REPORT

Old Man Winter returned in full force two nights ago, but things are beginning to settle back down again. This morning, the blizzard had subsided, and there was almost no wind at the base of the mountain, yet oddly a strong westerly wind (*with occasional violent gusts) was blowing at the summit. I spoke with a group of eight people from Toyama Prefecture (pictured) and was told, “We love your site! We’re a group of surfing buddies out here for some snowboarding. We’re as excited as the international tourists, but we’re all actually Japanese.”
[East Slope]

Conditions were excellent on both the East (pictured) and South slopes, where about 3cm of fresh snow topped off the groomed packed powder surface! The new general manager of the Hakuba Tokyu Hotel (pictured, right) told me, “I love Snownavi. Tody is only the second time in my life to ski. It’s unacceptable for the general manager to be unable to ski, so the assistant manager (pictured, left), who has 50 years of skiing experience, is teaching me how. Please don’t mention that I can’t ski.” (By the way, they are both wearing ZUICA!)
[East Slope]

“We always read your reports. We can’t ski today because we have to play with the kids,” said a family from Aichi Prefecture (pictured), who was playing at the IWATAKE WHITE PARK (pictured). After I had that conversation, I heard from a person who had skied FIVE SIDE that there was about 30cm of fresh snow. He mentioned that it had been packed a little by the wind, so he didn’t sink in and enjoyed a nice run floating on powder. There was a long line of people waiting at the entrance of VIEW.
[IWATAKE WHITE PARK]

The areas of thin snow cover that had emerged on the Sunny Valley Course were now all gone, and the run featured moderately firm, groomed powder snow from top to bottom. I caught up with three people from Hokkaido (pictured), who told me they are fans of Snownavi, and added that they are from various universities in Hokkaido and are here practicing for the upcoming all-Japan student competition. The groomed Kamoshika coursev(pictured) had a reasonably soft powder snow surface.
[Kamoshika]

　
[Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field Availability Information on 1/26 (Tue.)]
*All courses are available. (*Except for SAWA, HIKAGE, DANGAN, North, VIEW α)
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00-), totally 6 lifts
*Fees … Adult JPY4,800, Over 60 y/o JPY4,500, Over 70 y/o JPY4,200, 6-12 y/o JPY3,000 (Until 3/19) *A preschooler will be free per adult.
　
＊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!

reported by Snownavi