REPORT

Beginning tomorrow, and continuing on through 3/12 (Sun.), there will be a steady series of big events at Happo: the grand opening of HAPPO PARKS (2/11), the Happo-One Fire Festival (2/17), the Riesen Slalom Competition (2/23 & 24), the HAPPO BANKED SLALOM Competition (2/25), and the ALL Japan Ski Technical Championships (3/9 to 12). Incidentally, the starting point for the Riesen Slalom Competition will be located right around the area where this picture was taken.
[Riesen Slalom Course]

This morning, I was greeted by a pair of visitors from Osaka and Aichi, with the skier from Osaka (pictured, left) telling me, “I love your site. Today I picked up some new skis. I’m really hoping that tomorrow will be a powder day.” The current winter weather pattern does seem to be setting us up for a fair amount of snow, and the forecast is also showing snowflakes all over the map. At one point, a female skier who’s a regular at Happo shouted down from the lift, “What do you think? Around 30cm of fresh snow tomorrow morning?”
[Kurobishi Slope]

The snow started to fall in earnest around 7:55 a.m., and grew more intense as the day went on. The snow on the groomed southern route of Usagidaira (pictured) was nice and firm, while the area alongside the Kurobishi 2 Quad had a moderately firm packed powder surface! The conditions were excellent for skiing; so good that I wanted to abandon my report and just ski laps along the Alpen Quad Or Kurobishi 2 Quad.
[Usagidaira Slope]

The good conditions extended to the groomed center portion of the Skyline Course, which also had a moderately firm powder snow surface that my skis slid very well across. Upon entering the Kitaone forest road course, the powder snow seemed to be mixed with snow of a slightly harder texture, but remained easy to ski. The only area where I found hard granular snow was at the very end of the Shirakaba Slope.
[Kurobishi Slope]

　　
[Happo-One Opening Information for 2/10 (Fri.)]
*All courses are available (Except for HAPPO BANKS)
*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