Early morning groomers taking on a familiar tone in Nozawa Onsen.
Base at top: 115 cm
Temp at Top: -7 Degree
Base at Uenotaira station: 75 cm
New snow since close: 0 cm
Weather: Partly cloudy
Nozawa Onsen has returned! Yesterday was the first day of the season that the mountain has felt like its true self. The brush and undergrowth were beginning to become buried. The Yamabiko trees were almost skiable. It was also unusual in that more snow fell throughout the day than the preceding night. We received 25cm from first to last lifts boosting the base to well over a meter (in total 50cm fell over 36 hours). Being the Japanese holidays it was busy, but that didn’t stop marauding powder hounds on fishes and wide bodied planks from sinking into deep white japow and with a bit of a search it wasn’t too hard to find untracked fields. Lets hope the season continues with many days like this.
Today looks like it will be an excellent day of another kind. We have some partly cloudy conditions. Excellent visibility and even some sunshine will impact the mountain today. Bring the cameras up, excellent photographic opportunities will abound with outstanding views of the Japanese Alps. With no fresh snow overnight those looking for fresh tracks will have to look harder, but they are not impossible to find.
Looking ahead at the forecast we expect more heavy snowfalls tonight; hopefully around 30cm, probably much more than this. A few days earlier I was predicting a 2m snow base by New Years. Personally I no longer think this will occur as there is a bit of a gap in snowfalls until a few days after the turn of the calendar. An extended run of snowfalls off the NW wind will make itself know over the region, starting on the 3rd and continuing well into the extended range forecast. For the New Years period we are expecting stable weather with clear skies and light winds.
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