I was away but it seems that both Ichinose Family and Takamagahara Mammoth 'pre-opened' over the weekend.

Good morning from Shiga Kogen where there's another impressive layer of snow to report.

The 2017-2018 snow season officially started here on Saturday (18th) with the Kumanoyu area of Shiga Kogen operating the Number 2 pair lift.

The sun is out and the start to the season is looking bright too, with Kumanoyu announcing that it will indeed be part open from tomorrow.

It's cold. It feels like winter. And, most importantly, it's snowing!

It's getting winter-like cold once again up here in Shiga Kogen and, not for the first time this season, it has been snowing this morning!

The ski and snowboard season is now over with the lift at Shibutoge finishing up yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday was the last day of the ski season for several areas of Shiga Kogen.

It's keeping cold. And guess what, there was even a bit more snow falling last night.

Morning from Shiga Kogen, where winter-like weather has made a comeback!

Thought I really needed to get a report up this morning... because... snow!

A bit of fresh snowfall is a good way to start April!

Just a dusting of snow to report this morning - just about enough to declare 1cm! - and it's a fine spring morning, though it still feels pretty cold.

The sun is out this morning. Still quite a lot of cloud.