2038 Olympics Could Be Headed for Japan Three decades after Japan hosted the 1998 Nagano Games, the Winter Olympics could return to the country as soon as 2038. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is currently in official, exclusive talks with Switzerland over the 2038 Winter Games, the chairman of the Commission for Future Winter Games Host Cities, Karl Stoss, expressed hope of bringing the Games back to […] Olympics Quinn Brophy | July 1, 2026 0 Comments
Snowboarding Pioneer Paul Alden Dies at Age 89 Paul Alden, one of the key behind-the-scenes architects of competitive snowboarding in North America, died on April 9, 2026. He was 89. In the mid-1980s, when snowboarding was still fighting for the right to exist at ski resorts, Alden was doing the work that rarely gets noticed — working the phones, navigating institutional resistance, and helping build the organizational infrastructure […] Industry News Press Release | April 16, 2026 0 Comments
Shiga Kogen Mountain Resort in Nagano, Japan, Opening This Weekend The Yokoteyama ski area, part of the interconnected Shiga Kogen Mountain Resort near Nagano, Japan, has announced its official opening day. Yokoteyama will have a ‘pre-open’ for this weekend on November 18 and 19, 2023, then will shut for a couple of days before officially re-opening for the season on November 23, 2023. Shiga Kogen is in Yamanouchi in […] Industry News Mike Humphrey | November 17, 2023 0 Comments
Karuizawa Nagano, Japan, Report: Manmade Snow and Smiles Report from Wednesday, November 5, 2023 Last week, my feed started blowing up about ski resorts opening in Japan. While I couldn’t make it to Fujiyama Snow Sports Yeti (the four-hour drive is a little too far for me, no matter how ski-crazed I may be), when I heard that Karuizawa Nagano was open, I decided it was time to […] Conditions Report Mike Humphrey | November 14, 2023 0 Comments
When Is The Best Time to Ski & Ride Japan? Originally written in 2013 Brought to you by HAKUBAVALLEY Japan is the snowiest place on Earth. They get more snow than anywhere else in the world. There are places on Honshu Island (Tokyo’s island) that receive 1,200 to 1,500 inches of snow per year. Hakuba, Japan generally gets about 300 inches of snow in January alone. In 2015, Hakuba saw […] SnowBrains | December 13, 2019 14 Comments
7 Dead in Avalanches in Japan Over Weekend: Japan had a horrible weekend last weekend with 4 people dying in two separate avalanches and 3 mountain climbers going missing. The climbers have been missing for 3 days and it’s widely suspected that they were caught in an avalanche as well. The avalanches occurred in the Niigata and Nagano prefectures (states). These areas of Japan received over 4-feet of snow over the weekend in combination with high winds that sent avalanche conditions into the “High” rankings. Japan is known for deep, mellow powder. […] Avalanche SnowBrains | January 20, 2015 1 Comment
Throwback Thursday: Johnny Moseley’s 360º Mute Grab Gold Medal Run from 1998 Like many skiers who watched this run live; it changed my life. A 360 mute grab in the Olympics? And it was appreciated by the judges and the world? I could feel the industry and myself about to change. Johnny brought badly needed style to the Olympics. If Olympic judges were down with ski grabs, then so was the entire […] Miles Clark | September 12, 2013 11 Comments
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