My sincere apologies for the tardy posting of today's report dear reader. The rigors of mountain town living were too much for me this morning and with the busiest time of year safely in the rear view, I thought I'd best check conditions more thoroughly before taking up my quill.

What better way then to hike Mt Tanigawa and ride the South face. Snow was great up top but slightly warmer temps have made it heavy at elevations below 1000m. There was also quite a bit of debris in the gullies.

Weather wise it was lovely all morning but clouds rolled in around 1pm and it's actually snowing now. Big fat flakes, definitely the biggest I've seen all season.

The forecast is for the possibility of rain starting now but looks like the snow has trumped it. Tomorrow Minakami town has a forecast high of 10C which would not be good, next snow forecast to begin Wednesday and continue as far as the forecast stretches.

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Ski resorts in Minakami:

Akasawa
Minakami Hodaigi
Minakami Kogen Fujiwara
Minakami Kogen Ski Resort
Norn Minakami
Oana
Okutone Snow Park
Tanigawadake Tenjindaira
Tanigawa Onsen White Valley

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Resort Spotlights with more detail:

Norn Minakami
Okutone Snow Park

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Please note that the snowfall numbers posted in this report will be observed from close to the base Tenjindaira Ropeway station - which is often much more than in the central town area of Minakami.