Shinanodaira Ski Area Closed
Official name 信濃平スキー場 · Formerly 黒岩スキー場
Nagano
Open 1960–2001
Shinanodaira Ski Area stood on the slopes of Mt. Kuroiwa in the Tozama district of Iiyama, Nagano. After the area hosted national ski championship events in 1956, local farming families looking for winter work formed a tourism association and opened Kuroiwa Ski Area around 1960; it took the Shinanodaira name in 1971. Run by residents who also kept guesthouses, it offered about 400 m of vertical, a run of some 4 km and night skiing, and drew over 120,000 visitors a year around 1992, though avalanches caused several accidents over the years. As the ski boom faded, visitors fell and losses grew, and it closed in 2001. The lifts have been removed, and the Kamakura no Sato snow-hut festival is now held near the old base each winter.
History of Shinanodaira Ski Area
- Opened
- 1960
- Closed
- 2001
- Formerly
- 黒岩スキー場
- Operators
- Kuroiwa Tourism Association and a ski lift company funded by local residents (founded 1962)
- Why it closed
- Visitor numbers fell after the ski boom and the resident-funded operator's losses kept growing despite cost cuts; residents chose to close in 2001 to limit debt (about ¥500 million, shared by the resident shareholders).
- The site today
- Lifts removed by 2009; the slopes are grassland on Mt. Kuroiwa, some abandoned buildings remained in 2018, and the community-run Kamakura no Sato snow-hut festival is held near the old base every winter.