REPORT

Today’s update was meant to be a slope report, but ended up as a trekking report—haha. Under partly sunny skies with thin clouds overhead, the 2025-26 winter season at Happo came to a close today. Conditions along the Happo-One Nature Trail were almost unchanged from my last visit on 4/25 (Sat.), with only two remaining snow-covered sections: from the No. 2 Cairn to the Happo Cairn (pictured), and from the lower wooden stairs below Happo Pond up to the pond itself.
[Happo-One Nature Trail・No. 2 Cairn]

That said, the soft, granular surface layer of was quite deep, so I had to watch my footing carefully to avoid slipping. Along the stretch from the Happo Cairn to the No. 3 Cairn (pictured), a stronger southwest wind brought a noticeable chill. The green season will begin after special operations of the Happo Alpen Line on 5/30 (Sat.) and 5/31 (Sun.), with regular summer operations starting on 6/6 (Sat.).
[Happo-One Nature Trail・Happo Cairn to No. 3 Cairn]

A small section of water was visible along the north shore of Happo Pond (pictured) today. Snow coverage on the trail now resembles what is typically seen in early June, so it may be possible to reach Happo Pond on 6/6 (Sat.) without stepping on snow at all. From Happo Pond to just before Shita-no-Kanba, the rocky trail was completely snow-free, although there were still scattered patches of snow within the birch forest around Shita-no-Kanba.
[Trail to Mt. Karamatsu・Happo Pond]

After putting on crampons, I continued toward the Maruyama Cairn. The spring route followed the ridge across changing terrain—lingering snowfields, rocky sections, and low alpine shrubs—before reaching a steep snow slope (pictured). The two hikers shown in the photo told me, “We’re planning to turn around once we make it up this slope.” Above Shita-no-Kanba, the soft layer of granular snow had become deep and slushy, making crampons or chain spikes essential.
[Trail to Mt. Karamatsu・Spring Route]

　
*This concludes our Happo slope reports for the season. Thank you very much for following along again this winter!
　　　　　　　　　
[Happo-One Details on 5/6 (Wed.)]
*OPEN Courses … None
*Operating Lifts … Gondola (8:00～), Alpen Quad, Grat Quad (For sightseeing only)
*Fees … Happo Alpen Line Round-trip: Adults JPY4,400, Elementary school students JPY2,300
　
*Request for the original data of our photographs
　
reported by Snownavi