International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Japan Hokkaido 2018 Trip Report

[Mattadvproject]

It's that time of the year again; time for a new Japan trip report!

Hope everyone has been having a nice Christmas and happy holidays, I for one need to get back on my skis and get back into the snow. Colorado has been having a pretty bleak time of it so far, so I have not been motivated (and too busy) to get up into the mountains. Not to worry, I'm heading to Japan on Tuesday and have some time to get my legs back in shape before guiding season starts on January 13th.

If you haven't been getting bombarded with snow updates from Asia, then you might not know that Japan and especially Hokkaido are off to their best start in 10 years. Niseko alone has had close to 6m of snow already and it's looking like a La Nina season which traditionally means a lot of snow. Allegedly the last 2 seasons have been what the locals have called mediocre seasons so I am genuinely excited by the prospect of a lot of snow this time round. I certainly wasn't complaining about the conditions last year I've had a lot of fun the last two seasons in Japan so I really can't wait for this season.

I have 9 days before the first groups arrive and this season I have 3 sessions in operation. I'll be in Japan from the 3rd of January till the 19th of February. Then it's back to Denver for 1 day and then straight off to India for a few weeks. It's going to be a hectic time! I'm up for the challenge though. The first group coming out is from Pugski (4 people) and I'm really excited to show the crew around. Then I have a group of return clients who have done various trips around the world and then I finish with a big group put together by a friend celebrating his 60th birthday. Should be a lot of good people.

The format of the trips are all pretty similar to last year. We have half the trip in Otaru and the second half of the trip further north in Furano. The only real change is that we are finishing in Chitose this year (instead of Sapporo) so that we can get people back to the airport easier. I really like Sapporo but it is just too hectic to stay there for just 1 night and then try and leave early the next day for the airport. Chitose will be a mellower end to the trip.

So I will try and post as much as I can, especially at the start of the trip. I bought a gimbal this season so I'm hoping my video footage will be even crisper and I can post more of it. We'll see. Hopefully I don't get too bogged down (I do tend to write alot!) and can keep going this time to the end. Wishful thinking probably. If all goes well, I hope we can have a big Pugski trip go out to Japan in 2019. Watch this space. Here's to a great season!

- Matt

 

[SkiNurse]

Looking forward to the TRs!

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

I’m not dedicated enough to post my own TR thread but will wet some appetite from yesterday.

Ski Hokkaido day #10 Rusutsu
Rusutsu was blessed with 80+ cm of snow over the past 72 hours with season total near 500 cm. The strong 60 MPH wind that closed many lifts throughout Sapporo and Shiribeshi subprefecture (including Niseko, Kiroro, Tenguyama, and Asari) has mostly subsided. Niece and I took a day trip aboard the complimentary 2 hour Kamori Kanko shuttle from Sapporo JR station to Rusutsu and arrived by 10:10 am. We started with fun but short tree powder laps off West Tiger Pair to warm up, then headed from West to East Mtn via 2 gondolas back-to-back (unload, walk 10 steps, reload) to reach its 868 meter summit. Previously pristine Super East (sustained 33% pitch which I had poached w/a Hawaiian 2 weeks prior via ridge line hike) was pretty chopped up already. The 14 yo asked for a reprieve run since it’s only her second day on snowboard this season. But visibility was definitely impaired all day on groomers, plus some holiday “obstacles” along the way.

We essentially had a full day of powder thigh deep runs with no lift line whatsoever on Mt Isola, my favorite being the trees on either side of Isola #1 covered quad. Steamboat cafeteria was busier with about a 3-5 minute wait. By 3:30pm, we found our first real chair lift line returning to East Mtn from Isola. It was entertaining meeting a teleskier who grew up just a few miles from where I lived in LA but has been living in Taiwan for 30 years now. In line was also a new local British ex-pat friend who had his 3 clients on a 14 day guided trip.

I finally upgraded my season pass to include a ski locker. We had to rush to catch the 5pm shuttle which promptly returned to Sapporo by 6:45pm, then joined the sushi train dinner outing with family. Forty-six plates for 4 people totaled $50, tax included and no tip.

Have my first bc day with a local Japanese guide Saturday, then Teine Sunday and back to Rusutsu Tue to Friday. This will likely be my weekly routine through February. If anyone else is coming this way, feel free to PM me, I can get up to 3 guests each day a 20% off full day lift ticket.

Had not intend on writing this post so didn’t take any photos. But here is one from last week at Rusutsu.

 

[Mattadvproject]

Travel Day – 2nd Jan to 3rd Jan

Let the adventures begin! Arriving in Chitose was a little stressful. Unfortunately the plane from Denver to Tokyo Narita arrived more than an hour late into Denver and that put me severely behind as I only had an hour and 55 minute connection time. There was also a 130mph headwind so we lost even more time. Thankfully their eta is always on the conservative side and we made it into Narita with about 50 minutes to go. The flight was pretty cruisy, got about an hour of sleep at the start and then watched a bunch of movies and tv shows to pass the time9, around 11.5 hours of flying time). Lesson to self for next year, book a seat on the left side of the plane to see the views of Mt. Fuji during sunset when arriving in Narita!

When I arrived in Narita then it was go time; I had to haul butt to make it on my next flight and it was a solid sprint. I overtook a lot of people on the way to immigration and was processed in a couple of minutes. That was pretty fast. Then my bags came off the belt straight away (gotta love those priority baggage tags!) and then it was quickly through customs. The ladies at ANA then took my bags and told me I still had time to make it onto my next flight, I just had to get through security and to the gate.

Thankfully the gate for the ANA flight to Sapporo was not far away and the line for security was easy. I talked my way into the VIP line and that saved a lot of time (have to be a gold member, I am silver but told them I was about to miss my flight and they let me through). I got through security easily and made it to the gate just as they were about to board. Phew! What a rush! I got to my seat and sat next to the window. I could see my bags getting loaded too, so that was another big relief. I was all set!

The flight to Sapporo was a little late leaving, but it’s short at just over an hour and 15 minutes. There was a little turbulence but another uneventful flight (which I like!). It was nearly 8pm by the time I was waiting for my bags. I finally got to chat to my friend Katie (ski instructor friend from Telluride who was heading to Japan with a client for the first time to Niseko); she had been on all the same flights as me but was up in business. It was a little challenge to find where the shuttle bus was going to pick me up for the ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel Chitose (gate 30 it turns out after a couple of laps around the domestic terminal and speaking to 2 different information people) and it arrived at 930pm. Then it was off to the hotel to catch up on some sleep as I was really tired by this stage. I got my head down around 11pm and got a solid 8 hours in. Excited to be in Hokkaido!


Snow and mountains in the distance. I am happy! The view from my room at the ANA Crowne Plaze in Chitose. Off to Otaru next.....

 

[Mattadvproject]

Day 1 – 4th Jan

I didn’t have to rush so I had a late breakfast at 9am and then had to jump on the 11am shuttle back to the airport so I could exchange some money (currency exchanges in the domestic terminal close at 6:45pm) and then take the shuttle bus to Toyota to pick up the van. It took a bit of time to get through the paperwork and then I was on the road. I had to head back to the hotel quickly to pick up my bags and then I could take the expressway to Otaru.

It’s about a 1 hour 35 minute drive and when I got to Sapporo it was dumping hard so I had to slow it down a little. Coming into Otaru there was a nasty crash near the off ramp. The smaller roads were slick as I neared the hotel. They let me check in just after 2pm and then I settled into my room. I could see Mt Tenguyama in the distance from my room, looks like a lot of snow up there for this time of the season.

By 6pm I was pretty hungry so I headed to the mall next to the hotel. I went to a noodle bar that I’ve been to before and had a nice big bowl of pork and ramen noodles in a miso broth, plus a bear for 1,200 JPY. That’s about $11, a red hot deal. The pork in Hokkaido is so tasty, it’s really good. Then it was back home and early to bed. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was feeling the jetlag.

Day 2: 5th Jan - Kokusai Powder Day

It was my first day back on snow and I was both nervous and excited. I got a last minute message from a couple of friends who were up in Asari, not far from Otaru, to go skiing. I recommended we go to Kokusai as they had not been there before and were keen to see something new.

Ella and Julian are good friends from NZ who I used to teach skiing with for many years in Telluride, CO. I hadn’t seen them for nearly 5 years and I had only just found out they were in the Otaru area. They were doing some part-time work for an organization called Wenkel (mostly teaching in Kiroro) but now they were pretty much finished with work and keen to get out and explore. I was more than happy to assist in that department. They also had a friend out from Telluride from the ski patrol (Jeb) who was out for a holiday, so we had a strong skiing group. It was a great way to catch up with old friends, that’s for sure.

Kokusai is one of my favorite resorts in the Otaru area. It gets a lot of snow, about the same as Kiroro but doesn’t get the same crowds as Kiroro. There are fewer Westerners (potential competition for the powder!) heading to Kokusai compared to Kiroro, I suspect that this is because Kiroro has been getting a lot more Western ski press and is on the main road from Niseko to Otaru. If Kiroro gets snow and Niseko doesn’t, then a lot of hungry powder skiers seem to head to Kiroro from Niseko. It’s getting quite popular there and a big reason why Kiroro has slipped down pretty low on my priority list. I’d much rather go to Kokusai and not compete with all those crowds over at Kiroro. Anyway, that’s just my thoughts; let’s get on with the story…..

We didn’t get there till well after 10:30am. We were too busy catching up to pay much attention to what time it was. The carpark seemed really busy when we got there too, so I wasn’t thinking it would be that epic. Turns out I was wrong…… Most of the traffic was local Japanese skiers and tons of school kids and most of them are not going into the trees and sidecountry where I think the best skiing is. We took the gondola straight to the top and did the very short hike through the gate and into the sidecountry area. A few people had dropped in already but when we traversed left a little, we quickly found an untouched line. It had some old tracks in it but was mostly filled in again from the overnight snow (4cm’s was forecast and as always, the forecast was wrong in a good way). We took it easy on the first lap and skied it in a few sections so I could point out the landmarks and where we needed to be. The snow was nice and we had a nice first run down. We found the way across the creek straight away and out we popped towards the bottom of the gondola.

Jeb was having some major boot issues so he sat out the next two laps. We skied further left again and skied a slightly different aspect; it was as nice as the first lap. Then on the third lap, we decided to do a little hike. This time we stayed right on the main ridge, skied a couple of turns on a steep face (potentially wind-loaded face, I tested it and it held fine) and then we skinned for about 8 minutes. It was so beautiful skinning up through the white, rimed trees. Such an amazing environment and we had it all to ourselves. We made it to the top of our ridgeline and then skied it one at a time. I dropped in first in to get a good angle to film the others. Julian and Ella skied it down to the valley. It was really nice snow, boot top deep and nice and light. I got a few faceshots! The new Salomon skis are doing well and I’m really liking the new Salomon Shift binding system; what a great binding for Japan and this kind of skiing.

Then we had a huge lunch (I was really hungry so I ordered a big plate of Katso curry with breaded pork cutlet on top, about $10 for a huge amount of food, my favorite!). Jeb met up with us and we hung out for a bit; my legs needed the rest. A Japanese lady and her daughter came over to speak with us and the young girl wanted to ask us questions about where we were from for a school project she was doing. She was very sweet and shy, it was a pleasure talking to them and we took photographs and she gave us aii paper cranes. How sweet!

Then it was time for one last lap. Jeb came with us this time and we did the same hike, heading a little higher and skiing the right side of the ridge that was untouched (another group had skinned up after us apparently so we just moved a little further skier’s right). This was the pick of the day. The sun had come out and was starting to set (it was about 330pm by this stage), so we had this beautiful pink light and glow contrasting beautifully with the snow. It was really nice and we all had a great run down. Not a bad way to get end of the day freshies….. I’d had a blast and the stoke levels were high, this was an awesome way to officially start my trip; skiing with friends old and new and riding untouched pow on what shouldn’t have been, that great conditions. Hokkaido just blows me away; it’s not super long or steep skiing, but it’s fun and really enjoyable skiing. I was so happy to be back, what a great first day! Love it…..


210cm base at the top of the gondola. Not bad for early Jan!



Ella exploring a little igloo and shrine at the top of the gondola.


We'll let you out if you come shred the pow!



And shred the pow we did! It was deep in places. Julian getting some faceshots.



Same again on the next turn. The snow quality is what makes this place so good, it doesn't have to be deep to get it in your face when it's so light!



Ella's turn..... the very short face before the skin up.



About 8 minutes was all it took to get to the start of our line. Amazing bang for the buck!



Gotta love the riming on the trees. So aesthetic!


Nearly there!


Great to see these guys after such a long time! Had no idea they were going to be in Hokkaido till a week before I left.


Muggins! I approve of this day!


Jeb and his new geography student.


Making a crane for Julian for his help answering questions about the world.



3:45pm. The lights are on. Job done!


Off to somewhere different tomorrow....

 

[Mattadvproject]

A couple of quick clips for the day's fun!




Decent storm coming in tomorrow. Hopefully Sunday will be good!

- Matt

 

[Jim McDonald]

a nice big bowl of pork and ramen noodles in a miso broth, plus a bear for 1,200 JPY.

Damn cheap for a bear!

 

[Jim McDonald]

Nice turns in those videos!

 

[Mattadvproject]

a nice big bowl of pork and ramen noodles in a miso broth, plus a bear for 1,200 JPY.

Damn cheap for a bear!

Ha ha! Nice catch Jim. Yes, only a small bear so very good value!

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

Great TR, Matt!

Last Saturday 12/30 we bought a single gondola ride for 1,400 JPY at Kokusai and spent the entire time in the same sidecountry area you described and did laps. It was so beautiful and we had such a blast. However, we had to cross the creek on snow bridges 4 times to reach base at the end of the day. On a steep traverse Hisashi fell, dropped about 50 ft, and stopped just short of the creek



The creek


You can see Wataru and Hisashi barely above the creek working their way back up the traverse.

 

[Mattadvproject]

Great TR, Matt!

Last Saturday 12/30 we bought a single gondola ride for 1,400 JPY at Kokusai and spent the entire time in the same sidecountry area you described and did laps. It was so beautiful and we had such a blast. However, we had to cross the creek on snow bridges 4 times to reach base at the end of the day. On a steep traverse Hisashi fell, dropped about 50 ft, and stopped just short of the creek


View attachment 36489
The creek

View attachment 36486
You can see Wataru and Hisashi barely above the creek working their way back up the traverse.

View attachment 36488 View attachment 36487

Very nice pics Jenny! Sounds like an adventure. I could be wrong, but if you are taking the same line out past the creek, then you should only have to do 2 creek crossings. The first one is very hidden (and the most important one), and is about 2/3 of the way out. You cross (what is a pretty wide snow bridge this year) and you will be on the right side of the creek for a while. You know you've gotten it right if you have to do 2 small sections of sidestepping. If you don't make that crossing then you have to work a lot harder. I see so many people staying on that left side and missing that crossing, it's much more work. Then you cross once more at the end before you come back into the resort not too far from the gondola bottom station. It's not a really obvious line but does make it a pretty easy out. Hopefully I can show it to you sometime.
Kind regards,
Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Day 3: Jan 6 – Tenguyama

My buddy Jarrah was in town from Niseko. He’s an instructor and guide from Niseko and we used to teach together in Mt. Hotham in Australia. I last saw Jarrah in Niseko back in 2016 so it hasn’t been too long. He’d not been to Otaru before so I was happy to show him around. I met him at the main Otaru train station around 815am and we went straight to Tenguyama. I was keen to see how that was looking.

It was very busy with school kid groups but as always, we were the only ones hitting the trees. We met some Swiss snowboarders in the tram but didn’t see them on the mountain. We did our first lap in a gladed area to the left of the steep main run and then (shock horror!) did a groomer groom down to the bottom. Where there had been no tracks, then the snow was deep and soft, but there were a few old tracks that were definite feeling a lot firmer underneath. We’d have to find the untouched pow (not too hard!). The next run we traversed out to the skier’s right side of the main run. It seemed pretty tight, the snow wasn’t deep enough yet to cover some of the bushes/saplings that seemed more covered last winter (understandable as we started skiing there much later last season). We did another run in that zone and then had an early lunch. I had a really good fried chicken, rice and curry dish and Jarrah had the same.

We could scout our next lines from the restaurant (I wanted to explore more of the skier’s left side of the mountain as I had seen some nice looking faces further around that I had not hit before. I showed Jarrah around the ski museum and the room with all the goblin masks in it. We were also thinking about pushing further out to the skier’s right side but I saw some very obvious new signs that said keep out. These signs were in English and then as we were putting our skis on a patroller came over and told us not to go over there. No worries, we took some pictures instead of the shrine and flags area and headed off.

I was keen to explore more the left side. I wanted to see how far across and how low we could get before traversing back to the lift became a lot of work (we had our skins if we needed to hike out). It turns out you can get pretty low and not have to work very hard to get out. We did several laps in that area; it was untouched with nice consistent snow and nice and steep in places. I was worried that with the more aggressive signage and patrol that Tengu had lost a lot of it’s appeal but this new/extended zone really made up for it. There seemed to be a lot less brush on this side and decent spacing of the trees.

We did several laps in this zone until we saw a Western couple who were skinning up and doing laps too. For $30 they wouldn’t have had to have done any work like us, but have to admire their energy skinning for the same laps as us whilst we were taking the double chair. We filmed a bunch and even stopped to set up for photos. By about 3pm we were happy with what we had achieved (for me exploring the left side of the mountain and figuring out a new zone, was definitely the highlight, I love finding new places and lines that are decent!) so we headed back to the hotel. It was snowing really hard by this stage and the light was pretty poor anyway, so it was a good time to leave.

Jarrah and I went out into the old part of Otaru that night. I wanted to take him to my favorite spot, the Otaru brewery and have him try the local brew. I’ve not been there on the weekend before and the place was quite busy. We found a table in the no smoking section and enjoyed a couple of medium sized beers. I had a couple of the weisse’s and Jarrah tried a dunkel and a weisse, plus we had a couple of the soft pretzels. It was all really good. Then we went on a mission to find somewhere to eat. Otaru seems to close down pretty early, even on a weekend. The BBQ place two doors down from the brewery was closed for a private function so we went looking elsewhere. There are a couple of buildings with all these small restaurants in them but they were closed (730pm!) and then there is another similar place on the other side of the main street but that was all closed up too.

Thankfully all the places on sushi row were still open and we found the sushi train place a few buildings down the street (I hadn’t been here before). It was an impressive place; much bigger than the one in Furano that I like and has a huge menu. By 745pm it was busy initially, but then a few booths started to open up. We stuck to the cheaper plates, anywhere from 140 JPY to 300JPY and it was pretty good. Some of the locals in there were really stacking the plates up! I only had 6 and Jarrah had 8. Some people were having close to 20 plates, it was pretty impressive. We had a beer each and headed back for a somewhat early night. It was snowing hard and we were excited to head back to Kokusai (Jarrah’s first time there).







































- Matt

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

In case you were wondering, Tengu-Yama means Mt Heavenly Canine. Pretty neat name, isn’t it?

I spent a late afternoon/evening skiing Tenguyama w/nephew&niece two years ago, almost forgot about the cool little museum, thanks for the reminder, Matt! We also did laps in the left glade off the main steep “run” (called “course” in Japan). Great knowing you can go quite low there and still get out easily. Skiing that glade was quite magical after sunset with lighting from the nearby groomer “course.”

I went to Teine both 1/6 and 1/7, busy holiday weekend especially Lower Olympia Zone. Saturday I skied with a sweet New Zealand couple I met earlier in the week around Rusutsu. Today was just a glorious bluebird morning after 8 inches of fresh snowfall. Men and Women Combined Course at Highland was wind buffed, but everywhere else was shimmering and soft, especially near the top of old cable tram (which doesn’t run anymore). Love that side country area!!!

 

[Mattadvproject]

A couple of video's from Tengu......



We returned to Kokusai the today and it was EPIC! I can't wait to post about this day.....

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Here's a couple more photos from Tengu and Otaru that Jarrah took...... thanks for the share Jarrah.











Sushi train restaurant in Otaru


Otaru brewery.



- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Day 4: Jan 7th – Kokusai

It’s the weekend and it’s a powder day, so where do you go? We’d already skied Tengu so the only other option to me is Kokusai. Kiroro would have likely been massively busy and Teine too; Kokusai is isolated and less popular with the Westerners, so I chose there. Julian was wanting to come with us, so our crew this day was myself, Julian and Jarrah. I wanted us to get there as early as we could and get first tracks. We were a little late, but made it to the resort by 830am. Surprisingly the car park was looking really full already. Ruh row!

We grabbed our tickets (I still had my previous pass so just recharged it with a day ticket) and got in line for the gondola. By 845am the line was starting to grow, but 15 minutes later we were up. When we got to the top we headed straight to the gate and with the lack of any tracks, were first into the zone. Julian dropped in first and the snow was deep and soft. It was close to knee deep and blower. This was going to be an amazing day!

Jules led the way and got into a little bit of a creek which slowed him down. Jarrah and I stayed up on the next ridge and enjoyed a better fall-line. It was awesome skiing, with the snow hitting us in the chest with every turn. We got a little low with the traverse and had to work a little harder to get out, but we made to our creek crossing and traversed out back to the gondola, eager for another lap. On the next one, we headed a little further left of our tracks and found a really good fall-line. We skied this non-stop down to our traverse line out. It was epic!

The sun was starting to come out and we could finally see higher up the mountain. I have been looking at a new line for two years now and we decided it was time to go for it. I don’t want to say exactly where it is, but it involved about 30 minutes of skinning. It was massively worth it! We came across a group of snowmobilers braaaping around in and amongst the trees (it felt very out of place to be in what would have been a very serene and beautiful place, but so be it, nothing we can do about that).

We skinned up and eventually came out above the treeline. Our ridgeline was further across but we just had to ski this open face. The snow looked incredible and with the sun on this face, it was a dream come true. We could still ski this face and then skin back up to regain our ridgeline. Julian and Jarrah went down first, one at a time. It looked incredible. I could barely see them with all the powder billowing up over them. Then it was my turn to drop. Wow, it was incredible, some of the best turns I have had in Japan. There was plenty of woo-hooing on the way down. 20 quality turns. There was a lot of high-fiving going on after that.

Then we traversed over a bit and found an area to put skins back on. It only took about 15 minutes or so to gain the ridge and the effort was minimal. We were on top of our ridge. It was a prominent ridge with 2 tracks on it already but plenty of room for us. In we dropped and it started pretty mellow so we did a bit of a team ski and then it dropped off steeper. Here we would go one at a time. Well, the faces that we skied were incredible, the snow was deep and faceshots were plenty full. This was with only a forecasted 11cm of new overnight snow (always take the report with a grain of salt; if they say heavy snow, you know it is going to be good). This was properly deep. We skied a lot of vertical; this was the best line I have skied so far in Hokkaido, a real long run with quality snow on it. What a line. This takes Kokusai to another level; I was so stoked to have finally skied it. Now I know how to get to it I expect I’ll be hitting it again.

The challenge was going to be getting out. We stayed on the ridge as far as we could, finally the deep looking creek was below us. Thankfully right there, there was a snow bridge. I could see an old track so we went for it. We skied down a steep technical face and then crossed the natural snow bridge to the left side of the creek. We side-stepped up and then had to do a quick 3 minute bootpack. We were up and out and could see our first traverse line from the start of the day. What an easy exit and what an amazing line. I’m so stoked to have learned this new zone. There is enough terrain in there to keep skiing untouched lines the entire time I think.

It was about 1pm so we headed for lunch. We were a little tired but very happy. We relaxed and enjoyed a big lunch and then an icecream each for dessert. After a big lunch and having skied the best run of the day, we were done. We headed back early so Jarrah could catch an earlier train back to Niseko. I think he was pretty happy with his decision to take the weekend off of work and make some turns. It had been an incredible day, one of my personal best days, if not the best! Stoked! What would tomorrow bring?

Thanks to Jarrah O'Brien for use of some of these screen grab shots.

 

[karlo]

we bought a single gondola ride for 1,400 JPY at Kokusai and spent the entire time in the same sidecountry area you described and did laps

That's $12.30

 

[Mattadvproject]

That's $12.30

Something like that! I did the same thing today, just bought a one ride ticket (same price of 1,400 JPY) and just toured out the top of the gate and into the backcountry. It was a public holiday today and the carpark was full. It was the first time I've ever had to park in the lower lot. We saw no one else in the zone we skied today. It was pretty special.

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Some video of the day...... make sure you turn them all onto the HD setting first.

 

[Jim McDonald]

FYI, good base at Furano. Premium got pretty well skied out on the three-day weekend.
FWIW, mix of rain/snow on lower half yesterday; not sure how high it went but may leave an unstable layer under the next powder dump.