17 Dec 2011 - light snow

It would be nice to go touring, however the visibility above tree line is bad and terrain is still very scrubby near most trees. If you use use the resorts to get some altitude to reach deeper snow and appropriate terrain, you can not yet ski back down through base, so you have to pay the ski area to catch their lifts back down again. An expensive day of touring at 2500yen return trip.

An ok winter pattern is still in place with the Siberian stream over the Sea of Japan bringing light snow, but not enough to quash the vegetation yet. This is forecast to pick up later in the week.