REPORT

The Kumanoyu Ski Area live camera gives an accurate indication of the current snow coverage, and though only 2nd Beginner Course (pictured) has snow across its full width, early morning conditions are still very good with solid grooming and firm surfaces. This morning, the air felt unusually cold for late April when I arrived at the parking lot at 5:30 a.m.
[Kumanoyu・2nd Beginner Course]

I met a staff member who told me, “We’re working with limited snow now, but we put in a lot of effort on grooming again last night so guests can ski with confidence.” The 2nd (pictured), 3rd, and 4th Beginner courses are all currently open and accessible from the 2nd Pair Lift, and featured groomed granular snow.
[Kumanoyu・2nd Beginner Course]

I spoke with a snowboarder from Tottori Prefecture (pictured) who commented, “I always check your reports. I’m here at Shiga Kogen for the Golden Week holidays. The surface has just the right firmness for carving, and it feels great.” There was a small patch of exposed ground visible on the skier’s right side of the midsection of the 2nd Beginner Course, but the width of the run made it easy to avoid.
[Kumanoyu・2nd Beginner Course]

The sound of edges biting into the firm surface faded by around 7:00 a.m. Two visitors from Saitama Prefecture (pictured) greeted me saying, “We follow Snownavi on Instagram. We came for the firm early morning surface. It’s starting to soften a bit now.” The surface stayed smooth and held up well through about 8:00 a.m., keeping conditions comfortable.
[Kumanoyu・2nd Beginner Course]

　　
＊With Ichinose Family closing on 4/26 (Sun.), the ski areas open at Shiga Kogen as of 4/27 (Mon.) are Okushiga Kogen, Yakebitaiyama, Kumanoyu, and Yokoteyama–Shibutoge.
＊Starting 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 80 cm is shared by Okushiga Kogen and Yakebitaiyama, while Kumanoyu is reporting 60 cm.
　　　　
[Shiga Kogen Details on 4/28 (Tue.)]
*OPEN Courses … (OKUSHIGA) 1st, 2nd Expert, 3rd, 4th, Rinkan, (YAKEBITAIYAMA) Panorama, South, (KUMANOYU) 2nd Beginner, 3rd Biginner, 4th Beginner, (YOKOTEYAMA) 1st, 2nd, King, (SHIBUTOGE) Gemute
*Operating Lifts … Kumanoyu No.2 Pair (6:00～) and totally 10 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