Latest News from Nozawa Onsen

Base up top: 380 cm                  Temperature; -7 Degrees Base at bottom; 260 cm New Snow: 10 cm up top Nozawa pulling the winter Jacket back on today. With about 10cm dusting overnight and big flakes were falling early this morning. Has backed off a bit now and even saw a bit of blue sky but still falling lightly. Temps are back down to -7 degrees up top and nice to see after the warmish weather of the past few days. Has been handy on the snow-clearing front though. Yesterday was a huge day in the Village with everyone pitching in to clear the snow off all the onsens and community centers. Amazing what some warm weather and a bit […]

Base up top: 380 cm                  Temperature; 0 Degrees Base at bottom; 280 cm New Snow: 10 cm up top If you are considering a day off then today may be your day. Bad news is it is raining in the Village at the moment, has been most of the night. Rain on a ski trip is a bit like rain on your wedding day, never a great thing! Good news is that they are reporting snow up top 10cm since close of lifts. Also freezing levels are set to drop from tonight and moderate snowfalls should follow! The other good news is it is one of the first days of the season we have not had to shovel buckets […]

Base up top: 400 cm                  Temperature; -5 Degrees Base at bottom; 290 cm New Snow: 0 cm Experiencing a bit of a spike on the thermometer in Nozawa this morning. Currently 5 degrees at the front door and expected to stay warmish throughout today. The weather is coming in from the south and bringing a warm current from Okinawa with it. The weatherman is telling us to expect a bit of rain at the Village level later today but should be snow up higher with the freezing level well above sea level where it has been sitting for the past few weeks. It is set to drop again from tomorrow night though with low temps and snow on the […]

Base up top: 410 cm                  Temperature; -5 Degrees Base at bottom; 310 cm New Snow: 15cm Snow at night and sun during the day that’s what we like to see! Has been a while since we had that pattern in Nozawa. Most of the time has been just snowing, which is not a bad thing at all. Snowed overnight heavy at times but only averaged out to about 15cm of fresh. Should be a nice top up though and make for an awesome day on the slopes. No one has been back down yet to give me an update, which is always a good sign. The weekenders from Tokyo should begin to roll out of tow n in the […]

Base up top: 420 cm                  Temperature; -7 Degrees Base at bottom; 315 cm New Snow: 2cm Yesterday was the goods as far as ski days go with all the elements coming together there were lots of very happy people rolling down the slopes. Did not get any snow overnight for a change, which was kind of nice and after a bit of light snow this morning the sun is out again. Not sure how long it will last though. Forecast is for the next big system to hit on Monday night. The sun yesterday was a blessing and helped a lot with the snow clearing efforts. Everyone that was not up the mountain was in to it and it […]

Base up top: 460 cm                  Temperature; -12 Degrees Base at bottom; 315 cm New Snow: 75cm The snow started dumping around sunset last night and within about 3 hours we had accumulated over 30cm. It was heavy and beautiful to watch as everything just got completely covered in the white powder. It kept going throughout the night and up top we had a huge 75cm fall at Uenotaira. We had only been expecting 20cm max! This morning the sun has come out and it is a perfect blue bird day in Nozawa. The sun is most welcome and will hopefully help with the huge recovery effort in clearing the snow from the Village today. On the slopes this is […]

Base up top: 415 cm                  Temperature; -12 Degrees Base at bottom; 315 cm New Snow: 38cm 30 plus centimeters of snow again overnight in Nozawa. It is just part of the routine now to wake up and clear a foot of snow off everything before the day begins! Imagine waking up and the grass had grown a foot overnight can be hard work but snow is a lot more fun than grass. Yesterday was pretty harsh conditions up on the mountain. Getting off the gondola at Uenotaira felt a bit like we had arrived at the base camp for a North Pole expedition. If you could get into the valleys and out of the wind and driving snow though […]

Base up top: 380 cm                  Temperature; -8 Degrees Base at bottom; 290 cm New Snow: 23cm Hard to believe January is over and it was one of the snowiest we have had for a while. There were not many days that it did not snow in January! Looks like February has taken over where January left off with snow cascading pretty heavily from the sky today too. The last two years in February we have had a warm spell shoot thru, kind of hoping we get it this year too. Time will tell but at this stage it is looking like life in snow motion will continue in Nozawa It is cold today too, when I woke up my […]

Base up top: 410 cm                  Temperature; -7 Degrees Base at bottom; 305 cm New Snow: 20cm Here comes the sun… Has been a while but yesterday afternoon the sun burst on to the stage to create a magic day on the slopes. With a 420cm base, a good overnight dump and very few crowds the stage was set for perfection. Snow conditions were excellent under foot on the groomers and up on the slopes of Yamabiko there was even a good coverage of powder that remained untouched for most of the morning. Had some snow last night but the sun is out again this morning so should be another amazing day. Visibility is looking pretty good up top too […]

Base up top: 420 cm                  Temperature; -11 Degrees Base at bottom; 300 cm New Snow: 45 cm since close of lifts last night Hard to believe but still snowing in Nozawa and has not stopped. This is one of the most consistent runs of heavy snowfall I can remember. Who knows if it keeps up we may challenge the next record of 530cm base set on February 5th 2006. The forecast is showing more moderate to heavy falls on the way so it may be a reality. They have already started to dig out some of the snow below the lifts as they are becoming dangerously close to the runs below in places. Yesterday on the mountain was another […]