REPORT

This morning, plumes of snow drifted up softly along my tracks, and lingered in the air before slowly settling. It was a quiet morning, with dry snow flurries and occasional periods where sunlight broke through to illuminate the pure white slopes. The Olympic Course (pictured) featured a firm packed powder base, and I enjoyed the 5 cm of light fresh snow on top as I skied down.
[Yakebitaiyama・Olympic Course]

Many visitors were heading for the Giant Slalom Course (pictured), a long run measuring 2,230 m with a maximum pitch of 25 degrees and an average of 11 degrees. The firm, packed powder base was topped with 1 to 3 cm of light new snow, allowing my skis to glide smoothly and carry speed with ease. Even though today was a weekday following a three-day holiday, there were still plenty of people on the mountain, yet gondola wait times were only about one to two minutes.
[Yakebitaiyama・Giant Slalom Course]

A “First Tracks” program is currently being offered every Sunday through 3/1 (Sun.), as well as on 2/23 (Mon.) on the Giant Slalom (pictured) and Olympic courses. (※¥2,500 for both adults and elementary school students). The Gondola Connection Course (pictured, far right) was topped with about 5 cm of light new snow, and was also groomed into well-compacted packed powder.
[Yakebitaiyama・Giant Slalom Course]

The East Course, which I skied last, offered the same easy, enjoyable conditions as the Giant Slalom Course. I met a man from Nagano’s Ueda City (pictured) who told me, “I always check your reports! I transferred from Nagoya to Ueda, so the ski areas are much closer now. I used to ski in Hakuba a lot, but for the past three seasons I’ve been skiing here in Shiga Kogen.”
[Yakebitaiyama・Giant Slalom Course]

＊The base depth at the top of this report reflects the maximum depth across all of Shiga Kogen. Currently, the highest recorded depth of 123 cm is at Shibutoge, while Yakebitaiyama is reporting 100 cm.

[Shiga Kogen Details on 1/14 (Thu.)]
*Fully OPEN (Except for Yokoteyama 6th, Yokoteyama Jumbo, Shibutoge Simple, Kumanoyu 3rd A, Kumanoyu – Yokoteyama Connection, Maruike A, Yakebi Wall, Yakebi Valley, YAKEBI COAST)
*Available Lifts … Yakebitaiyama No.1 Gondola (8:30～) and totally 38 lifts
*Fees … 1 Day Ticket Adult JPY9,000, Middle & High school students JPY6,700, Under 12 y/o JPY4,100, over 60 y/o JPY6,900, 1 preschooler free per paying adult.

*Request for the original data of our photographs