Miyagi Zao St.MARY
A five-lift Miyagi resort with 500 metres of vertical that ran its final day on 3 March 2024; the lifts and buildings are all still standing.
- Region
- Miyagi Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1990
- Year closed
- 2024
- Reason for closure
- Falling visitor numbers and the effects of warmer winters with less snow. The area closed on 3 March 2024.
History
Miyagi Zao St.MARY (セントメリースキー場) opened in 1990 in Kawasaki Town in south-western Miyagi Prefecture, near the Yamagata border on the Zao side. It was a substantial area: five lifts including a 1,167 m quad, five courses with a longest run of 2,200 m and a steepest pitch of 30 degrees, running from a 450 m base to a 950 m top for 500 m of vertical, with terrain split 30 per cent beginner, 50 per cent intermediate and 20 per cent advanced. Declining visitors and a run of warm, thin winters ended it, and the last day was 3 March 2024 - one of the most recent closures in this dataset. The lifts and facilities were all still in place afterwards and no future for the site has been announced. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources; the coordinates mark Kawasaki Town.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Quad | 1,167 m, the main lift | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 667 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 600 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 557 m | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double | 210 m |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
38.1777, 140.6431