Ojiya Yamamotoyama Kogen Ski Area Closed
Official name 小千谷山本山高原スキー場
Niigata
Open 1988–2006
Ojiya Yamamotoyama Kogen Ski Area was a family ski hill on the north face of Mt. Yamamoto (336 m) in Ojiya, Niigata. Developed by Kokudo, the company behind the Prince resorts, it opened in December 1988 and was unusual in that cars could drive to the summit, where there was a second car park and a panoramic restaurant. A quad chair and a second lift served five mostly gentle courses up to 1,700 m long, plus a terrain park, just a few minutes from the Ojiya interchange. It drew about 70,000 skiers a season in the mid-1990s, but numbers kept falling. After the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake damaged the area it never reopened and was closed for good in 2006; the lifts have been removed and the slopes are returning to nature.
History of Ojiya Yamamotoyama Kogen Ski Area
- Opened
- 1988
- Closed
- 2006
- Operators
- Kokudo Keikaku / Prince Hotels (1988-2006)
- Why it closed
- Damage from the October 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake on top of falling visitor numbers (about 70,000 in 1994-95, about 30,000 in 2003-04); Prince decided to sell the ski area in 2006 as part of restructuring.
- The site today
- Lifts (a quad and a J-bar) and buildings removed; the slopes are returning to nature. A one-night revival event was held on the old site on 21 January 2018 (no skiing).