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Goryu manages to push it out right till the end…and some die-hards were up there for the last day while the rest of us were enjoying the 30 degree weather and bbq’ing by the river. Well, someones gotta do it. They did well with the relatively low snowfall this season to open right through to the end.

All the resorts are taking a break in terms of lift operation before they get things moving for the Green Season.

Happo are the first to get moving again opening on May 16th and running till November 3rd. Tsugaike follows not long after with their Gondola and the higher rope-way opening May 20th. Goryu’s gondola moves from July 1st to November 3rd and Hakuba 47 from July 10th to September 15th…

Hakuba is coming into blossom and green and we are far from the resorts and on the mountain-bikes, in the rivers and lakes and hiking the Alpine trails…hope to see you here sometime.

Beautiful weather for Golden Week alright with blue skies today and tomorrow though cloud is coming in from Sunday to Tuesday apparently. It seems there’s still snow with plenty of cars parked in the carparks though to be honest I haven’t been up there for weeks…mountain-bikes being the preferred mode of transport. Still, Hakuba in Golden Week has a bit of everything with snow on the tops, the lakes with blossoms in bloom and the rivers pumping. Have a good one wherever you spend it!

Skifield planned closing dates:

Hakuba 47 - until 6th May

Happo - until 6th May Tsugaike Kogen - until 6th May

Goryu - until 10th May

We’ve been having some rainy days and nights but plenty of sun interpersing things and Hakuba is beautiful right now with trees in blossom everywhere you look. It’s a perfect time for scenic fun-rides and there’s still snow at Tsugaike, the top of Goryu and Hakuba 47 has decent snow to the bottom and even though the nights are still chilly in the sun during the day its definite t-shirt weather, really an amazing time of year!

The bluebird skies couldn’t last forever; the last week has been golden with board demo’s, great spring conditions, blue skies, and after-ski bbq’s and drinks. Could this be the end of the Golden Weather for us? Poured rain for awhile but its mellowing off now, rain on the radar a bit more than recently over the upcoming week though which will eat into the base more than the sunshine does.

A lot of people are making the most of the Spring snow and great weather to get out into the BC areas. While its nice out there, its important to remember to take the BC areas and avalanche risks as seriously as mid-Winter. A size 3 Avalanche was witnessed yesterday set off by sluff from skiers above which would have wiped out anything in its path. Pay due caution in the BC!

Happo:
Gondola, 3 quad lifts, Hakuba Kokusai No 3 Pair A,B pair lift operating on upper slopes (access via the gondola).

Goryu:
Gondola and Alps No 1 and No 3 pair lifts. Riding down from Alps daira course to Toomi area still ok.

47:
Gondola, Line A pair, Line B pair, Line C quad, Line E pair - still able to ski down to base area.

Tsugaike Kogen:
Gondola and 1 lift operating (upper courses only)

The dump last week really made these last few days a solid ending to March with great Powder on the resort Friday & Saturday and excellent BC conditions since then with yesterday being a pearler. The runouts weren’t the best but that was made up for by sugar turns up top and everyone really made the most of it.

The snow forecast for tomorrow has been getting downgraded steadily to the point rain is in the mix tomorrow morning but snow is still forecast for tomorrow night through to Thursday…wouldn’t it be nice to get what we had last week!

Today being the last day of March means it’s the last day for a lot of places including Sanosaka, Kashimayari, Aokiko, & Iwatake resorts and Subway inside the Goryu Escal Plaza building.

Schedules for the other resorts are as follows -

Goryu:
Iimori closes today (March 31st)
Toomi Skifield (the bottom area of Goryu) - April 5th.
Alps Daira Skifield (the top of Goryu) - May 10th.
Discount tickets 3800 yen for adults; 2000 for children

Hakuba47:
Running all lifts as snow permits until March 10th

Tsugaike:
Lower lifts are running where possible until April 4th, Top two pair lifts will run until May 6th.

Cortina:
The Dai-2 Quad and Dai-4 Pair lifts are running until April 5th.

So a lot of it is coming to an end…even with the lack of snow this year 47 will no doubt have decent runs till the last and Tsugaike snowshoes are always good in Spring.

Otsukare for another year and we will update a few times per week through April.

SNOW STABILITY REPORT (as at Sun 29th)

The low traces of new snow in the valley amounted to 35cm of fresh snow at 2300m.a.s.l‚ North Face of Happo One. Some of this was atributed to the night time strong West North West winds that deposited a bit more snow on East facing slopes. Snow depth of the last 4 days of storm snow in the same location was 170 cm down to the crust and the Kosa (sand) snow layer. The bonding at this interface is good as the snow was warm when it fell on the old melt freeze crust and slowly cooled to dry snow that consecutively fell and kept falling for 3 days. Mostly there was little wind associated with the storm which has allowed for fairly similar depths of snow across the slopes. There are shallow areas on North facing ridges and solar radiated slopes have been faster to settle but increased radiation on solar aspects will continue to create loose slides due to instability in the warming surface snow.

Beware that South slopes are harboring a buried sun crust and could sheer from this layer with warming temperatures and intense solar radiation.

Travel Advisory:
Avoid steep complex terrain and intensly radiated solar aspects around rocks of any size as well as trees and steep convex rolls under cornices. There is a chance of triggering slab avalanches as well as loose slides from the new snow / past snow interface in convex and unsupported slopes‚ as well as sparsely spaced trees‚ solar radiated slopes and cornices. Keep travel to supported slopes and be careful of run outs from above especially under solar exposed route. Use proper spacing in more complex terrain and solar radiated slopes.

Avalanche Hazard Rating:

Below Tree Line: Moderate (Increased danger with increse in temperatures and solar radiation(.
Tree Line: Moderate trending to considerable with increased and prolonged wind.
Alpine: Considerable

Rapid settlement of surface snow causing load on buried weak layers
Extreme radiation and warming of southern exposures
Warming of surface snow causing instability in surface and near surface layers
Increase load on underlying weak layers due to rapid settlement of surface snow
Solar radiated cornices becoming weak with direct solar radiation.
Use caution if crossing solar radiated slopes.
Increased caution advised around rocky outcroppings‚ cliffs and well spaced trees in start zones.
Due caution in steep and convex terrain Danger Level Updated at 2009 03/29 (Sun) 11:00

Danger level 2 : Moderate

Natural avalanches unlikely. Human triggered avalanches possible.

Danger level ratings are set for conditions at tree line
and may vary from below tree line and High Alpine areas.
Use this information as a guideline only.