Happo-one / ◎330cm / Sunny2021.Feb.22
It was the third straight day of strong winds, putting a damper on the start of this 4-day stretch of a normal Monday sandwiched between the weekend and a Tuesday national holiday. With the winds delaying operation of the gondola and the Happo Riesen Quad currently closed for repairs, I made my way to the top of the resort via the Kokusai 1 → Kokusai 3 pair lifts. The wind was strong enough to blow my skis around from time to time while riding the Kokusai 3 and Panorama lifts.
[Panorama Course]
I ran into a married couple that we meet and speak with every year out on the slopes. One of them explained, “Today is our 30th day of skiing this season and we plan to get as many more days in as we can. The wind is quite strong again, but we’re happy we could get up this high on the mountain and ski the Panorama Course today.” The firm, groomed surface of the Panorama Course (pictured) made for good skiing conditions.
[Panorama Course]
It appears that the spring-like temperatures along with the intense winds of the last three days spread a thin layer of pollen across the resort. It was able to distinguish a thin trace of color on the slopes this morning. During the morning hours the only groomed, reasonably-sized intermediate slope that could be repeated with a single lift was the Panorama Course, so naturally people flocked to the area.
[Panorama Course]
The well-groomed, coarse, granular snow surface of the Riesen area (pictured) loosened up more and more as I descended and had thickened to spring-condition corn snow by the Usuba Slope located at the end of Riesen. Down at Shirakaba the snow was essentially slush. Riesen was quiet as the day started, but once the gondola got moving around 8:45, the number of people on the slope jumped considerably.
[Riesen Slalom Course]
[Availability Information for Feb. 22]
* All Areas Available (Except for Olympic Course Ⅰ, Kitaone No.3, Omusubi)
* Available Lifts … Nakiyama Triple (8:00 a.m.–), totally 11 lifts
* Lift Price … Adult: JPY5,500, Child under 12: JPY3,200, Senior : JPY5,000
*Request for the original data of our photographs
