REPORT

The snow that began falling around 8:30 a.m. yesterday continued steadily through this morning, bringing 50 to 60 cm of fresh snow to the upper slopes. As a result, the official, maximum recorded base depth for this season has been increased to 630 cm! A patrol member I spoke with before the resort opened mentioned, “The wind is howling up at Usagidaira, so the Alpen Quad won’t be running for a while, if at all.”
[Riesen Slalom Course]

So, I decided to enjoy the thrill of a long cruising run from the Riesen Slalom Course down to the base area of the Nakiyama Slope, about 4 km of intermediate-to-steep terrain. At the start of Riesen, I found 25 to 30 cm of deep, fluffy fresh snow on the side, and from the middle to the final section of the run (pictured), I had fun picking up speed on the well-packed groomed wet snow surface with a powder-like feel.
[Riesen Slalom Course]

The southern part of the Nakiyama Slope (pictured) also had a groomed, powder-like wet snow surface. Unlike Riesen, the snow here felt softer, making for an incredibly smooth ride—so much so that I thought it would be fun to keep lapping it via the Nakiyama 3 Triple (609m). On the side, the ungroomed areas had 15 to 20 cm of fluffy fresh snow.
[Nakiyama Slope]

In just three days, on 2/21 (Fri.) at 7:30 p.m., the annual Hakuba Happo-One Fire Festival will take place at Nakiyama! The event will feature a torchlight skiing procession, the sacred “Onbe” fire lighting ceremony, log pulling, a demonstration run, fireworks, and more. This year, a “Sky Lantern” event has also been added to the schedule! The lanterns are LED-powered and filled with helium to float in the air. After the event, they can be retrieved by winding up the attached string. (*Sales start at 6:30 p.m., ¥1,000 yen per lantern, limited to 100 units).
[Nakiyama Slope]

　　　　　　　
[Happo-One Details on 2/18 (Tue.)]
*All Courses are OPEN (Except for Riesen Grat)
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00～) and totally 17 lifts
*Fees … 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY8,000, 6-17 y/o JPY4,000, Over 65 y/o JPY7,700

*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