Iwayama Park
A city ski hill five kilometres from the centre of Morioka with 70 metres of vertical, closed in January 2022 while the golf course and amusement park sharing its hillside carried on.
- Region
- Iwate Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1967
- Year closed
- 2022
- Reason for closure
- Falling visitor numbers against ageing installations that needed costly maintenance. The area closed on 30 January 2022.
History
Iwayama Park (岩山パークスキー場) stood on Iwayama, about 5 km east of central Morioka in Iwate Prefecture - a city hill in the same sense as Yokote Koen in neighbouring Akita, reachable without leaving town. It opened in 1967 and ran a 289 m pair lift and a 315 m single chair, with two rope tows also recorded in a 1996 guidebook, over three courses split evenly between beginner and intermediate with nothing advanced: a longest run of 1,000 m, a steepest pitch of 30 degrees and just 70 m of vertical between a 270 m base and a 340 m top. Declining visitor numbers met ageing equipment that would have needed expensive maintenance, and it closed on 30 January 2022. The lifts remain in place, and the hillside has not emptied - the Morioka Country Club golf course and the Iwayama Park Land amusement park, opened in 1972, both continue to operate alongside the dead ski area. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Single | 315 m; still in place after closure | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 289 m; still in place after closure | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A 1996 guidebook records two additional rope tows beyond the two chairlifts |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
39.7001, 141.1836