Goshiki Ski Area Closed
Official name 五色スキー場
Yamagata
Open 1911–1998
Goshiki Ski Area was the ski hill of Goshiki Onsen, a single-inn hot spring in the mountains of Itaya, Yonezawa. After the Austrian Egon von Kratzer skied here in March 1911, a ski ground opened that December, and it is regarded as Japan's first privately run ski area. In 1924 a lodge was built for the Rikka Club, an imperial members' ski club, and royals and nobles came to ski. Falling visitor numbers and ageing lifts led to its closure in 1998. The inn closed in 2020 and reopened in 2023 as an auto campground with hot-spring baths.
History of Goshiki Ski Area
- Opened
- 1911
- Closed
- 1998
- Operators
- Sokawa Ryokan (Goshiki Onsen), privately run
- Why it closed
- Fewer visitors and ageing lifts and other facilities
- The site today
- The former Sokawa Ryokan has been an auto campground with hot-spring baths (Goshiki Onsen Auto Campground) since December 2023; the second floor and above of the Rikka Club lodge were moved to Sendai in 1999