Niseko Now: Sunday 9th January 2022
- Jan 9, 2022
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 24cm
Snowfall at base this season 507cm
Posted on Sunday 9th January 2022 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It's a very fine morning with over 20cm of lovely fresh snow on the ground to report to you. I just measured 24cm, but there's surely more than that in places. (As I report from my own measurements rather than 'in places', the number for the report is 24cm). At one point it was really coming down fast yesterday evening... I love it when it does that. And I love it when there's over 20cm, it's a fine number to aspire to every day. Higher numbers, of course, always most welcome.
Anyway back to this morning. There is much cloud around but also some blue sky and it feels quite bright out there. In fact, since I started putting my report together there is more and more blue sky showing up.
It should be a fine morning. Yey!
Today is the middle day of the three day weekend. All (planned) lifts should be moving and everywhere should be open.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain Base: -5℃, 25cm snowfall, light winds. Moiwa 800m: -7℃, NE10m/s, 30cm new snow, snowdrift & cornice development. Annupuri 1150m: -8℃, N10m/s, 40cm new snow, snowdrifts development, easy to fracture. Hirafu Ridge: -11℃, NE15m/s, 40cm new snow, slow snowdrift development to morning. Coastal Data: Benkei cape: NNW10m/s. Kamui Cape WSW5m/s, 1013hPa, 0.8m waves. Detailed mountain data available at https://note.com/niseko_nadare/
A front moved through at noon yesterday, winds picked up and warm air flowed in. Midnight to dawn 40cm snow fell with snowdrift and cornice development. Humidity and snow temperature are a bit high due to the low pressure, which has produced the famous champagne powder - good riding. From observation, expect 30-40cm fractures on 8 Jan layer with loose avalanches below 900m, however since it is not slabbing it will not be as deadly. Do not hang around in the valley bottoms. Around 1100m it is possible for smaller avalanches to stimulate deeper to the 2 Jan layer triggering larger avalanches. All gates are expected to be open. Please follow the patrols advice and prepare before exiting the gates. Be careful of a sudden weather change. Is your beacon switched on? Allows be cautious
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Planned ski area operations: Sunday 9th January 2022
The below snow depth and snowfall data is manually checked each morning and believed to be correct at time of report.
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 295cm (+5cm)
- Base: 150cm (no change)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 15cm
- Base: 15cm
Planned lift operations (subject to weather conditions):
- Ace Family quad
- Ace Number 2 Center Four quad [* open for night skiing until 7:00pm]
- Hirafu Gondola
- Holiday Number 1 pair
- King Number 3 quad
- King Number 4
- Swinging Monkey
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 235cm (-3cm)
- Base: 172cm (+2cm)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 13cm
- Base: 17cm
Planned lift operations (subject to weather conditions):
- Hanazono Number 1
- Hanazono Number 2 quad
- Hanazono Number 3 quad
- Hanazono Symphony Gondola [* open for night skiing until 7:00pm]
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Niseko Annupuri
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 230cm (+10cm)
- Base: 155cm (+5cm)
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 20cm
- Base: 20cm
Planned lift operations (subject to weather conditions):
- All lifts operating
- Annupuri Gondola
- Dream Number 1 quad
- Jumbo Number 1 quad [* open for night skiing until 7:30pm]
- Jumbo Number 2 pair
- Jumbo Number 3 pair
- Jumbo Number 4 pair
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Niseko Village
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 210cm no change
- Base: 140cm no change
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 0cm
- Base: 0cm
Planned lift operations (subject to weather conditions):
- Niseko Gondola
- Village Express
- Community Chair [* open for night skiing until 7:00pm]
- Banzai Chair
- Wonderland Chair
Niseko Now 2021-2022 season |
Data as of Sunday 9th January 2022 Total snowfall at base so far 507cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 38 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (23rd December) November 2021 snowfall 85cm reported on 6 days December 2021 snowfall 307cm reported on 23 days January 2022 snowfall 115cm reported on 9 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.