Where Is The Snow? 23rd Jan 2017
Our team’s queen bee jetted off to Japan last week to have a look at the ski resorts on the Northern island of Hokkaido. There's not a better place we know of to grab your first experience of powder skiing. Fresh snow falls almost daily throughout January so there's no danger of missing out on the conditions so many of us crave for. Not only that, rumour has it the food is divine and that's coming from one who is terrified of fish so it can't be all sashimi and giant crabs. Sapporo was a definite highlight enthusiastically portrayed via a multitude of hand movements, so evidently very much worth a couple of days exploration if you're thinking about heading over to the snow capital of the world (I just handed out that title personally).
Madelyn's wandering wonderings in Rusutsu.
As for the current conditions, Japan is possibly the most promising place for snow this week, both Niseko and Rusutsu have had 15cm in the last 3 days and a whopping 40cm forecast in the next 6. It doesn't look like it's going to stop coming down by the bucket load any time soon. Getting into resort can take more than a little while from the UK, so if you're looking for a last minute get away then perhaps Europe is more where we should be looking.
Europe has had a fantastic couple of weeks, last week we saw powder conditions starting off the week with a bang and the skies clearing into some wonderful blue bird days by the weeks' end. The blue skies look set to continue into this week as well. I've double checked all our resorts and each and every one of them are reporting good to excellent piste conditions so it's going to be a fabulous week on the slopes with temperatures hovering around 0 degrees you may be able to leave the thermals at home.
Exploring the Portes du Soleil - The Retreat's Sam
In resorts such as St Anton, Val Thorens and Engelberg (links are to the webcams) you will still be able to find pockets of powder, but this week is largely going to be a piste skiers dream. Tignes and Val d'Isere are the only resorts forecast a few cm of snow in the next 3 days to top up their already great conditions. But you can't go wrong wherever you're heading. Unseasonably mild temperatures will make you feel like you're skiing in the March sun but with January’s fantastic conditions.
If you are looking to get outside of the perfectly pisted realms and don't fancy the trip to Japan, then Colorado in the USA is the place to be. They've recently had a dusting and 20-30cm is due to float down on the slopes of Aspen, Breckenridge and Vail in the next 3 days. So grab your skis or board and hop across the pond to revel in a spot of snow surfing. This video was posted by Vail 15 hours ago (time now 12:20) just to drill in the fact that the conditions are superb.
That's this week rounded up like a bad maths class. If you're still looking for a last minute ski break take a look at our offers page or speak to the specialists on 020 8939 0862. Tweet away your snowy exploits @flexiski and #flexiski on Instagram to show us this week’s fun in the sun. Have a good one!