REPORT

It was a beautiful, clear, and windless morning. The Riesen Slalom course was groomed with fine-grained granular snow on the top half of the course, and a harder-packed granular snow base at the end. The areas where artificial snow had been applied from the middle to the bottom had a slightly different feeling, but I was able to have fun and get some good speed all the way from top to bottom.
[Riesen Slalom Course]

The southern route of Usagidaira had a groomed surface of fine granular snow, while the north-facing route along the Kurobishi Quad (pictured) had a firm wet-snow base. The snow quality there along the Kurobishi Quad was a cut above the rest. There were large, hard packed moguls in the ungroomed areas along the Kurobishi 3 Pair (pictured) and Alpen Quad.
[Kurobishi Slope]

In other news, nets were being set up at Riesen (pictured) for the big annual event to be held there over two days from 2/21 (Wed.) to 2/22 (Thu.): the 78th Happo-One Riesen Slalom Competition. The general public’s access to the course will be restricted from 2/20 (Tue.), the day before the event. Taking the current snow depth into consideration, the finish line for this year’s event will be at the bottom of the Usuba Slope (pictured).
[Riesen Slalom Course]

At the top of the the ski resort, I ran into a family from Osaka, who told me, “We love your site! This is our first visit to Happo in a long time. The weather was not so good the day before yesterday and yesterday, but today is great. The weather wasn’t so great yesterday and the day before, but it is really nice today.” The first half of the groomed Riesen Grat Course had a moderately firm wet snow surface, which turned to harder packed wet snow on the second half.
[Riesen Grat Course]

　　
[Happo-One Details on 2/17 (Sat.)]
*All courses are OPEN!
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00 a.m.-) and totally 17 lifts
*Fees … 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY7,200, 6-17 y/o JPY3,600, Over 65 y/o JPY7,000
　
*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