REPORT

It was a quiet snowy morning before the start of a busy three-day weekend. I spoke with the person in red pictured here, who greeted me saying, “Good morning! I bet if you go up to the top of Riesen Grat you can see the sea of clouds today, don’t you think?” Normally, I would have headed for the top of the resort, but today I headed down from Kurobishi-daira to the Sakka Slope in order to report on other, lower slopes.
[Kurobishi Slope]

Surprisingly little fresh snow had accumulated over the last few nights on the bottom half of the area along the Kurobishi 3 Pair Lift (first photo), with only roughly 10 to 15 centimeters. There were few people skiing through the thick fog in the area paralleling the Kurobishi Quad (pictured), which had a groomed powder snow surface that was moderately firm and easy to ski. I had a chat with a skier from Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture, who told me, “I’m guessing the top part of the resort is above the fog, but I’m not sure I want to join the crowds and line up for the Grat Quad. Anyway, even on foggy days, visibility is often decent in the center of the Skyline Course.”
[Kurobishi Slope]

Just as he said, the groomed part in the center of the Skyline Course (pictured) was above the clouds, and conditions were similar to Kurobishi, with moderately firm and very skiable powder snow conditions! Also, thanks to the continued cold temperatures, the steep, ungroomed area of Kitaone on the lower part of the resort, as well as the groomed Kitaone cat track and Sakka Slope were all in great shape with nice powder snow conditions, though the firmness varied to some degree from area to area.
[Skyline Course]

Later on, I headed back up to the Panorama Course and Olympic Course II (pictured). The snow quality was perfect on both the groomed Panorama and ungroomed Olympic II courses, and as a nice bonus, they were empty, so I was able to enjoy turns without worrying about other people. Through this experience, I realized that when the uppermost portion of the mountain likely has good visibility, the rest of the slopes are empty… but I still feel like I should have gone to the top of the resort! (LOL)
[Kitaone Traverse Cat Track]

　
[Happo-One Opening Information for 1/6 (Fri.)]
*All courses are available! (*Except for Kitaone No.3)
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00 a.m.–), totally 15 lifts
*Fees … Adult JPY6,500, 6-17 y/o JPY3,200, Over 60 y/o JPY5,800

*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!

*Click here to purchase photos found in this report

reported by Snownavi