REPORT

Round 2 of the NORTH ALPS BANKED SLALOM—Japan’s only banked slalom series—took place on a specially built course on the west side of the Tsuga-no-mori Slope (pictured)! A total of 213 participants competed in categories including: Junior (elementary school boys and girls), Legend (men 46+ and women 41+), General (amateurs junior high and above), Open (mixed amateur and pro, junior high and above), and Snow Skate (mixed).
[Tsuga-no-mori Slope]

I met pro rider Toi Hatta (pictured,right), who’s supported by TEAM RESCUE TRAINING GYM, and was told, “Thanks for using my photo in your Hakunori report on 3/19 (Wed.)! I missed the first round of the Banked Slalom series due to a schedule conflict with another competition, so this is my first race of the series.” His sister, Koharu Hatta (pictured, left), also supported by TEAM RESCUE WAX and winner of both the FWT QUALIFIER 1* YUZAWA NAKAZATO and the JFO this season, added, “I also couldn’t race the first round because I was competing elsewhere, so I probably won’t take the series title—but today, I want to be the one who enjoyed it the most!”
[Tsuga-no-mori Slope]

The son of the store manager of THE NORTH FACE GRAVITY HAKUBA store (pictured, far right) greeted me saying, “Thank you for always supporting my father! I’m entered in both the General and Snow Skate divisions and aiming for the podium in both!” Course inspection took place following the opening ceremony at 9:00 a.m., and the first run kicked off at 10:15 a.m. with the Junior Girls division.
[Tsuga-no-mori Slope]

Today, the gondola started running at 7:00 a.m., and the Tsuga No. 2 Pair began at 7:30 a.m. (the other lifts are running on their regular schedule). The well-packed groomed granular snow on the Han-no-ki Slope early in the morning (pictured) offered fast and smooth conditoins. By around 10:30 a.m., after covering the competition, the snow had softened into slushy corn snow from the top to the bottom of the resort.
[Han-no-ki Slope]

　
*The results of the “Tsugaike Favorite Restaurant Championship” have been announced. 1st place went to Burger King Tsugaike Yuki-no-hiroba. Pho Thin Tokyo Tsugaike, which we introduced in a previous report, ranked 4th, Setouchi Awaji Chuka Soba Inoue and TSUGA BASE tied for 6th, and OMU CHEF OSAKA placed 9th.
　
*The Tsugaike lift operation schedule for the remainder of the season can be found here.

[Tsugaike Kogen Details on 4/5 (Sat.)]
*All Courses are OPEN (Except for Umanose, Champion, Maruyama, Kane-no-naru-oka No.2, Kane-no-naru-oka)
*Available Lifts … Gondola (7:00 a.m.-) and totally 6 lifts
*Fees … 3/24- Spring Season Discount 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY5,500, Elementary School Students JPY3,400

*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