REPORT

The rain falling in Nakano City had changed to snow as I came through the Shiga No. 3 Tunnel near Takamagahara. Because today falls on a date that includes a “9,” it is “Okushiga Day” (¥700 off a 1-day pass), so I decided to head to Okushiga Kogen Ski Resort, though thick fog set in while I rode the No. 2 High-Speed Pair up.
[Okushiga・No. 2 High-Speed Pair]

I spoke with a group of three from Tokyo, Saitama, and Gunma (pictured), who told me, “We originally planned to go to Niigata, but after checking the forecast, we thought Shiga Kogen might get snow, so we came here instead. We are glad it’s snowing, but visibility is poor.” Light, fine, wet snow continued to fall during the morning and lightly coated the trees and surrounding surfaces.
[Okushiga・Gondola Summit Station]

The No. 3 Slope (pictured) had 2 to 3 cm of wet new snow over groomed granular snow that had softened to a moderate firmness. The surface ran well at first, then gradually slowed as the new snow built up. Lessons carried out by the Sugiyama Ski & Snow Sports School were busy and stood out on the otherwise quiet slope.
[Okushiga・No. 3 Slope]

The Expert Course had about 2 cm of new snow up top and around 1 cm lower down over well-packed groomed granular snow. It stayed fast with no noticeable drag, and a mogul lane was set up on the skier’s right side. On the No. 1 Slope (pictured), the groomed granular surface had began to loosen.
[Okushiga・No. 1 Slope]

　
＊The base depth at the top of this report reflects the maximum snow depth across all of Shiga Kogen. Currently, the highest recorded depth of 160 cm is at Takagahara Mammoth, while Okushiga Kogen is reporting 120 cm.
　
[Shiga Kogen Details on 3/19 (Thu.)]
*Fully OPEN (Except for Shibutoge Simple, Shibutoge Weber, Yokoteyama 5 & 6, Panorama In, Yakebi Wall, YAKEBI COAST, Maruike A)
*Available Lifts … Okushiga Gondola (8:30～) and totally 39 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. (Spring Discount from 4/1: Adult JPY7,000, Middle & High school students JPY6,500, Under 12 y/o JPY3,500, over 60 y/o JPY6,500)

*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi