REPORT

On 1/28 (Sat.), the Sawa Lift (pictured, 845 m) began operating and the Sawa, Hikage, Dangan, and Sonezawa courses opened, meaning that all courses (except North) are now open for skiing! This morning I spoke with a father from Australia (pictured) who lives in Hakuba Village. He told me, “We took the day off from kindergarten today for my son so we could come and ski. He’s only 5 years old, but he can ski anywhere.”
[Sawa Lift]

The groomed snow on the Sawa Course was moderately packed and powdery, making it easy and enjoyable to ski at speed. On the ungroomed areas to the sides of the Sawa Course, as well as on the Hilltop and Hikage courses, there was around 40 cm of fresh, fluffy snow. I heard from a snowboarder coming down from Hilltop who said, “The surface of the snow was slightly crusted over, but that meant I didn’t sink in as much, so I enjoyed the sensation of floating on powder.”
[Sawa Course]

The groomed South Slope and Sunny Valley Course (pictured) also had ideal, moderately firm powder snow conditions! On perfect days like today, I find myself wanting to ride the gondola as long as my energy lasts. There was about 30cm of new snow on the ungroomed areas to the sides of the Sunny Valley and the Kamoshika courses.
[Sunny Valley Course]

Today, I chatted with members of the Shinshu University Ski Club, who told me, “We love your site. We just having fun skiing today, but we are going to focus on winning first place overall at the upcoming student competition! The 50th Annual Student Ski Competition will be held at Iwatake, with the alpine (speed) disciplines taking place from 2/19 (Sun.) to 2/22 (Wed.), the demonstration skiing competition occurring between 2/26 (Sun.) to 3/3 (Fri.), and the technical alpine skiing categories rounding things out from 3/12 (Sun.) to 3/17 (Fri.).
[Kamoshika]

　
[Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field Availability Information on 1/31 (Tue.)]
*All courses are available. (*Except for North)
*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!

*Click here to purchase photos found in this report

reported by Snownavi