Snow Report 3 December 2015 - Europe & Japan

There was more snow in the Northern Alps during the weekend, making for an excellent start to the ski season across big swathes of Europe.

Happo One 28.11.15 - Happo Facebook

The resort slopes are starting to get white and powdery in Japan as well and there have been some limited openings already. Check out more details below.

JAPAN

Happo One ski resort in Hakuba reported 35cm of snow on Saturday and promptly opened a few lifts giving access to some of the upper slopes.

Zao Onsen in Yamagata Prefecture is looking very snowy after a couple of small falls in the past week, but not enough snow to open the upper lifts yet.

Niseko Hirafu 01.12.15 - Niseko United Facebook

Resorts at Niseko in Hokkaido began to open lifts after a weekend dump of up to half a metre.

Shiga Kogen in Nagano Prefecture has opened a run at Kumanoyu.

Kagura has also opened a short run at the top thanks to snowmaking. Its about ten days to go before the broader areas around Naeba and Mitsumata open.

No snow at the base of Nozawa Onsen and sparse cover higher up.

Rain is in the forecast from this morning, turning to snow across Japan on Friday and Saturday. Expect more openings in the coming weeks.

Val d'Isere 05.12.15 - Val d'Isere Facebook

FRANCE

Snowfalls on the weekend made for some excellent early season conditions.

Sunny days this week have made for glorious days on the slopes ... and its only the first week of December!

Val Thorens (115cm@3200m, 85cm@2300m) - The rest of the Trois Vallees is readying to open through December
Val d'Isere (60cm@3000m, 28cm@1800m) and Tignes

Chamonix (Grands Montets) and Isola 2000 open on 5th December.
Les Arcs will open on 12th December.
Serre Chevalier will open some lifts for the weekends only until 12th December.

Monte Rosa 02.12.15 - Monte Rose Facebook

The sun and clear weather is expected to continue through the weekend.

ITALY

Italy has mostly missed out on the Alpine snowfalls to the north and west. The week has been sunny and mild and thats set to continue.

Monte Rosa in the Aosta region is due to open this weekend and has been trying hard to get runs available across its many areas.
Madesimo has a few lifts and one piste open.
Madonna di Campiglio has opened a few pistes up at the top, but plans to open every day from 4th December. Skiing will be very limited.
Val Gardena in the Dolomites is due to open this weekend but skiing will be limited to slopes that have been opened through snowmaking efforts.