Kuriko Kokusai
A 600-metre-vertical Yamagata area whose visitors fell away after the 2011 earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi accident; it last ran in 2016 and its five lifts are still standing.
- Region
- Yamagata Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1967
- Year closed
- 2016
- Reason for closure
- Low snowfall in its later years, followed by a fall in visitor numbers after the March 2011 earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Its last season of operation was 2016.
History
Kuriko Kokusai (栗子国際スキー場) opened in 1967 on the Yonezawa side of the Kuriko pass in eastern Yamagata Prefecture, right on the boundary with Fukushima. It was a decent-sized area - five lifts including an 850 m quad, six courses, a longest run of 2,000 m, a steepest pitch of 33 degrees and 600 m of vertical from a 350 m base to a 950 m top. Thin snow hurt it in its later years, but what finished it was the earthquake of March 2011 and the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, after which visitor numbers to this part of northern Honshu dropped away and did not recover. Its last season was 2016. The lifts and facilities were still standing as of mid-2022 and its official status is simply closed. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources; the coordinates mark Kuriko-yama on the prefectural boundary, with the ski area on its Yonezawa flank.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Quad | 850 m, the main lift | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 627 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 400 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Single | 650 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Single | 625 m |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
37.8744, 140.2700