First run down Giant at Madarao Mountain with blue skies and perfect snow

1st Snow Report of Season 2018/19!!!

Snow Snow Snow!!!

We are so excited... It is currently absolutely dumping with heavy snow falling and 25 cm's since 4am so far. What is even better is that for the next 7 days at least we have snow in the forecast.

Of course the forecast said we were going to get 1-2cm's... 25cm's later with heavy snow still falling we couldn't be happier.

Madarao Mountain is uniquely placed to attract far more snow than it rightly should. If you stand on the peak of Mount Madarao and look to the west you can see what basically looks like the mouth of a funnel all the way to the Sea Of Japan. Our theory is that this funnel concentrates moisture rich airflow right into the face of Madarao. When the air hits the mountain it rises, condenses and pukes snow all over us. It isn't unusual to get more than a meter of snow overnight if the wind is aligned with the direction of the funnel.

The resort won't be opening until the 16th of December but don't worry we will hike the mountain in the next few days so we can ensure our gear still works. We wouldn't want to get to opening day and not be ready.


Snowball Chalet's lovely accommodation opens on the 20th of December with some rooms still available. If you want to come on an early season blast then jump onto https://www.snowballchalet.com/room_bookings to check availability. There will be bucket loads of perfect fresh white gold to ride.




Posted on Sun 09 December 2018