Niseko Now: Friday 4th December 2015
- Dec 4, 2015
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 5cm
Snowfall at base this season 80cm
Posted on Friday 4th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Good morning, and it is definitely a better start to the day today with 5cm of fresh snow to report here at base and snow clouds still with us.
Yesterday was best left forgotten. Annupuri soon after 9am did get their Jumbo Quad Number 1 lift operating and Niseko Grand Hirafu gave up on the day early afternoon with rain still falling and strong winds still blowing everything about. All very wet and not at all appealing.
Anyway back to today and yes it is colder and snowy. Continued snowfall is expected today, heavier from later on, and also over the weekend into early next week - this is what we have been waiting for and we can of course expect resorts to get lifts and courses open as quickly as possible.
It is still rather windy, but apparently not enough it would seem to stop all three of the part open resorts from starting the planned lift operations as noted below.
Lots of snow tonight please!
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Resort specific news as of 8:30am - subject to change during the day
Niseko Grand Hirafu:
Lifts planned to be running - Ace Number 2 Quad Center Four (transport), Ace Number 3
Course planned to be open - Center Course
Niseko Village:
Lifts planned to be operating - Community Chair and Banzai Chair
Courses planned to be open - Banzai, Next Stage, Final Fling, Shaky Knees
Niseko Annupuri:
Lifts planned to be operating - Annupuri Gondola (transport) and Jumbo Number 3 lift
Courses planned to be open - Utopia, Shirakaba, Paradise and Junior courses open
Niseko HANAZONO Resort:
The Hanazono area plans to open from Saturday 5th December
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'Nighta' should be starting on Saturday 12th December 2015
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Official resort snow depths:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 95cm
Base - 30cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 30cm
Base - 10cm
Niseko Annupuri:
Top - 50cm
Base - 30cm
Niseko Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Friday 4th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 80cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 6 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 20cm (30th November) November 2015 snowfall 61cm reported on 4 days December 2015 snowfall 19cm reported on 2 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.