Fresh Powder Nozawa Onsen

Today is one of THOSE days… One of the BEST days of the year so far. It’s a bluebird day with clear skies, sunshine and a dumping of FRESH powder from the day before… over half a meter of fresh snow in fact.

Now, skiing and snowboarding in powder are pretty different from how you’ve been traditionally taught to ride… But when you get it right, and you find yourself floating, riding in powder is one of the best feelings in the world.

Here are a few little tricks and tips to help you find your powder legs.

For the skiers out there, create a large surface area to float on by bringing your skis close together.
Forget about edging and carving, steer with your body weight.
Spend more time in the fall line as speed is your friend.
Make bigger turns.

If you’d like to get some more advice, check the link here.

TODAY:

Temperature at the top; -8 degrees with a wind chill of -24 for most of the day so please wrap up extra warm!

New snow since yesterday; 33cm

Base at the top; 210cm

Snow conditions; Fresh powder!

Weather; A clear bluebird day.

LIFTS IN OPERATION:

Hikage Gondola and Nagasaka gondola’s are open from 8:30am.
The Hikage Quad is still closed due to maintenance.
Please check nozawaski.com for the latest updates and closing times.

RUNS OPEN;

All runs are open with the exception of:
Yunomine A, Mukobayashi, Grandprix, Hachiman, and Half Pipe.
The Snow Park and Kandahar West and East are partially open.
Please do not ski in restricted areas. There is still insufficient snow cover in many places and it’s dangerous to ski outside of the resort area without proper backcountry experience.

SNOW FORECAST:

Today will be clear and sunny all day. This sunshine should stick around Thursday through to Friday, although there will be scatted cloud cover. Temperatures will be warmer, between 3 and 5 degrees during the day. At the moment, the forecast looks to bring moderate snowfall starting Saturday evening, with more light snow showers on Sunday.

The “Toru” huge decorated umbrella like shrines for the Fire Festival will be erected in town today. Two locations – one just behind Nozawa Central on the rice paddies there. The other near Oyu just opposite Sakaya Ryokan. Check them out in the lead up to the Fire Festival.

One of the Three Toru for this years Fire Festival displayed proudly outside our neighbours house

Check back tomorrow for the latest forecast.

Tag #nozawaonsenjapan to share your bluebird day photos!