Intrepid staff members Pat and Alanna braved the whiteout conditions at Happo to bring you the good news – It’s dumped! 15cm at the lodge translated into 30-40cm at the top. little snowmen every day in the forecast for the next week [...]
A bit more fresh snow last night – maybe 10cm at the bottom and 20cm up top to add to the dusting we had the day before. Goryu are reporting 45cm base up top and temperatures of -4C The Morino & Wadano crew headed up to check it out. [...]
The Hakuba 2012 season has officially started!! Hakuba 47 and Goryu decided yesterday afternoon to open today for the 2012 season. I arrived at Goryu to find all 3 car parks completely full. Obviously the word had got out. The Weather couldn’t have been better with stunning views once up on top. The base was [...]
Snow flurries have been spotted in the Hakuba region. Wax your skis and boards! Hakuba 47 showing some extremely white slopes especially at the top. A view of Happo. The system coming though on Thursday may lay enough snow on the upper slopes for [...]
Officially bears do exist in Hakuba. In fact, they`re all over Japan. The Japanese black bear (tsukinowaguma), with its white crescent moon collar is traditionally associated with the Shinto mountain spirit yama no kami. So if you see one, don`t run……pray for powder & a stable snow-pack. How many black bears are there in Hakuba? [...]
When it comes to seasons in Hakuba, winter & summer tend to get the bulk of the attention….& for good reason indeed….but if it wasn`t for my obsession with snow-covered mountains & all the fun that entails, Autumn would definitely be a contender for my “favorite time of year in Hakuba” award. The cool mountain [...]
Autumn is in full swing in Hakuba at the moment & the excitement of another winter amongst the snowy peaks of the Northern Alps is is starting to build. It`ll be not long now that mother nature tilts her axis, once again, bringing meters upon meters of fluffy white stuff to the Hakuba valley making [...]
There`s no question that foreign tourism has taken a beating in Japan since the March 11th earthquake. The number of foreign tourists dropped 32% last August & were down more like 60% last April. Numbers are rebounding but its still tough times. Obviously there are 2 main culprits for this, the strong Yen & the [...]
The first snow was actually on Sept 19th but it melted by 8am. The first decent dusting happened in the last two days. There’s a definite chill in the air and everyone is busy in the village harvesting the rice before the first frost. Not long to go now!
SnowJapan.com has been one of the leading online resources for information on skiing & snowboarding all over Japan for over a decade. Like a lot of us in the ski & snowboard industry here, they`ve fielded lots of questions concerning the implications of the disasters on the ski hills here. In response, they`ve put [...]
