The first day of snow in the valley before each season creates a buzz in town amongst the locals. Snow fever
I keep an eye on all the weather charts to see whats going on with the snow and I thought we might see some down in the valley last night. Like an excited little kid on Christmas day I was up before the dawn looking out the window to see what was happening. Sure enough there was snow coming down and I had to dash straight out into it. That’s probably classed as a little obsessive however I have been craving this day since the end of last winter. This morning, unlike during the season when we want to see blower dry powder, what we have is wet and heavy snow. This is in fact what we like to see around Hakuba at this time of year. Early season heavy snow pushes down all the sasa grass and small trees that would otherwise obstruct us off piste. Hopefully we get a good heavy base over the next few storms to set us up well for the rest of the season.
Heavy snow will flatten these little branches that poke up and will help create a perfect gully run without splinters.
Check these links for more information on the weather
Yahoo Weather – Accurate short term forecast
Unisys – For the layman – you are looking for the blue to come into the smile of Japan.
Kochi University – Good for real time satellite video.
Snow-Forecast – consistently has the freezing level a couple of hundred meters above the actual level and the amount of snow is under valued however good in predicting that something is coming.
Hakuba Blog 
Hi, Where is that Gully run? Which resort in Hakuba? I’ve been told that skiing amogst the trees in Hakuba is out of bounds and you can loose your lift pass.
Hi Michael. I never give away my secret spots on the mountain on the internet however if you want to drop in and see me at the White Horse Bar sometime we can have a chat. There are areas that are out of bounds like any resort in the world. Please take care where ever you go and that also means thinking about the people below you. If you are not sure where to go then maybe do a lap and suss it out a bit more before you drop in. There are also a lot of areas that are closed as they end up in a gully to nowhere. You will understand not to just go anywhere when you have to try and hike out of a bad decision in chest deep snow. I have done it and it’s not fun.. My motto is don’t drop in anywhere that you are not prepared to hike out of..
Cheers
Tony