Nasu Onsen Family
A hot-spring village ski area on Nasudake, open since December 1961, closed in March 2022 when a 60 million yen repair bill met 110 metres of vertical.
- Region
- Tochigi Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1961
- Year closed
- 2022
- Reason for closure
- Low snowfall and lift installations that were close to needing repair. The work was costed at around 60 million yen, on top of 20 to 30 million yen of annual running costs and a 400,000 yen yearly lease for the state-owned land, which could not be justified. The area closed on 21 March 2022.
History
Nasu Onsen Family (那須温泉ファミリースキー場) sat above the hot-spring village of Nasu Yumoto in Nasu Town, northern Tochigi, on the flanks of Nasudake. It opened in December 1961 as the Kokusetsu Nasudake Ski Area and ended up as a small family hill: two pair lifts of 404 m and 284 m, the shorter installed in 1998, serving three courses with a longest run of 600 m, a steepest pitch of 25 degrees and only 110 m of vertical between a 1,240 m base and a 1,350 m top, with no advanced terrain at all. The arithmetic that closed it is recorded unusually plainly. Snowfall was poor and the lifts were close to needing work priced at about 60 million yen, against annual operating costs of 20 to 30 million yen and a 400,000 yen yearly lease on the state-owned land the area occupied. It closed on 21 March 2022 after sixty seasons. The lifts remain in place and unused, and the town has been looking at other uses for the site, including summer paragliding and a snow play area for children. Note that this is a separate and much older area than Mt Jeans Nasu, also in this dataset, which closed in the same district two years later. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources; the coordinates mark Nasu Yumoto onsen below the site.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lift 2 | Chairlift - Double | 404 m; left in place after closure | |
| Lift 1 | Chairlift - Double | 284 m, installed 1998; left in place after closure |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
37.0971, 140.0006