Good morning, and I have a decent amount of fresh snow to report this morning... a good 16cm of it observed by myself and the Avi report mentioning up to 30cm of fresh up there.

Nice.

And the regular snowfall should continue through at least into next week.

This morning there's lots of cloud around but some blue sky as well. Perhaps snowfall arriving overnight tonight - just how it should be!

Should be a good morning.

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Soon after my report went up yesterday, it seems that wind had it's own ideas and was causing problems with summit lifts. The top lifts at Niseko Grand Hirafu, Niseko Village and Niseko Annupuri were quite quickly put on hold due to wind and apparently poor visibility; to be joined by the Niseko Gondola early afternoon and then the top Niseko Hanazono lift mid afternoon.

Oh dear, so much for all being open! Sorry about that - all was looking 'normal' with the information I had available when I was preparing the report. As the Avalanche Report noted so well in the same report, 'be aware of a sudden change in the weather and bad visibility'. It can and does happen.

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It is interesting to see the large messages that are popping up on the Niseko United website and in other places at the moment.

It seems that the resorts need to remind some people that season passes are not transferable and that they'll be doing more checks on them from now on - and cancelling any passes that are being used by anyone other than the original owner.

Obviously there must have been more than a few instances of people passing around season passes. They have every right to not be happy if people are doing that - it's pretty clear that the passes are not transferable. Anyway, I can't remember seeing such a prominent message like that before so it looks like they are now taking action on it.

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Resort specific lift opening news at time of writing (subject to change during the day):

Niseko Grand Hirafu
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Niseko Village
Niseko Annupuri
All resort areas appear to be opening up as planned this morning! Let's hope so.

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Niseko Avalanche Report:

Niseko base 6.00am: -4°C, 20cm new snow, minor snowdrift development, stormy. Moiwa 800m: -6°C, NW10m/s, 30cm new snow, snowdrift development. Mikaeri 740m: NNW10m/s, 30cm new snow, snowdrift development. Annupuri 1150m: -8°C, W15m/s, 30cm new snow, poor visibility, snow drift development. Hirafu ridge line -8°C, blizzard conditions, 30cm new snow, snowdrift development. Coastal data: Benkei Cape:NNW12m/s. Kamui Cape W9m/s, 1016hPa, wave 1.3m.

Maritime and mountain data suggests the wind below 1000m is starting to drop, however above 1200m blizzard conditions will persist. From observation, around 800m western aspect knolls , 60cm new slabs have grown which will easily fracture from skier stimulation this morning. Peak gates opening times yet to be decided. Please listen to the patrols decisions. Do not ignore the rules and duck the ropes to go out of bounds. Most avalanches occur during and just after snowstorms. The newly developed slabs are unstable and will fracture easily. The frost layer formed from Jan 26 low pressure snowfall will become a weak layer in the future snowpack.

Snow conditions change daily, today's avalanche conditions are higher than yesterday. Cautious behavior is prudent. Is your beacon turned on? Snow in the trees is reset and in great condition.

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Official resort snow depths as of Wednesday 27th January 2016:

Niseko Grand Hirafu & Hanazono
Top - 320cm
Base - 130cm

Niseko Village
Top - 270cm
Base - 160cm

Niseko Annupuri
Top - 260cm
Base - 160cm

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Lifts planned to be open for night skiing:

Niseko Grand Hirafu:
Ace Family Pair lift, Ace Number 2 Center Four lift, Hirafu Gondola, Holiday Number 1 Pair lift
(There is no night skiing at the Hanazono area)

Niseko Village:
Community Chair and Banzai Chair

Niseko Annupuri:
Jumbo Number 1 Quad

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Niseko Grand Hirafu 6 day weather and snow forecast