Base up top: 300 cm Temperature; -8 Degrees Base at bottom; 200 cm New Snow: 30 cm Wooo! We have dived into the 300cm mark in Nozawa Onsen officially today. Happened a little quicker than I thought as yet again last night we received close to 30cm on the slopes! It seems like a given to wake up with a solid dump of new snow on the doorstep. Checked back a few years for base at around this time and the average has been about 190cm so we are well above that now. 2010 we were at similar levels and in 2006 we had a whopping 475cm! Today is relatively clear compared to the past few days, but still […]
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Almost at the 300cm base mark in Nozawa Onsen
Base up top: 290 cm Temperature; -7 Degrees Base at bottom; 195 cm New Snow: 37 cm Snowed again in Nozawa for most of the night depositing another Magic Foot of fresh powder on the slopes for this morning. Still snowing in the village now and about another 10cm has accumulated since this morning. Conditions on the mountain are nothing short of sublime for the powder hungry. A few people have already rolled down the hill and have tales of straight lining it down slopes in waist deep powder and plenty of face shots. For a long weekend crowds are not too bad either. The sun is doing its best to make an appearance but losing the battle with […]
Nozawa shines under a few feet of fresh snow
Base up top: 275 cm Temperature; -2 Degrees Base at bottom; 190 cm New Snow: 20 cm Apologies for the late snow report, I was not up getting mind blowing powder runs unfortunately. Instead was taking advantage of the break in the snow to clear our roof, still thrilling waist deep powder but nowhere near as much fun! This is the second time this season have been up on the roof and we are not even 1 month into it! In a normal season I would maybe only need to do it once so shows how much snow we have had this year. Have to get a dump truck to get all the snow taken away. Imagine if we […]
The Powder Party continues in Nozawa Onsen
Base up top: 280 cm Temperature; -8 Degrees Base at bottom; 190 cm New Snow: 30 cm Has not stopped snowing in Nozawa now for 24 Hours. The magic foot we mentioned yesterday has doubled with 60cm falling in that time. We are going to have to start calling it the magic 2 foot! Will be more amazing deep powder conditions for the brave today. It is blizzard conditions outside at the moment and just heard they have temporarily closed the Nagasaka Gondola due to high winds. The Hikage is operating so can still make your way to the top for fresh tracks. Yesterday was dumping all day and most runs groomed or otherwise were powder runs by lunchtime. […]
More snow in Nozawa time to wax the boards and go deep
Base up top: 245 cm Temperature; -5 Degrees Base at bottom; 175 cm New Snow: 30 cm It is coming down again in Nozawa Onsen with almost 30cm or as we like to call it the “Magic Foot” falling again in the last few hours. The dump we were expecting last night was delayed and the deluge began at about 7 am this morning. It has been bucketing ever since and everything quickly got blanketed. The runs were amazing as even though they had been groomed most have now got at least 30cm of fresh snow on top. Not so many tracks about today so fresh slopes were on offer in many spots. Always know when it is going […]
Nozawa Onsen Back Country
Base up top: 240 cm Temperature; -5 Degrees Base at bottom; 160 cm New Snow: 10 cm Snowed fairly consistently yesterday getting heavy at times. Then, as forecast was a beautiful start to the day today with sunshine and good powder coverage on the slopes. A few of the guys got on the Gondola first thing this morning and hit up some of the steeper ungroomed runs early for first tracks. They said was waist deep in spots and beautiful conditions. A bit if a news worthy event last night in Nozawa, when 3 snowboarders went missing. They were not found until 8am this morning by a helicopter over the back on the way to Maguse Onsen. Looks like […]
The Sound of Silence as more snow falls on 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 […]
Wishing you a very Happy New Year for 2012 from Nozawa Onsen
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 […]
Snow levels double this time last year in Nozawa, Happy This Year
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 […]
Nozawa Onsen getting into New Year mode
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 […]