Niseko Now: Monday 8th December 2025
- Dec 8, 2025
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 1cm
Snowfall at base this season 72cm
It is snowing lightly at the moment after starting earlier on and leaving us with something of a dusting. I can just about justify the 1cm in my report this morning, and hope that there will be more to report tomorrow morning.
Hopefully it will be more of the fluffy variety, too, along with colder conditions.
The 8cm of fresh snowfall reported by Hirafu at base this morning is... how should I phrase it... interesting. As is the jolly impressive 45cm (!) of 24h fresh snowfall at base that Niseko Village is showing on the official United site. (Yeah, that one is clearly a mistake. I'm guessing it's the snow depth). Come on, guys.
Anyway, we patiently wait for precious gifts from the skies and a dose of excite.
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Here's something I posted a few years ago about the name of Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu ski area. As someone asked a related question recently, I thought I'd repost it:
The ski area opened as Niseko Hirafu in 1961.
It changed its name to Niseko Kokusai Hirafu in 1970. Kokusai means ‘international’. There were quite a few ski areas in Japan using that word in their name. Ironically, that was back when skiing in Japan was far from being 'international'.
In 2004, the ski area's name was changed to Niseko Mountain Resort Grand Hirafu.
And in 2021, it officially changed to its current name, Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu.
Omoshiroi!
By the way, Tokyu comes from the name of the company that owns and operates the ski area. That company has also had various name changes but always included the 'Tokyu' bit. The current company name is 'Tokyu Resorts & Stays'. But they also have 'Tokyu Snow Resorts' on their website.
Let's try not to be confused!
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain base 6am: +2℃, 30cm snowpack. Moiwa Mikaeri 800m: -7℃, SE1.5m/s, snowing and bad visibility. Hanazono 800m: -1.4℃, N3.0m/s (NE23m/s gusts at midnight). Coastal weather: Benkei cape NNW5m/s, Kamui cape SW7m/s, 1012hPa, 1.1m waves.
No snowfall until predawn, but started to fall around 6am as the next Low Pressure approaches. The Cold Front will pass in the afternoon and the weather is forecasted to deteriorate. The snowpack remains shallow and the slopes are not suitable for skiing except the groomed runs. Patience is required.
Depth hoar is developing with the recent large temperature swing. This is quite unusual for early Winter in Niseko and can potentially be a trigger layer for glide avalanches. Caution is required in steep slopes on the course-sides and/or with bamboo-grass. Surface slab avalanches, which are the cause of most accidents, mostly occur during snowstorms or other bad weather conditions. Leeward slopes with heavy snowdrift deposits should be avoided during strong winds and snowfalls. Weak bonding within the newly formed slabs can easily fail and trigger a slide. Have a nice day.
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 4cm
Base: 1cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 85cm (no change since yesterday)
Base: 25cm (-13cm change since yesterday)
Planned lift operations:
All four lifts
Planned open courses:
Mango Salad
Silver Dream
Juicy Fruit
Parallel
Yotei Sunset
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Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 8cm
Base: 8cm (really?)
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 105cm (+5cm since yesterday)
Base: 25cm (-15cm since yesterday)
Planned lift operations:
Ace Gondola
Ace Number 3 pair
King Gondola
King Number 3 six
Swinging Monkey
Planned open courses:
Center
Junbo
Rinkan (lower)
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Planned lift operations:
Upper Village Gondola
Village Express
Community Chair
Banzai Chair
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
Peak: 20cm (+5cm change since yesterday)
Base: 20cm (no change since yesterday)
Planned lift operations:
Dream Number 1 quad
Jumbo Number 1 quad
Planned open courses:
Paradise
Junior
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Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Planned lift operations:
Number 1 pair
Number 2 pair
Niseko Now2025-2026 season |
Data as of Monday 8th December 2025 Total snowfall at base so far 72cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 21cm (4th December) November 2025 snowfall 29cm reported on 7 days December 2025 snowfall 43cm reported on 5 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.