Motoshirane (Kusatsu Kokusai)
The upper mountain of one of the oldest ski areas in Japan, skied since 1914, shut for good in 2018 when Mount Motoshirane erupted without warning, killed a soldier and wrecked the lift installations.
- Region
- Gunma Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1914
- Year closed
- 2018
- Reason for closure
- A large volcanic eruption on Mount Motoshirane in January 2018, which killed one person and injured others and damaged the lift facilities in the upper Motoshirane sector. The Shirane Kazan Ropeway and the top section were permanently closed and the area around the crater remains restricted for volcanic risk.
History
Skiing at Kusatsu in Gunma Prefecture goes back to 1914, which makes it one of the oldest ski areas in Japan, and the Shirane Kazan Ropeway of 1960 carried skiers from the Tenguyama base up onto the flanks of the Kusatsu-Shirane volcano - a single course of 8,000 m ran from the top all the way back down. The upper Motoshirane sector had a small fleet of pair lifts alongside it. In January 2018 Mount Motoshirane erupted with no warning; one member of a Ground Self-Defense Force party training on the slopes was killed and others were injured, and the blast damaged the lift installations in the upper area. The ropeway and the top of the mountain never reopened. The gondola towers were still standing as of May 2024, in a zone where access is restricted because of continuing volcanic risk. Skiing continues on lower ground at Kusatsu, so this entry covers the abandoned upper mountain and ropeway rather than the resort as a whole. Elevations, vertical and course names for the closed sector are not compiled in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirane Kazan Ropeway | Gondola - 6 passenger | A 2,400 m gondola with individual six-person cabins, opened 1960 and permanently closed after the 2018 eruption. Its towers were still standing as of May 2024 | |
| Motoshirane Number 1 | Chairlift - Double | 330 m pair lift in the upper sector | |
| Motoshirane Number 2 | Chairlift - Double | 372 m pair lift in the upper sector | |
| Motoshirane Number 3 | Chairlift | 328 m; closed long before the eruption | |
| Ainomine | Chairlift - Double | 215 m pair lift, last open in 2013 | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A pony lift on the beginner ground |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
36.6230, 138.5317