Stefan makes the most of a powder pillow on a run through the trees in Nozawa Onsen.
Base up top: 420cm Temp Top; -15 Degrees
Base at bottom: 255cm
New Snow since close: 15cm
Eyes were almost glued to the windows this morning at breakfast time, because we have an absolutely stunning day today in Nozawa Onsen. A crystal clear blue sky, white heavily snow frosted trees and perfect fresh snow, what more could you want?
The groomed runs are silky smooth corduroy and very fast with cold overnight temperatures. It will be a challenge to find a single patch of ice in the mountain today so the quality of riding will be very high. Through the trees will also deliver some of the best turns of your life with dry knee deep powder and a spectacular backdrop of the soaring Japan Alps. Winds are light and crowd levels are low.
Yesterday continued on the recent form of day after day excellent skiing and boarding in Japan. We saw deep windblown stashes of powder and the temperatures were very cold. Light snow showers persisted most of the day and the sun even made a brief appearance during the afternoon. Late February this year is really turning it on with very consistent excellent conditions.
Looking at what’s in store for the next couple of days we should see some warmer spring skiing conditions for around three days before the freezing level takes a dive back down to around sea level once again on Friday night. Snow is predicted around this time but freeze thaw conditions means the fresh snow will be unstable sitting on what will be an icy base layer.
Some long term guests staying at Nozawa Onsen have been busy riding and filming and have documented their adventures on a video blog. Make sure you check it out, pretty awesome.
Heavy snow on race day in Nozawa Onsen.
