REPORT

Yokoteyama Ski Resort has already started its “Yokoteyama Night Tour” where you can see snow monsters on the slopes after business hours.It is 9:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, -8℃, cloudy. As we rode the 3rd Sky Pair to the summit of Mt. Yokote (2,305m), the highest peak in Shiga Kogen (pictured), we were struck by the rime and tree ice that lined both sides of the mountain.
[Third Sky]

While skiing the King Course and the second slope with moderately compacted powder snow, the clouds melted and we went back to the 3rd Sky Pair.Looking back, we could see Kasagatake beyond the silvery white forest and the Northern Alps behind it.Shiga Kogen is a wonderful place!For a reporter, the scenery should have been familiar, but I couldn’t stop being impressed.
[Third Sky]

Shibutoge ski resort opened around 9:45 a.m. after a delay in lift maintenance.On the Gemut Course (photo) with moderately soft powder snow, the edges bit into the snow and we were able to get up to speed comfortably.The Weaver course had a lift side with a width of about one pisten, and the rest of the course was unpressurized.
[Shibutoge・Gemut Course]

Two people from Nagano City whom we met at the top of Mt. Yokote (photo) said, “I see it all the time!I never thought I would be able to see such a view.It really is the best!I’ve been skiing at Shiga Kogen a lot lately.”Shiga Kogen will finally become “fully accessible” with the opening of East Tateyama and Tanne Forest Okojo on Friday, December 27, and Teragoya, West Tateyama, Giant, and Lotus Pond on Saturday, December 28!
[Mt. Yokoteyama]

*The amount of snowfall shown is the “largest amount of snowfall in the Shiga Kogen Plateau.Currently, the most snowfall is 100cm at Yakebakuyama and Okushiga, and 90cm at Yokoteyama and Shibu-Toge.

[Shiga Kogen Details on 12/25 (Wed.)]
*All Courses are available (Except for Hasuike, Higashi Tateyama, Tannenomori Okojo, Terakoya)
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00～) and totally 13 lifts
*Fees … 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY8,000, Middle & High school students, over 60 y/o JPY6,400, Under 12 y/o JPY3,700

*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi