Inawashiro Resort
A substantial Mount Bandai resort with a 1,730-metre six-person gondola, a 3,800-metre run and a 40-degree pitch, closed in 2020 with everything left standing.
- Region
- Fukushima Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1985
- Year closed
- 2020
- Reason for closure
- Not stated in the surviving record. The resort last operated in 2020 and the status of the site has since been unclear.
History
Inawashiro Resort (猪苗代リゾートスキー場), also known as Grand Sunpia Inawashiro, opened in 1985 on the southern slopes of Mount Bandai in Inawashiro Town, Fukushima Prefecture - the opposite flank of the same mountain from Family Snow Park Bandai x2, which is also recorded here. It was one of the larger areas in this dataset to close: four lifts headed by a 1,730 m six-person gondola, nine courses, a longest run of 3,800 m, a steepest pitch of 40 degrees and 440 m of vertical between a 760 m base and a 1,200 m top. It last operated in 2020 and no reason for the closure is given in the surviving record. Everything was left where it stood - photographs from May 2022 show the gondola and the chairlifts still in place - and the formal status of the site has remained unclear since, with occasional rumours of a revival but no confirmed reopening as of late 2024. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Gondola - 6 passenger | 1,730 m gondola, the main lift; photographed still standing in May 2022 | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 810 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 630 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 410 m |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
37.5855, 140.0605