Hakuba Happo-one

photo by Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY 2.0

photo by くろふね · CC BY 3.0

Hermann Maier flew off the course here in '98, and still won two golds in the days that followed.

The 1998 Olympic downhill was to be held on Mount Iwasuge, within Shiga Kōgen, but a nature conservation association blocked its development in 1990: the race moved here, to an existing course. In the men's downhill the Austrian Hermann Maier flew off the course on a jump, got up without serious consequences and in the following days still won gold in the giant slalom and the super-G; the downhill gold went to the Frenchman Jean-Luc Crétier, and the women's to the German Katja Seizinger.

The Hakuba ski area that hosted the downhill, super-G and combined events (men's and women's) of the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics. The ‘Happo Alpen Line’, with the ‘Adam’ gondola and two chairlifts in series (3,445 m of route), links the base station at 768 m with Usagidaira at 1,390 m. In summer the same line stays open for hiking towards Lake Happo, one of the most photographed viewpoints in the Northern Japanese Alps.

ℹ️ Lifts open both in winter (skiing, roughly 8:00–17:00) and in summer (hiking towards Lake Happo); fares and opening period change from season to season: check the official website (happo-one.jp) before setting off.

🚉 Hakuba-Happo Bus Terminal · 11 min walk

Sources: happo-one.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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