The day is here! Yes, today is officially the first day of the ski and snowboard season here in Niseko with Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Annupuri resort areas opening for the first time. It is a limited opening, with just a few lifts moving.

Here’s the details (weather stuff below):

Niseko Grand Hirafu is open from 8:30am this morning with the Ace Number 2 Center Four quad lift taking folk up to the Ace Number 3 pair lift and the open Center Course. The last lift servicing the open run will be at 3:30pm and the last quad lift coming back down to base at 4pm. Just in time for tea! Lift tickets for the privileged are 2,000 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for children and seniors, and those charges are valid until 30th November.

Niseko Annupuri is also opening this morning. The Annupuri Gondola will also start moving at 8:30am, taking people up to the Jumbo Number 3 pair lift which is open from 8:45am until 3:15pm. The last Gondola down will be at 3:30pm. Lift tickets for this limited Niseko Annupuri opening are 2,100 yen for adults and seniors, and 1,300 yen for elementary school age children.

So there you have it... 2016-2017 is a go!

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Oh yes, small detail - the weather. Yesterday we got another 3cm of snowfall and a further slight dusting overnight, leaving us with a cloudy and kind of overcast start to the day today. It is currently -2C and the forecast is for temps to hover around the freezing mark for the day. Next snow is due around Monday. Hopefully we will get to fairly quickly see more lifts and terrain open.

I am putting this report together and nearly ready to post it at just after 8am, and already I can see a few people starting to wait for the lift at Niseko Grand Hirafu. Come on, give us a wave! If you are already out there this morning for those first tracks of the season, have fun.

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For the record, I measured 90cm of snowfall up until my report yesterday. That is in contrast with the 29cm that I recorded up until my 25th November report last year. So, all in all it seems to be a pretty good start. What’s more important of course is how things go from now, so fingers crossed for lots of regular and heavy - but dry and light! - snowfall.

By the way, you check out the archive report for 25th November 2015 here. Take a look lower down the page at the ‘Monthly and annual accumulation’ data table, and notice that it shows you the “snowfall up until that day”. You can do that for any of the reports over the last few seasons. Pretty nifty, hey?!

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The planned dates for the four main Niseko United ski resorts. Dates may vary depending on snowfall:

Niseko Grand Hirafu: from today (limited opening) until Sunday 7th May 2017
Niseko Annupuri: from today (limited opening) until Sunday 7th May 2017
Niseko Hanazono: Saturday 3rd December 2016 until Sunday 2nd April 2017
Niseko Village: Thursday 1st December 2016 until Sunday 2nd April 2017

Night skiing is planned from Saturday 10th December until Monday 20th March 2017 at the Annupuri, Grand Hirafu and Village resort areas.