Usage of ひゃっほーい?

Question

I was reading a Japanese blog post and ひゃっほーい was the starter (sort of like the intro). I researched a bit and my current understanding is that ひゃっほーい expresses happiness, like saying "yay" or "wow" in English. I was hoping that someone could reaffirm my understanding or correct it. Also, I've never heard this being used in any situation (verbally), so I'm also looking for an answer to when this could be used. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :D

Answer 1

I think ひゃっほーい is to be understood as a variant of ヤッホー

ヤッホー [1] 【yo-ho】

(感)

山で、仲間に合図をしたりする語。また、喜びを表す語。「—、いいぞいいぞ」

(Unfortunately, I don't know how you call your friends in the mountains in English. "Heeey!"?)

ヤッホー is commonly used to call out to your friends or to get their attention (not just in the mountains). (For example, you arrange to meet your friends at a train station, you spot them first, you walk up to them and say ヤッホー as a greeting.)