REPORT

It seems our prayers have been answered, as heavy snow has breathed life back into the slopes! While riding the Alpen Quad as it opened at 8:30 a.m. (pictured), I was getting excited looking out at the smooth, untouched slopes spreading out before my feet, and I could hear the anxious conversations and shouts of other visitors riding the lift.
[Usagidaira Slope]

Suppressing my eagerness to drop right in, I first went to the groomed slope along the Kurobishi Quad (pictured). The moderately soft, groomed powder snow surface was covered with 10 to 15cm of very light fresh snow, which made for a perfect and enjoyable warm-up run. At the base area of the same course, I saw skiers and snowboarders coming down along the Kurobishi 3 Pair, their whole bodies covered in powder snow.
[Kurobishi Slope]

It was finally time to get some fresh tracks, so I dropped into Sodeguro! Thanks to the 45 to 50cm of fluffy fresh snow, I enjoyed the thrill of floating on powder without so much as bottoming out. The snow was coming down harder and harder by the hour, and I couldn’t help but look forward to more powder runs tomorrow morning.
[Usagidaira Slope]

I ran into some ski lessons going on around the Usagidaira Terrace. There the Hakuba Happo-One Ski School instructor (pictured, left) was teaching her clients how to put on skis for the first time. She told me she was giving a lesson in English to visitors from Singapore.
[Usagidaira Slope]

[Happo-One Details on 12/21 (Thu.)]
*Available Courses … Usagidaira, Kurobishi
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00～16:00), Alpen Quad (8:30～15:00), Kurobishi No.2 Quad (8:40～15:00)
*Fees … Early Season 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY5,000, 6-17 y/o JPY1,500, Over 65 y/o JPY4,500

*Good Deal! Advance Ticket (Sales Period until 12/22)
Adult 1 Day Ticket JPY7,200 → JPY6,500!
Adult 1 Day Ticket + Lunch Ticket JPY1,500 = JPY8,700 → JPY7,300!

*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!

*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi