Over Ten Meters Of Snow At 250m Elevation!
If you chose Niseko for your ski or snowboard holiday this season we think you made the right choice. But don’t worry if you missed out because there is still time to book a trip for the 2011/2012 season.
Recently we hit ten meters of snowfall based on the records we have been keeping since snow first settled on Hirafu village on 15 November 2011.
Here are a few facts from our data:
- It has snowed 68 out of 78 days or 93% of the season
- Average daily snowfall is 13.5cm
- The biggest dump was 43.5cm Christmas Eve 2011
- 32km³ of snow has fallen on the Niseko ski grounds
Thorsten making waves and the seasons first tracks, 16 November 2011
Ten meters is..?
These are a few things that are or equal ten meters in height:
- Two London double decker buses
- Double the average height of a giraffe
- The highest Olympic diving board
- Taller than a two story house
Niseko compared with other ski resorts
To put the volume of snow that has fallen on Niseko into perspective we have been scouring the internet for decent data on the snow fall in other Northen Hemisphere ski resorts and this is what we have found.
Ski resort total snowfall comparison from November 2011 to January 2012
Ski resort monthly snowfall comparisons November 2011 to January 2012
How much snow may still fall?
Since we haven’t been collecting snow fall data for years we asked a man that has, Mike Pow. Based on the data Mike provided over the past five seasons, the mean snowfall accumulations for the rest of the season are:
- February 254 cm
- March 177 cm
- April 20cm
And as Mike said “That’s a potential 451 cm still to come!!!!!”
What a winter to visit Niseko
Get in touch with Japan Ski Experience if you would like to head out to Niseko and enjoy what’s still to come. The JSE team are offering huge discounts on accommodation and free skiing for kids throughout March. Visit the website for more information.
Don’t worry if you don’t have those super wide powder skis or specific powder snowboard as you can hire them from Rhythm Snowsports. Book online to get a discount and in March kids hire is free. Find out more on their website.
This is how it looks
Here are some images from our previous snow reports to show you what all this snow looks like.
Ned Buckley sinking deep banking pow turn, 22 December 2011
Buried house in lower Hirafu village, 27 January 2012
Grover putting in a toeside tickler down the back bowl, 17 January 2012
"Dude wheres my car?", 24 December 2011
John getting deep - Hirafu, 26 January 2012
A serious snowblower, 24 December 2011
Source, reference and thanks
We would like to say thank you to the powder connoisseur and all round ski nut, Mike Pow for his data and support.
You can take a look at the data we collected before writing this and also what we used to generate the comparisons charts in this Google Spreadsheet.
If you want to know more about how we collect our snowfall data then please read this article.
