and then the clouds clear.

Huge news for the Hakuba Valley this week with the anouncement of a new lift ticketing system to be introduced for this 2016-17 winter season. It’s a big and positive step for the resorts to get together and introduce a state of the art lift pass. Life will be a lot easier now for everyone coming here to ski and snowboard. No more waiting at the ticket box exchanging vouchers or buying daily passes. The lift ticket, which you will be able to pre-purchase, will enable you to walk straight through the gates which puts you on the lifts faster to get you where you want to be. Goryu, Iimori, Hakuba47, Happo One, Iwatake, Tsugaike and Norikura will all have scanning gates this season to allow you instant access to the lifts. Jigatake, Kashimayari, Yanaba, Sanosaka and Cortina will introduce them the following season however your pass will still enable you to exchange a day pass.

Just a little history on my take of the way things were done previously. There are 500 or so ski resorts in Japan. Most of them are owned by separate entities all vying for their piece of the ski market. There has been a lot of competition and that included between each of the resorts in Hakuba.  Over recent history there has been a lot of encouragement from the locals in Hakuba for the resorts to join forces and become one of the biggest and best resort areas not only in Japan but on a world scale. “THE HAKUBA VALLEY”. Finally with the hard work of a few very motivated men and woman we are starting to see the potential of what Hakuba can be.

For more info on the system check out the Skidata website HERE.