This photo taken on January 31, 2025 shows skiers on the slopes at one of the resorts in the ski resort town of Hakuba, Nagano prefecture in Japan. - AFP
TOKYO: Ski resorts in Japan are prized for having some of the deepest, lightest powder around. A winter of exceptionally heavy snow – some areas had more than 12 feet (3.65m) of snowpack this past week – should be skiers’ and snowboarders’ dream.
The ski terrain in Japan this winter is “super big and super gnarly,” Austrian professional skier Tao Kreibich, 27, said in a video about a recent backcountry excursion in the country. “You can do some crazy stuff.”
However...
Although many of Japan’s 500 or so ski areas are having a banner season, giant snowdrifts have led to challenges that have dented profits and raised safety concerns.
“Heavy snow is both a joy and a worry” for resort workers, said Shinichi Imoto, a spokesperson for Washigatake Ski Resort, which is seeing some of its largest drifts in a decade. “There are concerns if it doesn’t fall, and concerns if it falls too much.”
Some resorts have had to close lifts to give crews more time to shovel out. Road closures have cut off access for would-be visitors. In some places, more skiers and snowboarders than usual have gotten lost in the backcountry or stuck in avalanches.
Operations have returned to normal at many ski resorts across the county. But the effects of snowstorms in February – which led to school closures and the cancellation of trains and flights – are still being felt.
At Kagura Ski Resort, a few hundred miles by road northeast of Washigatake, visitor numbers are down this year even though the snow has been good and plentiful, said spokesperson Kazuto Harasawa.
Unusually heavy snow forced the resort to close six times in February. The closure of a nearby highway, combined with the resort’s mile-high elevation, did not help.
The snow forced Gala Yuzawa Snow Resort, about 12 miles by road from Kagura, to close for a day in late February – its first closure in more than 30 years of operation. A spokesperson, Takashi Onozuka, described this season’s snowfall, about 2 1/2 times that of 2024, as “honestly disaster level.”
Customers were pleased by the quality of the snow during a recent cold snap, he said, adding: “It’s tough for the workers, though.”
Even if ski lifts, parking lots and other areas can be cleared, heavy snow presents safety risks on trails and in backcountry areas. - The New York Times Company
