Latest News from Nozawa Onsen

Base up top: 225 cm                  Temperature; -4 Degrees Base at bottom; 150 cm New Snow: 15 cm Woke up to the sound of silence this morning, always find that the sound of snow falling makes the whole scene very quiet. The beat is getting louder in Nozawa now though with the snow absolutely dumping for about the last hour. The heavy snow we were expecting last night looks like it has been delayed a little, it began about 7am this morning and looks like we should get a good 30cm out of it thru the day. Then the outlook is for a blue bird day tomorrow followed by more snow again on Wednesday so we are in a good […]

Base up top: 235 cm                  Temperature; -4 Degrees Base at bottom; 160 cm New Snow: 0 cm We celebrated the coming of the New Year in style in Nozawa Onsen. The bars and restaurants were pretty packed early in the night then everyone made their way to either the Shrine or Nagasaka Slopes for the fireworks. Two very different experiences, but both unique. The bell at the Shrine was rung 108 times and the village elders handed out New Years blessings or omomori, with everyone making a wish for a good year ahead. On the snow front no fresh snow to report overnight but it was really cold while moving around the streets last night so the snow up […]

Base up top: 250 cm                  Temperature; -6 Degrees Base at bottom; 175 cm New Snow: 25 cm Already the last day of the year and it has been a terrific season so far. The JMA had been predicting below average snowfalls for December but Mother Nature has proved them wrong this year.  We already have a 250cm base up top and had another 25cm’s of new snowfall overnight. This time last year we had just 110cm base up top so more than double! As we slide into the New Year hopefully this will set us up for a great season ahead in Nozawa and some great snow all the way thru til the end, which is early May, so […]

Base up top: 230 cm                  Temperature; -8 Degrees Base at bottom; 170 cm New Snow: 15 cm Just 15cm of fresh snow overnight still not bad at all but thought we may have gotten a bit more based on the forecast and our recent history. Maybe we are getting a bit snow greedy! There was a bit of blue poking thru when we awoke this morning but has been quickly replaced by some decent snowfall outside now. Any little top up will be welcome with some of the lower slopes getting a little icy yesterday. Probably due to the increase in traffic on the slopes over the past few days. Yesterday was blue skies in the morning and snow […]

Base up top: 250 cm                  Temperature; -5 Degrees Base at bottom; 170 cm New Snow: 0 cm Seems like quite some time since have posted a Snow Report for Nozawa without any new snow! Yesterday was the day, we did not get the Blue bird start we had been hoping for, even got a bit of snow in the morning but in the afternoon the sun burst through the cloud and was magnificent. The light was perfect the ice-covered trees were glistening and the powder was still plentiful if you knew were to look. With the New Years crowd starting to filter in some popular stashes under the lifts were getting tracked out but on piste the snow condition […]

Base up top: 260 cm                  Temperature; -9 Degrees Base at bottom; 190 cm New Snow: 10 cm Looks like we are finally getting a break in the snow fight here in Nozawa. After days of continual dumps this morning was relatively clear and everyone has breathed a slight sigh of relief. The ski conditions have been nothing short of superb on the Mountain and yesterday were delivering chest deep powder on many of the runs with the snow just dumping all day. One of the guys just did a run down Skyline and said it was amazing snow quality. We have not been delivered the blue bird day we were hoping for but there are patches of blue and […]

Base up top: 280 cm                  Temperature; -9 Degrees Base at bottom; 200 cm New Snow: 35 cm and dumping still In the war of man versus nature we are now a distant second in Nozawa Onsen. Snow has engulfed the whole town and it is all hands on deck to try and stay on top of it. The snow condtions on the resort are amazing. Have had a few seasoned campaigners telling me that it is by far some of the best powder they have experienced. We are quickly approaching the 300cm mark with another 35cm overnight and gaining. All this and it is still December! Tomorrow the reports are showing we should get a window of sunshine then […]

Base up top: 260 cm                  Temperature; -10 Degrees Base at bottom; 190 cm New Snow: 60 cm again! The ridiculous is now bordering on the insane on the snow front in Nozawa with another huge 60cm of snow on our doorstep this morning. The powder hounds are going to be in their element again today and will be deep bottomless champagne powder on tap for anyone keen to brave the conditions. So we have had close to 2 meters of fresh snow in just a 3-day period and still absolutely dumping outside at the moment. Think it has been about 8 years since we had such a good start to the season. At that time it snowed every day […]

Base up top: 220 cm                  Temperature; -6 Degrees Base at bottom; 160 cm New Snow: 60 cm It is a very white Christmas today in Nozawa Onsen. As expected we had another huge dump again last night with 60cm gracing the resort. People are going to start thinking I am making this stuff up but it is honestly another sublime day today. We have smashed our way thru the 2 meter mark for base up top! It started snowing heavily at about 8pm last night and it didn’t stop all night. The road heaters were struggling to keep up with the downpour of the white gold as we strolled to the Onsen just before midnight Christmas Eve. It was […]

Base up top: 180 cm                  Temperature; -8 Degrees Base at bottom; 90 cm New Snow: 50 cm Santa has come a day early in Nozawa Onsen delivering a huge 50cm of fresh snow again overnight. Conditions are looking perfect for the first big weekend of the resort. We cleared the driveway yesterday and was amazed when we had almost 2 feet of fresh lying on there this morning. That was not even forecasted to be the big one so we are almost scared of what will fall from the heavens tonight and tomorrow night both expecting serious dumps. Yesterday was a terrific day on the slopes with light to moderate falls all day and some nice fluffy powder to […]