REPORT

The first round of the banked slalom competition series, NORTH ALPS BANKED SLALOM, series was held today on the Shirakaba Slope. A total of 134 participants competed in 6 categories: OPEN Men and Women, LEGEND Men and Women, and JUNIOR Men and Women! It was a nice morning with light snow falling and occasional periods of sunshine.
[Shirakaba Slope]

Masateru Kitae of HACHI CREW, the crew who built and maintain HAPPO PARKS, was in charge of the special competition course. Participants took time to inspect the series of 15 large and small banks set up on the north side of the Shirakaba 2 Pair until just before 9:00 a.m., when the opening ceremony was held.
[Shirakaba Slope]

Each athlete completed two solo runs, with the faster time being used to determine their ranking. After the preliminary runs, the first competition runs began, with the JUNIOR category kicking things off, followed by the LEGEND and OPEN categories. The first break for course maintenance was conducted after only 45 minutes from the start of the competition since the fine-grained, granular snow surface was softening up quickly. The second event in the series, HAKUBA PARADISE SLALOM, will be held at Hakuba Iwatake on 3/25 (Sat.).
[Shirakaba Slope]

The Panorama Course had a groomed, hard-packed wet snow surface topped with 1 to 2 cm of light fresh snow. The upper portion of the ski resort was cloaked in fog early in the morning, but it did not affect the skiing on Panorama, and I was able to ski where and how I wanted without any issues. Conditions were tough on the Central Course though, where the granular snow surface was both on the hard side, and markedly uneven.
[Panorama Course]

　　
[Happo-One Opening Information for 2/25 (Sat.)]
*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. 12)

*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