Snow and weather reports posted on Wednesday 21st April 2021
Naeba Now!
Tuesday 20th November 2012, 8:57am
Weather conditions:
-
New snowfall:
0cm
Snow depth:
0cm
I like being the bearer of good news.
Kagura have announced that they will be opening on Friday. They seem pretty confident about that so we can only assume that save a heatwave and/or record rainfall, that they will be true to their word and open up on Friday.
Here's the lowdown. The Mitsumata Ropeway will be operating from 8am. From the top of the Ropeway, people will get on a shuttle bus and be taken to the bottom of the Kagura Gondola. The Kagura Gondola will then take people to the main Kagura area where both the Kagura No1 pair lift and Kagura No1 quad lift will be moving. A 1500m length of the main Kagura run will be open. Narrow and somewhat low on snow in places but the resort saying it is generally 40-50m wide.
So they you go, Kagura to open on Friday. 'Season in', as they say!
Not a whole lot of snowfall from the skies due before then actually - perhaps some later today - but it should be staying cold enough.
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. There's not much to see of the mountains as they are shrouded in cloud so hopefully that means they are getting a new delivery - snow is forecast to be falling today and into tomorrow when stronger winds will likely be blowing about once again.
There's only a few days now until the ski lifts are due to start moving and we've got to think that it is looking good for a Friday opening. Looks like it might be a snowy day on Friday as well with some very promising forecasts for into the weekend.
Keep an eye on the regularly updated 6-day snow forecasts that are posted on the resort pages on SnowJapan - you can find the links to those pages to right of this report.
After the weekend and yesterday, this morning no ski lifts are operating in Hakuba with the Gondola and lift at the Hakuba Goryu resort stopped due to apparently strong winds up on the top area of the resort.
Down in the village now it is just grey clouds up there at the moment with some patches of blue sky - even a bit of sun at the moment - but a mix of rain, sleet and snow is forecast and probably in that order as we move into evening with perhaps some snowfall overnight. The snow down at village level has now almost completely gone with the snowline creeping back up the mountain sides. Spoilsports!
Still, there is 30cm or more of packed snow up on the higher parts of the resorts which will likely be staying with us and forming the base for the season.
It's still not looking like there's much snow coming in the week ahead though, save a sprinkling or two up top. So we will just have to see how things go for the coming weekend. It's a 3 day weekend with Friday being a national holiday in Japan and so it would be good if things could be open for that.
We must remember that we are still very early and a few weeks away from some of the resorts official opening dates.
Good afternoon, and welcome back to the Madarao Now reports page.
We are already in the second half of November and after a long and generally hot summer - even up in the mountains - followed by a beautiful autumn, we have already seen the first snowfall of the season cover on the slopes of Madarao Kogen.
Madarao Kogen this season aims to 'pre-open' on the 8th and 9th December, with a full resort opening on Saturday 15th. Lets hope the snow arrives and we can hit those dates.
We'll be back with more news as those dates approach. Read more ...
