REPORT

As I entered Iiyama City from Nakano City, the snowfall intensified, and in the village of Nozawa, the roads were slick and covered with snow. After arriving I spoke with a member of the ski patrol, who told me, “The snow in the Yamabiko area is quite hard. We were hoping that we’d get more fresh snow.” (*The Yamabiko No. 2 Quad and Yamabiko Quad ultimately began operation at 11:30 a.m.) With that information, I decided to head for the Uenotaira Slope.
[Uenotaira Slope]

I enjoyed the new snow by skiing straight lines down both the Uenotaira Slope (first photo) and Paradise (pictured), where there was around 5 to 8 cm of light, fresh snow covering the, hard packed, groomed granular snow surface. I ran into a man from Aichi Prefecture (pictured), who said, “I love your site! I’m heading to the Nagasaka Slope to go see my child who’s playing there. If it keeps coming down like this, tomorrow will be good.”
[Paradise Slope]

The Forest Course, which is around 5 km in length, was also in good condition, with 5 cm of fresh snow on top of a hard, groomed granular snow base. I had a quick conversation with a snowboarder who had come down the Challenge Course (pictured), and they told me, “The underlying base is pretty hard, so that was tough. I’m worn out.” I could hear the sound of edges scratching across the hard snow on courses with decent gradients.
[Challenge Course]

I caught up with another man from Aichi Prefecture (pictured), that said to me, “I told myself the next time that I ran into someone from Snownavi I would say hello. Yesterday I got soaked skiing in the rain, and today the surface is incredibly hard, but the fresh snow feels nice at least.” This weekend marks the second three-day weekend in February, and the Hikage Slope will host a 4ALL Snow Scoot Test Ride Event. (*Starting at 10:00 a.m., free of charge.)
[Hikage Slope]

　
[Nozawa Onsen Availability Information on 2/22 (Thu.)]
*Almost all courses are Open (Except for Kurokura, Hachiman, Utopia B, Schneider South, Kandahar, Mukobayashi, Skyline, Kamoshika, Tanuki, Grandprix, Jumping)
*Available Lifts … Nagasaka Gondola (8:30 -), Hikage Gondola (8:30 -) and totally 14 lifts.
*Fees … Adult JPY6,800, Under 15 y/o JPY4,100, Senior JPY5,400

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reported by Snownavi