Yanaba Snow Park
A Nagano area above Lake Aoki with its own railway station, which managed only about forty days in its final winter and stopped in March 2016; the station closed three years later.
- Region
- Nagano Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1972
- Year closed
- 2016
- Reason for closure
- Too little snow and money. The area had already closed once during the 2000s, reopened for 2014-15, and then managed only around forty days of operation in 2015-16 before running its last day in March 2016.
History
Yanaba Snow Park (ヤナバスノーパーク), originally Yanaba Kokusai, opened in 1972 on the south-west shore of Lake Aoki in Omachi City, Nagano, beside Route 148. Five lifts - a quad, three pair lifts and a T-bar - served eight courses with a longest run of 1,600 m and a steepest pitch of 28 degrees, from an 830 m base to 1,140 m for 310 m of vertical, and the terrain was gentle, rated 60 per cent beginner. It had its own railway halt on the Oito line, Yanaba Skijo Mae, built purely to serve skiers. The area closed once during the 2000s, came back for the 2014-15 season, and then got only about forty skiable days in 2015-16 before running for the last time in March 2016. The station outlasted it by three years, closing in 2019. The facilities remain in place under new ownership. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources; the coordinates mark the south-west shore of Lake Aoki.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Quad | 662 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 808 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 462 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 290 m | |
| Unnamed lift | T-Bar | The fifth of the five lifts |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
36.6066, 137.8485