Snow Report 30 April 2013 - Japan and France

JAPAN

Happo One 29 April [Source: Happo One webcam]

Spring skiing is still hanging on in Japan! However, with temperatures of up to 23c in Nagano and 19c in Niigata on Monday, the ski season in Honshu is coming close to an end despite the snow cover remaining good up on the higher slopes.

Not the greatest season in recent years by Japan's incredibly high standards, but you wouldn't have been complaining if you were there on powder days in January!

NAGANO

Hakuba Happo One: 120/0cms

From the top of the fabulously-named Adam gondola there is still access to skiing and riding around the higher altitude parts of Happo - at Usagidaira, Skyline, Kurobishi. Happo One is due to stay open until 6 May 2013.

Shiga Kogen: 150/100cms

With the lower lifts starting at over 1,300m and the highest points reaching over 2,000m, Shiga Kogen has a good chance of keeping snow late in the season. Most areas remain open until 6 May 2013 and a few a bit later.

Nozawa Onsen Yamabiko 29 April [Source: Nozawa Onsen webcam]

NIIGATA

Akakura Kanko: 105cms

The Myokokogen ski area resort of Akakan remains open but is losing snow rapidly in the warm and rainy weather early this week. Like most, they plan to remain operating lifts until 6 May 2013.

Nozawa Onsen: 170/0cms

Skiing is on the upper slopes above 1,000m, especially at the brilliant Yamabiko area for the best quality snow.

Naeba: - closed for the season, Kagura: - 300cms

Up at Kagura there is still heaps of snow, as you would expect. Kagura stays open until 26 May 2013.

YAMAGATA

Zao Onsen: 50cms

The Zao Onsen ropeways are open to take skiers and riders up to the higher parts of the resort. From there, the short pair lifts are still providing access to the Chuo and other slopes.

FRANCE

The fantastic European ski season this year has meant there is plenty of Spring skiing available in France right until the end of April. Many ski resorts have closed now, despite having lots of snow around. Never mind though, as some of the larger and higher-altitude areas have good skiing well into May.

NORTHERN ALPS

Espace Killy (Val D'Isere) - Val D'Isere will open until 5 May 2013, with Tignes opening until 12 May 2013. An impressive 89% of pistes remain open after this year's great season.
@1850m - 85cms
@2500m - 352cms

Val Thorens 25 April [Source: Val Thorens FB page]

Paradiski (Les Arcs and La Plagne) is now closed.

Les Trois Vallees - The many ski stations of the 3 Valleys are now closed, except for Val Thorens (125cms @2,300m, 355cms @3,200m), which will remain open until 12 May 2013.

Les 2 Alpes and L'Alpe D'Huez are now closed.

SOUTHERN ALPS

In the sunny Southern Alps close to the Mediterranean things often wrap up earlier: Isola 2000 finished up on the 21 April 2013, and L'Espace Lumiere, centred around Val D'Allos, closed earlier in April.

PYRENEES

In the Pyrenees, the Grand Tourmalet and Cauterets areas closed in early April. Cauterets closed with over 3 metres of snow still on the mountain after hitting around 5 metres through midwinter!

In Andorra, Grandvalira (40/160cms) closed this recent weekend, while Vallnord closed earlier in April.

Snow Report 24 December 2012 - Japan and France

JAPAN

Hakuba 19 December [Source: Happo FB page]

It snowed in both Niigata and Nagano through Thursday, persisting around Hakuba on Friday.

Rain and mild temperatures hit some areas on Saturday, before the colder temperatures returned on Sunday night into Monday. Parts of Niigata were reporting up to half a metre of new snow on Christmas Eve!

NAGANO

It began snowing around Hakuba on Thursday (20cms up high) with a repeat on Friday. After clearing a little at the weekend, heavy snow returned to Hakuba on Sunday night:

Happo One: 160/60cms

Happo Tree Run Area [Source: Happo FB page]

It seems Hakuba is finally making some concessions to the demands of overseas skiers (especially Australians) keen to explore more off-piste.

Other ski areas around Japan already have adopted a more relaxed approach to tree runs and sidecountry. The photo alongside shows the (new?) tree run area at Happo.

NIIGATA

At Myokokogen it returned to snowy conditions on Thursday as the first week of the season kicked off. 

 

Unfortunately, rain returned again on Saturday, but by Sunday a winter storm had arrived and the temperatures got much colder:

Akakura Onsen ski area - 140cms

Nearby Nozawa Onsen has been transformed with a healthy base for so early in the season:

Nozawa Onsen ski area - 200/60cms

Around and about the Echigo-Yuzawa area of Niigata, including Kagura and Naeba, there was snow on Thursday (10-30cms), but it became mild and even a little bit rainy on Saturday.

Fortunately this changed back to snow on Sunday morning and it began dumping overnight and into Monday:

Naeba ski area - 90cms
Kagura ski area- 200cms

YAMAGATA

Zao Onsen - no snow, but no rain either! Zao only managed sprinklings of snow through the weekend to refresh the slopes:

Zao Onsen - 70/40cms

FRANCE

Orelle 21 December [Source: 3Vallees FB page]

The Northern Alps, well parts of them, scored the most snow in the past week, with the Southern and Pyrenees missing out. However, good starts to the season across France have delivered a fantastic white Christmas!

NORTHERN ALPS

At Espace Killy, which includes Tignes and Val D'Isere, there is 240cms of snow at 2500m altitude, and 123cms on the ground at the beautiful Val D'Isere village (1850m).

Les Arcs:
@1600m - 105cms
@2000m - 137cms

L'Alpe D'Huez 18 December [Source: Alpe D'Huez FB page]

Les Trois Vallees:
@1450m - 100cms
@2300m - 140cms

Les 2 Alpes - no change in snowdepth since last week, but the high altitude areas would have kept the quality:
@1650m - 100cms
@2600m - 140cms

SOUTHERN ALPS

The Southern Alps are certainly doing well, but little new snowfall in the past week. So many sunny days would be pleasant, however!

La Mongie 22 December [Source: Grand Tourmalet FB page]

All lifts and pistes are open at Isola 2000, with 170cms of snow covering its upper slopes, and 120cms at 2000 metres.

L'Espace Lumiere, centred around Val D'Allos:
@1800m - 110cms
@2600m - 180cms

PYRENEES

In the Pyrenees a sunny spell has held off much improvement in snow depths, with the sun melting a little snow.

The Grand Tourmalet area now has 80cms of snow at 1800 metres altitude, and 100cms @ 2500m.

Cauterets:
@1850m - 100cms
@2400m - 135cms

Snow Report 16 December 2012 - France

FRANCE

France has had a fantastic start to the new snow season, with snow depths reminiscent of what you might expect in late January already at many ski resorts. During this past week, some midweek snow led into some fine and photogenic conditions.

This weekend the snow is returning again at many areas, making for great powder conditions up high. It should be great for Christmas visitors!

Les Arcs 13th December [Source: Les Arcs FB page]

NORTHERN ALPS

At Espace Killy, which includes Tignes and Val D'Isere, 76% of the 155 pistes are now open. At Val D'Isere there is 185cms of snow at 2500m altitude, and 90cms on the ground at the beautiful Val D'Isere village (1850m).

Les Arcs has now decided to open a week early, no doubt due to the fantastic abundance of white stuff:
@1600m - 76cms
@2000m - 102cms

Meribel 13th December [Source: 3Vallees FB page]

The huge Les Trois Vallees area of interconnected ski resorts has a massive amount of skiing available for this time of year:
@1450m - 90cms
@2300m - 150cms

Les 2 Alpes:
@1650m - 100cms
@2600m - 140cms

SOUTHERN ALPS

The Southern Alps are certainly doing as well, if not better, than the northern resorts.

All lifts and pistes are open at Isola 2000, with 175cms of snow covering its upper slopes, and 115cms at 2000 metres.

Further west is the fantastic value linked area known as L'Espace Lumiere, centred around Val D'Allos:
@1800m - 140cms
@2600m - 200cms

Cauterets 9th December [Source: Cauterets FB page]

PYRENEES

In the Pyrenees a sunny spell has arrived.

The Grand Tourmalet area now has 90cms of snow at 1800 metres altitude, and 110cms @ 2500m.

Cauterets:
@1850m - 125cms
@2400m - 150cms

Snow Report 2 December 2012 - France & Japan

Its that time again - so, WELCOME to Season 2012-2013! May the festive season bring massive dumps of powder for everyone, whether they be skiing or riding in Europe or Japan.

The last week has brought good snowfalls to both these parts of the world, so lets see how a few of the key mountains in Japan and France fared in their preparations for opening ...

JAPAN

Snowfalls in the past week have painted the mountain tops white, and even helped some resorts begin lift operations. Many of the ski resorts in the central part of Japan have half a metre of snow above about 1,000 metres, but the base areas - being quite close to sea-level - at most have a sprinkling.

As we move through the first few weeks of December, the ski resorts on Honshu will progressively open up (snow permitting of course!).

Happo Upper Slopes 30 November [Source: Happo Website]

Happo One (Hakuba)

Happo One, the most extensive of the ski stations in the Hakuba area of Nagano Prefecture, opened in late November this year.

There is now 50cms on the upper slopes. Happo is OPEN for limited skiing and riding!

Nozawa Onsen

Just across a few valleys in the southern part of Niigata, the beautiful village of Nozawa Onsen welcomed 60cms of snow falling on its upper slopes.

The Yamabiko area at the very top of the resort is known for its deep powder tree runs. However, there is little snow at the base and in the village ... yet!

Akakura Onsen (Myoko Kogen)

Still in Niigata Prefecture - but back towards Hakuba - is Myoko Kogen, possibly one of the snowiest ski areas in Japan.

Despite this top billing, and some snow after falls this week, there are no lifts open yet at the various ski areas that cluster around the base of Mount Myoko.

Zao Middle Slopes 30 November [Source: Zao Website]

This area has special interest this season as I will be reporting from Myoko after a trip there next month. Something to look forward to!

Naeba

The massive linked resorts of Naeba, Tashiro and Kagura are around two hours on a shinkansen from Tokyo. Little snow at the bottom yet - but already there is lots of snow cover at the top of both Naeba and Kagura ski areas.

Zao Onsen

Much further northeast in Yamagata Prefecture is Zao Onsen. Zao currently has limited skiing on several runs with full opening scheduled for the weekend of 8 December.

FRANCE

Some good snowfalls across parts of France have helped preparations for December openings. Early news follows from a selection of ski resorts in the different areas of France.

Northern Alps

About one quarter to a third of the huge Espace Killy is already open as of this weekend, centred around Val D'Isere (50cms snowdepth up high to around 30cms at the base).

Other opening areas include the higher altitude ski stations like Les Deux Alpes (90-40cms) and Alpe D'Huez (120-48cms).

Other openings are planned as follows:
Serre Chevalier, Chamonix, Isola 2000, and Trois Vallees/Courchevel (79-29cms) - 8 December
Les Arcs - 15 December

Isola 2000 1 December [Source: Isola 2000 Webcam]

Southern Alps

Magnificent Isola 2000, perched high above the Mediterranean Sea in the Southern Alps, already has 100cms of snow covering its upper slopes, and 80cms at 2000 metres. Isola 2000 will open on 8 December 2012.

Pyrenees

The Grand Tourmalet area is the largest connected ski area in the French Pyrenees. About 40cms of snow fell this week at 1800 metres altitude - the Grand Tourmalet ski stations plan to open on 6 December 2012.