Bears Town
For over thirty years the largest ski resort in the province around Seoul, closed indefinitely from 31 October 2022 after a chairlift ran backwards and injured around 140 people.
- Region
- Gyeonggi Province
- Country
- South Korea
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1985
- Year closed
- 2022
- Reason for closure
- Ageing facilities requiring investment its owner, the E-Land Group, could neither finance internally nor raise through a sale, against falling skier numbers driven by South Korea's low birth rate. The immediate trigger was an accident in early 2022 in which a chairlift on an upper slope stopped and then ran backwards, injuring around 140 people and forcing an early end to the season. The resort suspended operations indefinitely from 31 October 2022 and has not reopened.
History
Bears Town opened in December 1985 at Naechon-myeon in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the northern edge of the Seoul metropolitan area, and for more than three decades was the capital region's default ski resort - the largest ski area in Gyeonggi-do, with eleven slopes over some 256,000 square metres, eight lifts, a 400 m-wide sledding hill and a full leisure resort attached. Its steepest run, the FIS-approved 88 Challenger, was one of the few genuinely expert pistes within easy reach of Seoul. The resort was already dated and struggling before the pandemic; South Korea's collapsing birth rate had been eroding the beginner and school market for years, and the owner, the E-Land Group, could not raise the capital for a major refit either internally or by selling the business. In early 2022 a chairlift serving an upper slope halted and then ran backwards, injuring around 140 people, and the season ended early. Bears Town suspended operations indefinitely from 31 October 2022, which in practice was the end: the site has sat unused since, its slopes growing over, and the closure took much of the local economy in the surrounding Pocheon streets with it. Individual lift and slope names beyond 88 Challenger are not documented in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Eight lifts served the resort at closure. Individual names, types and manufacturers are not documented in accessible sources. One upper-slope chairlift ran backwards in a 2022 accident that injured around 140 people |
Runs
- 88 Challenger (Advanced)
Sources and further reading
More in South Korea
Location
37.7964, 127.2408