Niseko Now: Thursday 7th December 2017
- Dec 7, 2017
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 5cm
Snowfall at base this season 266cm
Posted on Thursday 7th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It is another very cold early December morning. -7C outside and I see Niseko Village are reporting a temperature of -11C on their upper area. Not much of a wind at all, so resorts should be open as normal.
I have 5cm of lovely fresh snowfall to add to my report this morning and it is currently coming down at quite a pace (8:10am), so expect some more in my report tomorrow too. The forecast seems to be indicating that snowfall should be easing off sometime during the day today and we might even see a day of no snow tomorrow. Objection!
I spent a good three hours at Hirafu yesterday and shared the lifts with some lovely folk from Brazil... they were understandably rather happy at their choice of 'early season' after worrying about it for the past ten months. Phew! Conditions were really nice and it is still not particularly busy. I have a few friends based in the Tokyo region though who have heard about the conditions and have decided to make an extra early season trip up here. I am pretty sure that they will not be the only ones thinking those thoughts.
Heavy snowfall looks due around Monday and into next week. What more can I say!
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I'm keeping an eye on early morning resort operation info and updated the data below each morning; this morning the only change I can see is that Konayuki course at Niseko Grand Hirafu is now open.
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Thursday 7th December 2017
What's planned to be open today in Niseko (subject to change):
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Lifts operating:
- Ace Number 3 Pair lift
- Ace Number 2 Center Four quad lift
- Ace Family quad lift
- King Number 3 quad lift
- Hirafu Gondola
- Holiday Number 1 pair lift
- Swinging Monkey
* All courses are open apart from Large, Miharashi and Dynamic. Konayuki now open.
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts operating:
- Hanazono Number 1 quad lift
- Hanazono Number 2 quad lift
- Hanazono Number 3 quad lift
* All lifts are operating
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Lifts operating:
- Annupuri Gondola
- Jumbo Number 1 quad lift
- Dream Number 1 quad lift
* Top of Gondola to base is skiable. And, indeed, snowboard-able (!?) too.
Niseko Village
Lifts operating:
- Niseko Gondola
- Banzai Chair
- Community Chair
* Utopia, Shirakaba, Silver, Paradise, Family, Dynamic and Junior courses are open.
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Official resort snow depths on Thursday 7th December 2017:
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Hanazono
Top - 210cm
Base - 85cm
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Top - 140cm
Base - 70cm
Niseko Village
Top - 135cm
Base - 70cm
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Floodlit 'nighta' skiing schedule:
Saturday 9th December 2017 until Sunday 18th March 2018
Niseko Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Thursday 7th December 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 266cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 18 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 29cm (20th November) November 2017 snowfall 188cm reported on 11 days December 2017 snowfall 78cm reported on 7 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.