Geihoku Kokusai
The largest ski area in western Honshu recorded here - ten lifts and thirteen courses in Hiroshima - which stopped in February 2020 when its management judged that opening the following winter was too great a risk.
- Region
- Hiroshima Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1972
- Year closed
- 2020
- Reason for closure
- Low snowfall through the 2019-20 season led management to conclude that opening for 2020-21 would be too high a risk. It last operated in February 2020 and has remained closed since.
History
Geihoku Kokusai (芸北国際スキー場) opened in 1972 in Kitahiroshima Town in western Hiroshima Prefecture and grew into by far the biggest ski area in this dataset west of the Japanese Alps: ten lifts over its lifetime, thirteen courses, a longest run of 2,000 m, a steepest pitch of 34 degrees and 421 m of vertical between a 705 m base and a 1,126 m top. Its final fleet was modern by the standards of the region - a 1,700 m six-person lift, a quad, two triples and a pair. What ended it was a judgement call rather than a collapse: after the thin 2019-20 winter, in which it last operated in February 2020, the management decided that opening for the 2020-21 season would carry too much risk, and it has not run since. The facilities remain standing with no reopening announced. Its loss, alongside Ski Park Kanbiki, Ogahara Kogen and Nekoyama in the same corner of Hiroshima, took away most of what remained of organised skiing in western Honshu. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Six | 1,700 m six-person lift, the main lift in the final configuration | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 908 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Quad | 800 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Triple | 470 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Triple | 470 m | |
| Unnamed lift | The area ran ten lifts in total over its life, the configuration changing across the years; an earlier fleet comprised two triples, three pair lifts and five single chairs |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
34.7083, 132.2262