REPORT

Well, that changed fast! After not having much to report in terms of snowfall, the latest storm dumped enough that Happo-One Ski Resort was able to open on 11/30 (Sat.), the same day as last year and a day earlier than scheduled. The Gondola, Kokusai 3 Pair, and Panorama Pair are now in operation, and the Panorama Course (pictured) and Panorama Beginner (forest road) Course are now open.
[Panorama Course]

Both courses had areas of snow that had been intentionally left ungroomed. The groomed areas were packed down just right, and the powder conditions meant that my skis glided along nicely! In the ungroomed areas (pictured), I enjoyed skiing through over 50 cm of fluffy new snow, right from the first day of the season.
[Panorama Course]

I spoke with two people from Gunma Prefecture and Hakuba Village (pictured), who told me, “We love your site! We came to Happo after skiing at Tsugaike in the morning, we came here to Happo. The typical, fluffy new snow here at Happo wasn’t as heavy as we thought, so we really enjoyed it. We’re off to Goryu now.” (Oh the joys of a HAKUBA VALLEY season pass!) There was 70 to 80 cm of new snow at the bottom of Usagidaira (pictured).
[Usagidaira]

One thing to note is that even though I didn’t feel any wind at the foot of the mountain, strong intermittent gusts were blowing on the Panorama Course, and the gondola and all lifts were suspended due to strong winds at 12:00. The fourth photo shows the scene in front of the Happo Gondola Base Station before the resort opened for business. One big difference from last season was the amount of snow at the foot of the mountain, with more than 30 cm on the Shirakaba Slope at 10:30 a.m.
[Shirakaba]

[Happo-One Details on 11/30 (Sat.)]
*Available Courses … Panorama Course, Upper Panorama Rindo
*Available Lifts … Gondola (11:00～), Panorama Pair, Kokusai No.3 Pair
*Fees … Early Season 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY4,000, Elementary School Students JPY1,000

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reported by Snownavi