Snow again last night down to the valley with around 5 cm on cars and 20 cm on top. Snow is still falling though lightly in the valley with some sun breaking through but from around 1000m there is thick cloud and fog and visibility is still not the best though improving. Temperatures were measured in Goryu at -1 on top and 0 degrees at the base at 8:30…the temperature now (10:40) at 860m is 2 degrees, with -4 measured at the top of Tsugaike earlier by one of our backcountry guides – fairly cold compared to conditions recently.
Warming today may possibly bring some rain in the valley but with cooling tonight more snow is forecast from this evening and there should be some decent accumulation overnight. No wind today though there may be some North-Westerlies coming in later.
Backcountry Travel Advisory:
We’re seeing real spring conditions with high fluctuations in temperature reaching to around 10 on the plus extreme and plunging down into the negatives at the other. Thursday night saw the temperature drop and snow down to the valley for the first time in a while which was repeated Friday afternoon and through Friday night. Last night we had another fairly decent snowfall. This fresh snow is sitting on the old sliding pack on a mixture of crust and melt-freeze and will come off easily. There hasn’t been a lot of wind to speak of meaning a fairly even coverage however its possible there were some winds in the Alpine and if so there will be some packing on lee-ward slopes.
There are a lot of protruding rocks, gaping holes, big dirt patches etc. up to fairly high on the mountain, especially on solar aspects, that will have received a light dusting of snow but be very very careful if travelling down these. They don’t look like much fun at all. Northern Aspects haven’t received quite the hammering but warm temperatures have seen a lot of deprecation of the snow pack, rocks will be protruding, holes and cracks will be forming and fluctuating temperatures will have created crust and melt freeze conditions. Be extremely careful and scope any slopes well in advance before entering any off-piste areas.
Avalanche Hazard:
Alpine: Moderate
Tree line: Considerable
Below Tree Line: Considerable
See Below for International Danger scale classifications or click on the Canadian Avalanche Association web page for the International Danger Scale.
TEMPERATURE IN THE VILLAGE:
2 degrees C.
TEMPERATURE AT TOP OF MOUNTAIN:
-4 degree C.
WIND:
Light North-Westerlies.
VISIBILITY:
Obscured above 1000m with cloud & snow.
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Goryu/47:
BASE DEPTH: 80 cm (at the base); 260 cm (at 1500m)
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LIFT OPERATION:
Goryu Toomi, Hakuba 47, Happo-One, Tsugaike Kogen, Cortina, Sanosaka, Yanaba, all open