REPORT

Terakoya and Takamagahara Mammoth closed on 4/19 (Sun.), leaving six ski areas open across Shiga Kogen as of 4/20 (Mon.): Okushiga Kogen, Yakebitaiyama, Ichinose Family, Kumanoyu, and Yokoteyama–Shibutoge. Skiing at Ichinose Family is limited to the lower Front Slope, while the other five ski areas still offer multiple runs, and the upper slopes remain well covered with bright white snow. Today, I rode the 2nd and 3rd High-Speed Pairs at Okushiga Kogen and reached the base of the 4th Slope (pictured) around 8:45 a.m., just as the sun began to fade behind clouds.
[Okushiga Kogen・4th Slope]

The 4th Slope (pictured) was groomed with firm granular snow that began to soften shortly after 9:00 a.m. Most skiers were lapping the 3rd Slope early on, leaving the 4th Slope relatively quiet. On the skier’s left side, four mogul lanes had been setup: the far-left lane had larger moguls with wide spacing, the two center lanes had larger moguls with tighter spacing, and the far-right lane had smaller moguls.
[Okushiga Kogen・4th Slope]

I met two visitors from Kagawa and Hyogo Prefectures (pictured) who told me, “We’ve skied Shiga Kogen a lot this season. The snow quality is still good for this time of year, and the runs are skiing well. …And wait a minute, we’ve seen the Snownavi site before!” As temperatures rose, all open runs softened into loose granular snow surfaces.
[Okushiga Kogen・4th Slope]

Okushiga Kogen currently has the 1st Slope, 2nd Expert Course, Forest Course, 3rd Slope, and 4th Slope open. On the 1st Slope (pictured), a descent route about 5 m wide with 50 to 100 cm of snow depth has been maintained from top to bottom. The Expert Course remains ungroomed, with large sections of exposed dirt on the upper to mid portions, so detouring via the groomed Forest Course is the safer option.
[Okushiga Kogen・4th Slope]

　　
＊From 4/1 (Wed.), the Nagano Prefecture 150th Anniversary “Learn More! Shinshu Experience Discount” offers 50% off one-day lift tickets for Nagano residents and 20% off for non-residents.
＊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 100 cm is at Shibutoge, while Okushiga is reporting 90 cm.
　　　　
[Shiga Kogen Details on 4/16 (Thu.)]
*OPEN Courses … (OKUSHIGA) 1st, 2nd Expert, 3rd, 4th, Rinkan, (YAKEBITAIYAMA) Regular holiday, (ICHINOSE FAMILY) Front, (KUMANOYU) 2nd Beginner, 3rd Biginner, 4th Beginner, (YOKOTEYAMA) 1st, 2nd, King, (SHIBUTOGE) Gemute, Weber
*Operating Lifts … Okushiga Gondola (8:30～) and totally 12 lifts
*Fees … 1 Day Pass 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