Snow Resort Nekoyama
A four-lift area in northern Hiroshima that last ran in March 2023 and whose operating company went bankrupt in June 2025; the lifts are still standing.
- Region
- Hiroshima Prefecture
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1988
- Year closed
- 2023
- Reason for closure
- Unreliable weather and snowfall, the effects of the pandemic, rising operating costs and ageing infrastructure. It last operated in March 2023 and did not open again; the operating company declared bankruptcy in June 2025.
History
Snow Resort Nekoyama (スノーリゾート猫山) opened in 1988 on Mount Neko in the former Saijo Town, now part of Shobara City in northern Hiroshima Prefecture - one of the small cluster of areas that served western Honshu from the Chugoku mountains. Four pair lifts covered five courses from a 680 m base to a 1,000 m top, 320 m of vertical with a longest run of 1,200 m and a steepest pitch of 39 degrees. The fourth lift had already gone out of use in 2021. The area last operated in March 2023 and never reopened, beaten by unreliable snow, the after-effects of the pandemic, rising costs and ageing equipment; the operating company declared bankruptcy in June 2025. The lifts remain physically in place. Course names are not compiled in accessible sources; the coordinates mark the Saijo district of Shobara and should be treated as approximate.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lift 1 | Chairlift - Double | 836 m | |
| Lift 2 | Chairlift - Double | 643 m | |
| Lift 3 | Chairlift - Double | 523 m | |
| Lift 4 | Chairlift - Double | 294 m; out of use from 2021, before the area closed |
Sources and further reading
More in Japan
Location
34.9463, 133.1283