Muikamachi Hakkaisan (Minamiuonuma, Niigata) - 26th December 2013

Mostly clear skies this morning so it was off to another local, Muikamachi Hakkaisan.

Glad I made it in the morning because by noon it was more overcast than clear, and now the skies are a uniform grey over Minamiuonuma and Yuzawa.

I had a fun time but it's very clear that there isn't much snow yet. I have never been to Hakkaisan in December before. While it's mostly open (top steep run is not open and the left hand side lift is never open on weekdays), we need much more snow. Lots of stuff popping up and in some of the places where I usually stand to take photos, it's noticeably much lower than mid season.

Snow was just ok, bit heavy.

But Hakkai-san is a beautiful mountain, as can be seen here: