Wakabuna Kogen Ski Area Closed
Official name わかぶな高原スキー場
Niigata
Open 1987–2021
Wakabuna Kogen Ski Area was on Mt. Wakabuna in Sekikawa, Niigata, with 430 m of vertical and a longest run of 2,150 m. It opened in 1987 on the village's summer pasture, built and run by a Sumitomo Construction group company, with no lodging of its own so that skiers would stay at the Arakawakyo hot springs. Visitors peaked at about 88,000 in 1996. A company set up by villagers took over in 2004, but 2018-19 was its last season. After a snowless winter the village ended the operator's lease, and in 2021 it decided to remove the lifts and close the area. A wind farm is planned around the former site.
History of Wakabuna Kogen Ski Area
- Opened
- 1987
- Closed
- 2021
- Operators
- Sumiko Resort (Sumitomo Construction group, 1987-2004), Wakabuna Kogen (founded by villagers, 2004-2020)
- Why it closed
- Falling visitor numbers and light snow hurt the business; it could not open in the 2019-20 season for lack of snow, and Sekikawa Village did not renew its free-use agreement with the operator and asked it to leave. The village decided not to run it directly, and to remove the lifts and close it.
- The site today
- The land was due to be returned to its owners (common land) by July 2022, with uses for the rest house and other buildings under consideration; Tokyu Land Corporation plans a wind farm in the area