Tsurugisan Ski Area Closed
Official name 剣山スキー場
Tokushima · 1,360–1,480 m
Open 1976–2007
Tsurugisan Ski Area sat at about 1,400 m on National Route 438 below Mount Tsurugi in Tsurugi town, Tokushima, and was known as the highest ski area in Shikoku. Built by the prefecture, it opened in 1976 and was handed to the former Ichiu village in 1995. A pair lift served a handful of short runs, the longest 630 m, plus a half-pipe. Visitors fell away after the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opened in 1998, and paid operation ended in March 2007. The town then left part of the slope open free on snowy winter weekends without lifts, but stopped in March 2023. The site is now roped off, and the town is weighing demolition of the lifts and lodges.
History of Tsurugisan Ski Area
- Opened
- 1976
- Closed
- 2007
- Operators
- Tokushima Prefecture (prefecture-run, 1976-1995), Ichiu Village (1995-2005), Tsurugi Town (2005-, town-run)
- Why it closed
- Visitors fell after the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge opened in 1998 (peak 34,000 in FY1995); formal abolition was held back by bond repayments (until FY2014) and the duty to reforest the site inside 剣山国定公園.
- The site today
- Free natural-snow opening on winter holidays 2008-2023 has ended; lifts and two lodges remain behind ropes and are deteriorating, and the town is considering demolition with prefectural help (2025).