REPORT

The rain from yesterday had cleared by this morning, making for a calm, overcast start to the day. I met a couple from Nagano City (pictured) who told me, “We always follow Snownavi. We have season passes for Tsugaike—it’s a great deal with long runs and a long season. The fog is pretty thick today.” The route up to the Tsugaike Ropeway base station had also been groomed today.
[Han-no-ki Slope]

Along the Han-no-ki High-Speed Pair (pictured), the groomed surface was composed of moist, granular snow that felt wet. A man from Nagano City I spoke with said, “I check Snownavi from time to time. I came to ride the banked slalom course, but I can’t see it in this fog.” Even so, the snow ran well and supported smooth, controlled turns.
[Han-no-ki Slope]

As I skied down Han-no-ki and reached the junction with the Sawa Course, I dropped below the cloud layer. There, a family from Wakayama Prefecture (the three people in the foreground of the photo) told me, “We always follow Snownavi. We’ve been traveling south from the Niigata area, sleeping in the car along the way. The snow is melting fast this year.”
[Han-no-ki Slope]

From the midsection to the lower part of Han-no-ki (pictured), the loose, soft granular groomers softened more and more the farther I descended (the snow runs out about 50 meters before the gondola mid-station). The upper slopes were wrapped in fog after the lifts began running, but during my first gondola ride of the morning, I could see a sea of clouds to the south (pictured).
[Gondola]

＊The Tsugaike Ropeway operates daily through 3/31 (Tue.), on Fridays through Sundays from 4/3 (Fri.) to 4/26 (Sun.), and daily again from 4/29 (Wed., holiday) to 5/6 (Wed., holiday).
　　
[Tsugaike Kogen Details on 4/1 (Wed.)]
*OPEN Courses … Han-no-ki, Oya-no-hara
*Operating lifts … Gondola (from 8:00 a.m.), Han-no-ki High-speed Pair, Tsugaike Chuoh Triple
*Fees … Spring Discount from 3/23: 1-Day Pass Adult JPY6,100, 6-12 y/o JPY3,800
　
*Printable Rental Discount Coupons!
Carving Ski・Snowboard 1-Day Rental Set JPY3,500 / 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!

*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi