Jiigatake / ◎180cm / Sunny2022.Jan.16

This morning I spoke with a mother from Nagano Prefecture’s Yamagata Village (pictured, left), who told me, “This is my two daughters’ first time at a ski resort. Their brother’s first time skiing was here at Jiigatake. He had a wonderful time and said it was a good place to learn, so we decided to bring our daughters here this time.” It was quite cold early this morning, but the sunshine brought warmer temperatures and comfortable conditions for the start of business.

[Kids Park]

The area’s largest Kids Park (pictured) was fully groomed this morning. Perhaps it was the dry, soft snow or lack of weight, but I noticed that children attempting to sled solo were having a hard time getting started. Those who were riding double seemed to gain just the right amount of speed.

[Kids Park]

Conditions were great on the Raicho (pictured) and Rabbit courses, where the moderately-soft, powder snow surfaces were groomed to perfection. Early in the morning, the members of a local junior alpine ski team from Omachi were warming up on the Rabbit Course, as well as setting up poles on the Raicho Course for practice. However, both courses were still open to the public.

[Raicho Course]

The expansive, well-groomed Echo Slope (pictured) had a nice, firm surface. By the way, today was a special Kids Ski Free Day, where 1-day lift tickets for elementary school students and younger were free, and those for junior high school students were only ¥1,000. The same deal will be available later this season on 2/20 (Sun.) and 3/20 (Sun.).

[Echo Slope]