Japan Snow Wrap – No Sign of Abating
Snow covered chair at Rusutsu. Image:: Ski Japan www.skijapan.com
Japan Snow Wrap
The land of the Long White Cloud more than deserves its on snow wrap… with a plethora of resorts large and small all over Japan this wrap could grow very long very quickly so here are a selection of the better known resorts, and their conditions are indicative of what can be found everywhere.
Another amazing week for Niseko, brilliant times too in Nozawa and Rusutsu
Hokkaido
Niseko
Recent snow: About a metre of fresh since last Wednesday
Coming snow: Snow every day – a good 75cm or so all up by next Monday spread pretty evenly across the week.
Conditions generally: The relentless snow makes for some great pow, but the avalanche risk is always there and visibility will be variable for the rest of the week.
Furano
Status: Open
Recent snow: Half a metre or just over since the middle of last week, with a few days of sunshine thrown in for good measure.
Coming snow: Light snow on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The clouds will hang around most of the week though so there may be more in it than the 15cm or so forecast at the moment.
Conditions generally: Word has it the powder is dry and fresh, the air is cold and the wind is dropping so everything looks good right now!
Rusutsu
Status: Open
Recent snow: Around 85cm in the last five days.
Coming snow: Thursday is where the action is – moderate snow up around the 20cm mark, dying off a little over the weekend but continuing to top up the cover.
Conditions generally: It’s cold, it’s snowing, the visibility could be better at times but hey, it’s snowing!
Good times at Hakuba. Image:: Phoenix Hakuba www.phoenixhotel.jp
Honshu
Status: Open
Recent snow: Not a big snow week forHakuba with only 30cm since last Wednesday
Coming snow: About 20cm by the end of next weekend
Conditions generally: A few days of sunshine has affected the exposed slopes and it has been a little warm, but still some good riding!
Shiga Kogen
Status: Open
Recent snow: 45cm last week, mostly over the weekend.
Coming snow: Wednesday should be a day of brilliant sunshine, preceding some unfortunate rainfalls on Thursday before the temperature drops and the falls turn to snow on Saturday.
Conditions generally: The sunshine would be a pleasant change to the blizzard of the weekend, though with all the wild winds the snowfall didn’t make an impact on the snow depth.
Nozawa
Status: Open
Recent snow: 60cm this week with an epic day on Saturday – talk was of armpit deep in places.
Coming snow: Same story, sunshine on Wednesday leading into some rain on Thursday before it turns to snow on Friday.
Conditions generally: The weekend storm made things pretty impressive on the slopes and there’s still a day left to enjoy it!
Zao
Status: Open
Recent snow: Sprinklings of snow every day but not more than about 3cm
Coming snow: Repeat – sunshine Wednesday, rain Thursday, snow Friday…
Conditions generally: Lack of snowfall affecting the snow quality.
Hakuba forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.
Niseko forecasts,
snow reports and
live snow cams.
