This just in from our friends at Kuro-Dake… things are looking good for their plans to open on Nov 6, once again aiming to be Japan’s first ski lift in operation for the season. They are reporting 40 cm accumulation at their base with temperatures locked below freezing at the base station (1100 m ASL). This picture from their staff says it all:

Kuro-dake Base Station, 2 Nov 2009: 40 cm!

Many of you probably know Asahidake as a back country destination. The highest mountain on the island of Hokkaido, it features a single cable car from 1150 m to 1600 m. To give you some idea of the snow quality at that height, take the best snow from the top bowls of Niseko and Furano and put that at the lift base. Sure enough they had an amazing story of their own to match our Typhoon report - 10 cm of ACCUMULATION at the base on the morning of the 11th.

Christmas in October?

This picture is from Asahidake Onsen, at the BASE. Of the ski runs. In early October. You can see the news with video feed through the link below.

Doshin News - 10 cm Accumulation at Asahidake Onsen, Oct 11

Finally, what looked to be the worst season on record turned around and we have gotten some of what made this place the Pow Pow Capital of the World!

I swear I parked around here somewhere.

Some guests to the Niseko Resort had trouble negotiating the powder and ended up with a face full of it, only to say “this is amazing” and do the same thing a few turns later.

A serious case of "powder face"! Symptoms include uncontrollable smiling.

If you have never been here or have not been this season, Niseko is finally ready to greet you with nice snow, cold beer and delicious foods of every kind.

What are you waiting for?

Fresh Powder guest Dave preparing for his volcano ride adventure

Yeah, we have lots of snow falling this evening. It’s been around a week without any significant snowfall here in Hokkaido, and finally it’s coming down!! I’d say we’ve had 15-20 cm in the last 6 hours, and it shows no signs of stopping. Let’s hope it snows all night.

One of our guests, Dave from Tasmania, is heading up to Asahidake tomorrow to ride some prime pow on a live, honestly smoking, volcano with Hokkaido Powder Guides. This will be his first back country experience, and he’s pretty stoked.

The last week has put us in limbo here in Fresh Powder Land, so we’re really happy to get things rolling again with lots of fresh snow for all. With snow forecast 5 out of the next 6 days, if this turns into a major dump, we’ll be sure to update you here!!