2 pair
- Quad
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Floodlit night skiing is planned daily until Wednesday 20th March 2024.
Night skiing is usually until 7:00pm at Hirafu, Hanazono, Village and until 7:30pm at Annupuri.
Niseko Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Wednesday 3rd January 2024 Total snowfall at base so far 391cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 38 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 31cm (18th December) November 2023 snowfall 120cm reported on 11 days December 2023 snowfall 247cm reported on 24 days January 2024 snowfall 24cm reported on 3 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.