REPORT

This was the final slope report before next winter. Snow fell up top late on the night of 5/4 (Mon., holiday), leaving a light coating of fresh snow as far down as the still-open Tsuga-no-mori Slope. Drawn by that fresh snow and the deep blue sky above, I headed up toward the ridgeline of the Ushiro-Tateyama range. At the ropeway summit station, I met a father from Azumino City who told me, “I always follow Snownavi! I’m heading up Mt. Hakuba Norikura with my son for his first backcountry experience.” Later, on the final pitch up to Funakoshi-no-kashira, a group of skiers (pictured) called out to me saying, “Oh, it’s Snownavi! You really come all the way out here, huh? Haha.”
[East Face of Mt. Korenge]

Near the ridgeline, 5 to 10 cm of fresh snow had fallen—enough to completely erase the tracks from the previous day. The east face of Mt. Korenge was covered in unbelievably clean, untouched snow. A few faster climbers reached the summit of Funakoshi-no-kashira and dropped in around 11:30 a.m. to lay down the day’s first tracks (pictured).
[East Face of Mt. Korenge]

Rewinding to around 9:15 a.m., the Watasuge Marsh area had already softened into loose granular snow under strong sunshine and rapidly rising temperatures. I bumped into two visitors from Matsumoto City and Matsukawa Village in Nagano Prefecture (pictured) who told me, “We always follow Snownavi! Today we’re hiking up to Funakoshi-no-kashira to ski. We’re glad it snowed.” Beyond the Kusukawa River, 3 to 5 cm of moist new snow had accumulated inside the Tsugaike Nature Park.
[Tsugaike Nature Park / Watasuge Marsh]

Large melt holes had formed in the Mizubasho Marsh, and a few skunk cabbage buds were beginning to appear around the holes in the Watasuge Marsh. Looking back at the season as a whole, a lot happened this winter, but Tsugaike Mountain Resort opened first amongst resorts in the HAKUBA VALLEY on 12/1 (Mon.) and will be the last to close on 5/6 (Wed.). We hope you’ll come visit Tsugaike again next winter—a resort that continues to shine even in warm, low-snow seasons.
[East Face of Mt. Korenge]

　
*This will be the final Tsugaike slope report of the season. Thank you very much for following us again this winter!
　
[Tsugaike Kogen Details on 5/5 (Tue.)]
*OPEN Courses … Tsuga-no-mori
*Operating lifts … Gondola (from 8:00 a.m.), Ropeway (from 8:00 a.m.), Tsuga 2
*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