Niseko Now: Friday 5th December 2025
- Dec 5, 2025
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 12cm
Snowfall at base this season 70cm
Good morning from Niseko.
All sorts going on at the moment now that snow has arrived, but the main thing is that all five of the ski areas on the mountain are now part open from this morning. By that I mean all four of the Niseko United ski-jo plus Niseko Moiwa over to the west.
I will be checking details every morning from now on, and adjusting the list below as necessary. Operations are very limited at this stage, so keep that in mind.
A curious set of numbers from the ski areas as of 8:30am. Hirafu is claiming 120cm snow depth up top (nice!), but Annupuri a paltry 30cm. Let's give them time to bed in and get used to operations again. (I know the feeling).
It is snowing lightly at the moment, but visibility seems fairly decent. Where I am anyway.
It looks like there are rather a lot of people lining up for the base lift at Hanazono.
The next snowfall of any significance seems to be due early week.
Yesterday I shared some stats regarding how much snow had fallen by 4th December over the last decade or so. I thought it was nerdy stuff that might only interest me and a few other people, but it seems to have been interesting to quite a few of you. I'm glad I put it together. This season I will again be doing a monthly round-up again at the beginning of each month to keep an eye on how the season is developing.
Anyway, if you were naughty and missed my report yesterday, you can find it here.
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 14cm
Base: 20cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 95cm
Base: 55cm
Lifts:
Hanazono Number 1
Hanazono Number 2 quad
Hanazono Gondola [to mid-point]
Courses:
Mango Salad
Silver Dream
Juicy Fruit
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Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 20cm
Base: -
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 120cm
Base: -cm
Lifts:
Ace Gondola
Ace Number 3 pair
Courses:
Ace Gondola
Ace Number 3 pair
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: ?cm
Base: 15cm
Lifts:
Upper Village Gondola
Village Express
Community Chair
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 30cm
Base: 40cm
Lifts:
Dream Number 1 quad
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Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Lifts:
Number 2 pair lift
Niseko Now2025-2026 season |
Data as of Friday 5th December 2025 Total snowfall at base so far 70cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 21cm (4th December) November 2025 snowfall 29cm reported on 7 days December 2025 snowfall 41cm 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.