Kogen Chiba Mura
A ski slope inside a holiday complex that Chiba City ran 200 kilometres away in the Gunma mountains, open only to people staying there; its rope tow broke in 2017 and was never repaired.
- Region
- Gunma Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1973
- Year closed
- 2017
- Reason for closure
- The rope tow developed problems in 2017 and was never repaired, ending lift-served skiing. The wider facility limped on for sledding and snow play without uplift before closing entirely on 31 March 2019, when ownership reverted to Minakami Town.
History
Kogen Chiba Mura (高原千葉村スキー場) was not a public ski resort at all but the snow slope of a recreation and leisure complex that the city of Chiba built and operated in Minakami Town, Gunma Prefecture, roughly 200 km from Chiba itself. Opened in 1973, the wider facility had accommodation, tennis courts and hot springs, and access to the skiing required staying there - effectively a members-only club for one city, on a mountain in another prefecture. The skiing was slight: a single rope tow on one gentle course of about 400 m with 70 m of vertical between a 690 m base and a 760 m top. The tow developed problems in 2017 and was never repaired, after which the area was used only for sledding and snow play. Everything closed on 31 March 2019 and ownership passed back to Minakami Town; the site has since been abandoned and the tow removed. The steepest pitch and any course name are unrecorded; the coordinates mark Minakami Town.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A rope tow, the only lift. It failed in 2017 and was removed after the closure |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
36.6786, 138.9992