REPORT

It was a calm, cloudy morning as the ski resort opened for business. I met a family from Tokyo (pictured) who were the first to arrive at the summit station, and they told me, “It’s our first time to come to Hakuba Iwatake. We were curious about the HAKUBA S-CLASS service, so we decided to try it out.” Today was even warmer than yesterday, so I was debating whether I should ski without my jacket.
[South Slope]

Conditions were less than ideal on the Sunny Valley Course (pictured), and the south-facing slopes in the area between the junction with the White Ribbon course and the merging point with the old Kometsuga Course were quite narrow in places due to the rapidly progressing spring snowmelt. The groomed granular snow surface was soft and slushy and got more pronounced the further I skied down.
[Sunny Valley Course]

On the other hand, the nicely groomed north-facing North Slope (pictured) had plenty of snow remaining.” The granular snow surface was fun to ski at speed, in part because there weren’t many people on the slopes early in the morning. The groomed East Slope had loosely-packed granular snow.
[North Slope]

The South Slope (pictured) was also groomed with a moderately soft, granular snow surface that I had no problem sliding on, although there were some spots with thin snow coverage from the middle to the end of the slope. I bumped into an instructor with the Hakuba Iwatake Snowboard School, who told me, “I love your site. We have a lot of lessons booked again today. We have a badge test on the shool’s last day 3/26 (Sun.), so come out and join us!”
[South Slope]

　　
[Hakuba Iwatake Availability Information on 3/22 (Wed.)]
*Available Courses … South G, North G, East G, Sunny Valley C
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00-), 3-sen North, 4-sen East, 5-sen South
*Lift Fees … From 3/20 Spring Discount Adult & Over 60 y/o JPY3,800, 6-12 y/o JPY2,000 *A preschooler will be free of charges per adult.
　
＊Printable Rental Discount Coupons!
Carving Ski・Snowboard 1-Day Rental Set JPY3,000 / Outerwear JPY2,500!
Carving Ski・Snowboard High Performance Model Rental JPY500 OFF!
Kid’s Ski・Snowboard 1-Day Rental Set JPY2,500 / Outerwear JPY1,500!

*Click here to purchase photos found in this report

reported by Snownavi