ANTICIPATING heavy snowfalls last night, we joined the crowds for some early morning runs.
Snowfalls were in the 20-30cm range in the village, which wasn’t too impressive, but still more than enough for fun.
As we queued at Centre Four in Niseko Grand Hirafu, the skies were blue, lulling us into a false sense of excitement.
Half way up the chairlift, we stopped being buffered from the winds, and had to feel them full force. By this time, the brief glimpse of blue skies had gone, and been replaced by snow and clouds.
We headed to Miharashi to escape the winds, and to try and find some deep pockets of powder amongst the trees.
And did we! As you can tell from the photos, there was plenty of powder hidden in the shelter of the trees, with lots of fun mounds of snow to jump off (or through).
The weather didn’t improve, with sustained strong winds, and hail like snow, but regardless due to the size of Niseko, there is usually somewhere good to ride, if you know where to look.