Good morning - there's not a whole lot to report really this morning. It is a generally cloudy start to the day here. The three lifts at Grand Hirafu and four lifts at Annupuri are open as planned and everything is calm... not much of a wind at all and mild, spring-like temperatures. There's a band of cloud cutting off the top part of Yotei.

I have really noticed the snow starting to get less in the areas around the village in this last week or so especially. That's only to be expected of course, and I think the farmers in the region are all rather keen for it to melt away from the fields quickly now so that they can get on with what they have to do. There's still a way to go for that though.

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Current lift operations (19th April 2012):

Grand Hirafu:
Ace Quad Lift No2
King Hooded Triple Lift #3
King Lift #4
The Hirafu Gondola will operate on 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th, 30th April, and also from 3rd May until 6th May.

Annupuri:
Annupuri Gondola
Jumbo No1 quad
Jumbo No3 pair
Jumbo No4 pair

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Grand Hirafu and Annupuri both plan to be open until 6th May.
The Hanazono and Niseko Village areas are now closed.
Niseko Village plans to re-open for the Golden Week holiday period from Sunday 29th April until Sunday 6th May.

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Official snow depths:

Grand Hirafu:
Top - 355cm
Bottom - 115cm

Annupuri:
Top - 350cm
Bottom - 120cm