Did I mention the chance of rain yesterday? Well, sadly, we did get some rain fall overnight, but I am happy to report that it has turned into snow and so just a dusting to report this morning. Currently the temperature is hovering around 1C.

Some pretty crazy winds blowing things around and it was just... fun - fun, that is, to think about what lays ahead once things calm down, more than actually out wanting to be out on the slopes! Not that the lifts were actually moving once the storm set in.

Rain has been falling in Niseko, which has somewhat dampened some spirits after such a fun weekend, and I doubt there are as many people out there on the lifts now.

Yesterday was a beauty and actually, on a personal note, my first slide of the season. That first time is just the best isn't it. With the new snow to play in, perhaps 15cm or more higher up, conditions were really good out there and the clear weather that opened up really added to it all, giving us some fine views of the surrounding mountains.

It is a cold cold morning here again. Since my last report we have had about 10cm of new snowfall. Light snow was falling earlier on but it eased off and became somewhat overcast and cloudy.

I think the people who were out on the slopes yesterday will have all had a good day, and it was good to see a fair amount of terrain open as well for the first day. There was quite a crowd ready for the first lifts of the season.

There's definitely enough snow for an opening tomorrow at Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Annupuri. By all accounts there is around a full 1m of snow out there on the mountain in places, so it certainly should be a good opening and a great early start to the season.

Things started off well yesterday with the snow falling and it continued throughout the day with some decent snowfall to report this morning. There has been over 20cm here in Hirafu, up to 30cm in places and no doubt more as you get higher up on the mountain.

Just a quick morning update for you. There has been a slight snowfall since yesterday in the village and light snow is currently falling in Hirafu.

Yesterday I noticed more than a few people around town with big wide smiles on their faces. A nice early season snowfall often does that.

I thought I would bring you some good news this morning and that is that the slopes have a nice white covering this morning. After the very slight dusting of snowfall we saw on Friday morning, it's wet snow falling down in town this morning but on the mountain some nice big flakes of snow have been falling.

I don't have so much to report since the last report, though seeing as though our friends down in some of the Nagano Prefecture mountain areas seem to be getting a good snowing on today, I thought I would update you all from Niseko as well.

This week a fair few people have been seen hiking up the mountains to get a closer look at the snow up there. Or indeed just to get a feel of the mountain again.

A very wet and gloomy end to the working week in contrast to the stunning blue skies this time last week. It has been a very wet week overall here in Niseko and the heavy rain looks likely to continue throughout the weekend and into the middle of next week.