Kusatsu Shizukayama Ski Area Closed
Official name 草津シズカ山スキー場 · Formerly スキーポート・シズカ（SKI PORT SIZCA）
Gunma
Open 1990–2000
Kusatsu Shizukayama was a ski area on the southeast flank of Mt. Motoshirane near the entrance to Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma. It opened in December 1990 as Ski Port Shizuka, built for about 6.5 billion yen by a company jointly owned by Kusatsu town and a Tokyo firm, with four chairlifts, 300 m of vertical and a longest run of 1.8 km. It was one of the early resorts to open all its runs to snowboarders. After the bubble burst, visitor numbers never reached their target and losses mounted; it suspended operations from the 2000-01 season, a planned 2004-05 reopening never happened, and it has stayed closed.
History of Kusatsu Shizukayama Ski Area
- Opened
- 1990
- Closed
- 2000
- Formerly
- スキーポート・シズカ
- Operators
- Shirane Kogen Ski Resort (public-private company of Kusatsu Town and Shirane Kogyo, 1990-), Shizuka Sports Arena Kusatsu (operator named on the later official website)
- Why it closed
- After the bubble burst, visitors never reached the target of 50,000; debt from the roughly 6.5 billion yen construction cost and accumulated losses (about 9.6 billion yen) grew, so it suspended operations from the 2000-01 season and never reopened