Know the weather = know the snow pack = know the stability.  For previous weather and snow reports use the Diary link at the top of the page.

Steep Deep Japan Hakuba  weather data for the 24 hours to 7am for 860m. Max temp +6C, min temp -8C and  0C at 7am. 2cm of new snow  in the last 24 hours.  Depth of snow 190cm after settlement.  Barometer has risen to 916mbar.  The sky is has about 40% cloud cover. 

Field observations:  Yesterday we travelled in the backcountry to 2000m and observed mainly south aspects in the Otari area.  Stability was extremely variable due to wind and small changes in aspect and terrain shape.  Generally, there was about 20-30cm of new snow on top of a hard icy crust.  The snowpack continues to be far less faceted than in the Goryu area to the south.  Winds were moderate from the NW and in the afternoon it snow at 2cm per hour after a sunny morning.

As usual snow stability reports posted on Japan Avalanche Network (JAN) can be found here.  This report is for the Otari area and written by a local guiding who is on the snow every day.  JAN have made available a valuable public resource that I encourage people to consult before entering the backcountry.

Please refer to the Hakuba backcountry travel advisory from the guides at Evergreen Outdoors. (Frequency of update is unreliable)