Asia Weekly Roundup #265

Snowy Start: Japan's Yeti Ski Area Opens for 26th Consecutive Year

• Yeti temporarily closed due to temperatures too high for snowmaking, with major ski resorts still a month away from opening.
• Forecasts suggest Japan may see a winter with below-average temperatures and heavy snowfall, promising ideal "Ja-pow" conditions.
• Yeti Ski Area near Mt. Fuji opened the Japanese ski season with free lift tickets for skiers in costume, marking its 26th consecutive year.

WORLD OVERVIEW

It's probably not going to be the dream start to November we've been hoping for in Europe, with rather warm and dry conditions set to dominate the last few days of October and the start of next month, but we are nearly at 20 centres open now, with Adelboden and Engelberg the latest to set their lifts tuning at the weekend. Hopefully, conditions will change so bases can be built ahead of the main season. After the excitement of America’s season getting underway at Colorado’s Wolf Creek last week, it should be Canada’s turn at the end of this week with the first centre due to open near Banff. There has been some snowfall in the Western US after a warm, sunny spell since Wolf Creek opened and temperatures have finally now plummeted too, so snowmaking systems are working flat out and hopefully, we'll know which the second US centre to open will be imminently. Asia’s 2024-25 season has got underway this week in both China and Japan. A ski area in northwestern China is reported to have opened after heavy snowfall there and across the Sea of Japan, a small centre in Japan opened too, in its case thanks to an all-weather snowmaking system. The southern hemisphere's 2024 season is now over with the last two centres still operating, both on Mt Ruapehu on New Zealand's North Island, ending their runs. Whakapapa had hoped to carry on to the weekend but ended up finishing on Wednesday after warm temperatures and rain spelt the end. Turoa, which had been opening Fridays to Sundays, also announced it wouldn't open for a final weekend as planned for the same unfavourable weather reason.

JAPAN REPORT

Asia's season has gotten underway in the past week too, with a ski area in Japan opening usually all-weather snowmaking machines and one in northern China thanks to an early snowfall. Japan's Yeti ski area which has Mt Fuji lying behind it was the first in the country to open for the 26th straight year. Skiers and boarders arriving on opening day last Friday in fancy dress got free lift tickets. However, the centre has been closed since the weekend reporting temperatures too warm even for its all-weather snowmaking machines to keep ahead of. Most of Japan’s big-name areas won't open for another month but the long-term forecast is currently positive with the expected winter La Nina in the Pacific expected to bring below-average temperatures and above-average precipitation which hopefully means plenty of 'Ja-pow'. For now, there was a dusting on slopes in Hokkaido, northern Japan last week and the second centre, Karuizawa Ski Resort, plans to open from this Friday the 1st of November with man-made snow. Across the Sea of Japan, Jiangjun Shan ski area in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Altay Prefecture was reported to have opened after heavy snowfall last week by Chinese media.

JAPAN FORECAST

A mix of sunshine and cloud but not much precipitation is forecast for northern ski fields in Japan. Overnight lows are down as far as -1C but daytime highs back up to +10C so it’s not feeling like winter in Hokkaido quite yet.