Snow report Niseko, 01/05/2018

Snow condition

Since Christmas, there has been a bit of warm weather and rain that has hit the Niseko area. The overall trends of conditions have been quite good. Very good by most standards. Still. A day or two of rain here and there are good reminders that when it snows a lot in January, it is important to ski the powder whenever possible.

Snow quality

Rain on Christmas day and New Years day have added some crusty layers in the snow pack. Though they are generally buried when touring, these scratchy spots can be felt around the resort. They also have presented small avalanche problems, as the new snow does not always bond well to the crust.

Generally speaking the avalanche risk has bounced around between Considerable and Moderate for the past week. Several large avalanches were observed on East aspects around New Years, as a result of wind loading and the sun coming out. Since then the weather has stabilized and the avalanche trend has been decreasing. At lower elevations, we have been receiving smaller loads of snow consistently each day, between 5 and 10cm for the past several days. This translates to about 20cm higher up, which will help with the long term stability trends.

Overall impression

The weather is due to continue, with on and off snow through the extended forecast. With the incredibly healthy early season base, and a snow depth of 115cm, even after several rain storms, conditions around Niseko are still shaping up to be historically good.