We have been getting a lot of enquiry regarding the exterior of the The Vale Niseko.

The facade is made up of a dark alpine stone base, timber features, glass balustrades, monster floor to ceiling windows and a complimentary landscape of Japanese gardens and traditional trees.

Architects Nikken Sekkei have matured their design approach in Niseko with this building by adding more  timbers and alpine stones than any other building. Creating privacy for the ski side private onsens, they have incoporated vertical timber and glass features that allow the magnificant ski side vista from the onsen whilst retaining privacy for owners.

The ski side terrace will be the new base area of Hirafu: virtually ski onto the terrace and warm up by the fire pits with an apres drink from the cocktail bar. With it’s absolute exposure to the setting winter sunshine, it protrudes almost onto ski run allowing Niseko’s best apres experience as the alpen glow sets across the ski mountain and magnificant Mount Yotei.

For those wanting the complete Japanese alpine experience, the Vale’s in house amenties are second to none; from the outdoor heated pool that looks up the ski run to the saunas and indoor/outdoor onsens (encapsulating the traditional Japanese aquatic experience).

A storm is currently in progress in Niseko - not so good for skiing today but fantastic for when the top of the mountain opens again.

With knee to waist deep turns on Christmas morning, this current dump is only adding to the already fantastic powder skiing and boarding conditions. Outlook for the next seven days sees a continuation of heavy snow falls.

Images are average today - no light and dumping snow make it very difficult.

Niseko is now in high season with the village’s best properties all booked out. There is a noticeable increase in greater Asia visitors this year - HK, Singapore, Malaysia and even Thailand.

An evening on the mountain is a must do for any skier / boarder looking to expand their horizons. Niseko’s night skiing would have to be the best in the world - a huge area spread across three resorts and when the time is right; snow falling, moon’s out, no wind, bottomless knee-to-waist deep turns…it truly is an amazing experience.

Top this off with the option of skiing for 12 hrs straight…lifts are open form 8:30 to 8:30…

Stay tuned for on-snow images when the next dump arrives (due this week).

With construction stopping for the year on Dec 28th, the builders are gearing the site up for the winter break (Niseko construction sites stop during winter due to tourism and community impact).

The Vale this year has been as perfect as a construction site can be.  The builder, Nagayama Gumi, have pushed their programme ahead of time and worked closely with the Architect, Nikken Sekkei, regarding the high quality detail of this particular site - the bathrooms, lobby and onsen areas bespoke construction details have never before been built in Japan - the high quality finishes is an ongoing challenge for the Vale.

The final concrete pour for 2008 occurred last week with the entry level slab now complete; this means the outdoor heated pool has taken shape, the onsens structure is complete and the apres terrace is formed - it is fantastic to now see the amazing view from the apres terrace - straight up the ski run…you can actually ski onto the terrace and outdoor heated pool areas.

Niseko property and Niseko real estate sales are in full swing now with the start of high season.

It’s here…the super light powder snow that made Niseko famous worldwide.

Niseko cars and Niseko properties this morning have a layer of super fine powder - can only imagine what the mountain will be like today…three days of constant snowfall with this extra light layer on top.

Images from around Hirafu village over the weekend.