Pavel debuts his Powabungas in the trees yesterday. Even at 136mm underfoot he scored no shortage of face shots.
Base at top: 150 cm
Temp at Top: -8 Degree
Base at Uenotaira station: 100 cm
New snow since close: 0 cm
Weather: Clear
Today is the first day in a while without overnight snowfalls in Nozawa Onsen. We awoke to clear skies and no wind. A classic Japanese bluebird with ample viewing opportunities from the summit of Mt Kenashi. Groomed runs will be smooth and fast early perhaps becoming firmer in the high traffic areas latter in the day. It will be busy on the hill courtesy of another long weekend holiday. There will be a few stashes left early but if your reading this now its too late, the frothing Japanese powder hounds will have smashed it already.
Tonight in the village we have the Niko Niko Matsuri. For those who don’t know its basically a huge game of paper scissors rock that takes place between and crowd all at the same time. Its very fun so well worth checking out. There will also be some free sake, huge drums and even a few local guys dressed in very old school Japanese skiing gear. Starts 7pm in town.
Yesterday was a top day, dare I say the best day of the season? Thanks to less crowds, at least on par with the 50cm powder day a few weeks back. Deep but not bottomless powder, skiable in the trees only in very particular areas up high (such as Yamabiko). We still need more snow! At least another meter. Lets hope next week delivers.
As it goes with very long range forecasts the predictions for next week have backed off a bit. The weather models are doing strange things with unusual small highs and lows crossing Honshu over the next week. Whether or not these eventuate, its making it very hard to make accurate predictions and as a result the forecasts are flip flopping all over the place. Overall, I think we will get snow next week, just on the lower end of the scale compared to a few days ago. At least fairly consistent snowfalls from the week ahead starting Monday night, perhaps totalling a 50-100cm over the weeklong period.
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