Central Hokkaido — Avalanche Forecast

March 5th Ojika falls near Ryounkaku Onsen. Two size 2 wind slabs, skier triggered. Avalanche 1 was in Southwest facing terrain, elevation 1400m. 200m wide, ran 250m. The crown was between 14 and 24cm on average but up to 75cm maximum depth. Avalanche 2 triggered at the same time on the opposite side of the valley on Northwest facing terrain. 200m wide and ran 400m. March 10th Sandanyam above Ansei crater. Size 2 persistent slab avalanche, skier triggered on south facing terrain, Elevation 1750m. Width 100m, ran 500m, crown was 30-150 cm deep. The avalanche stepped into a deeper layer within the snow pack as it ran. March 10th Maetokachidake Size 1.5 Windslab avalanche. Aspect Southwest, elevation 1650m. Tigger is unknown. March 11th Sandanyama size 1.5 remote triggered avalanche SW aspect at 1500m The weather forecast for Saturday the 14th of March expects an overcast day. Light North West winds gusting up to moderate. Temperatures are expected to reach 0 degrees Celsius at an elevation of 1000m. There is a possibility of a brief clearing in the clouds around midday. But it is expected to cloud back over shortly afterwards. No significant snowfall is expected

Treeline and below up to 40cm soft snow can be found unaffected by the wind. Below this is a melt-freeze crust. Above the treeline the distribution of recent snow is variable. In exposed areas only 10cm is sitting on old crusts. Pockets of up to 75cm wind blown snow can be found. Below this new dry snow are two Melt freeze crusts, that formed in late February. In some areas faceted grains have been found around these crusts. Below these crusts the snow remains dry. At an elevation of 1500m near Sandanyama the snowpack has a total height of 3 meters.