REPORT

The intense, week-long cold wave that arrived on the evening of 1/24 (Tue.) has subsided, and the cold temporarily eased off during the day yesterday. That led to wet snow in the afternoon, but as a typical winter air pressure pattern resettled over the area, it turned to dry snow and fell with great intensity. I headed to the slopes with great anticipation, but strong winds delayed the operation of the lift(s) above the Alpen Quad and Skyline 2 Pair.
[Riesen Slalom Course]

So, I shifted my plan and headed to the ungroomed area at the top of the Riesen Slalom Course (pictured). The 30 to 40 cm of fresh snow was a little beat up by the wind, but that meant I didn’t sink in or bottom out on the soft underlying terrain and instead enjoyed plenty of float! The groomed parts of Riesen were also easy to ski because of the moderately firm powder snow surface.
[Riesen Slalom Course]

Conditions on the Panorama Course were very nice, with 1 to 2 cm of fresh snow on top of a well-groomed powder snow surface. On the groomed section that connects the Panorama Course to the Central Course (pictured, background), as well as on the ungroomed portion of the Central Course, there was about 30 cm of fluffy new snow on top of the surface bumps and undulations.
[Central Course]

There was a groomed strip about the width of one grooming machine on the skier’s right edge of the Central Course. There on Central and on the Shirakaba Slope, the groomed snow was moderately firm and powdery. In addition, there was about 20 cm of fresh snow on the ungroomed area of the Shirakaba Slope just in front of the gondola base station, which was also light and felt surprisingly good.
[Central Course]

　　
[Happo-One Opening Information for 2/2 (Thu.)]
*All courses are available!
*Available Lifts … Gondola (8:00 a.m.-), totally 17 lifts
*Fees … Adult JPY6,500, 6-17 y/o JPY3,200, Over 65 y/o JPY5,800 (Until Mar. 19)

*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