Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 133
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

I know that the Aokiko Sun Alpina resort has only been closed for about 5 years, but that place has already been partially reclaimed by nature. It's amazing how fast stuff grows here and how quickly c

OK, well just give us a shout if you entounter problems. Basically you upload photos in that link I sent you. And then you can write your post, and embed the photos within that post. Look forward t

Thanks for reminding me METAL. Yes we still have those articles, I suppose they will make for interesting reading for those interested in the Arai story. Got some things we need to get done in the

1993年に開業した典型的なバブル型リゾート施設ではあったが、標高が高く雪質の良さや5月まで滑走な可能なゲレンデ、温泉施設などを拡充し続けたことで集客は良く、瞬く間に消えていった他のバブル型リゾート施設と比べると長寿の部類に入る。

2000年代に入り、スキーヤーが激減したことに加え、2005年のシーズンには豪雪すぎて集客がままならないという状況(積雪が無い状態でもアクセス自体は悪かった)となり、2006年7月10日に運営会社は11億円以上の負債を抱えて経営破綻した。

2013年現在もスキー場とホテルは閉鎖状態となっている。

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the blog I saw was a different one. On the one I saw, the guy sounded like he ran into a crew from TabiTabi on noboards when he went to Hakuba Highland.

 

One of the Japanese magazines did a massive article about Arai. Apparently none of the main planners walked up the hill beforehand. They simply flew over it in helicopters. The mountain itself was totally unsuited to what they were trying to do. Any high end resort needs sunny weather and big beginner runs, not endless blizzards and narrow runs on windy ridges with a dirty great river in the middle of the resort waiting to gobble up " I only ski offpiste, me" types. The upper gondola station was also perched above an impressive cliff band.

 

If you liked powpow, it was pretty good though. You'd get crews of powderhounds camping in the car park.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks like I will be checking it out with a buddy tomorrow.

Well, that buddy is me and it was truly wild seeing that place again after having ridden there back in 2004/2005...

 

In fact, I didn't even remember the whole Plaza part! -How I could've forgotten that epic complex I have no idea...

 

The resort was pretty decent to ride back in the day. The terrain was varied, quite open, it all funneled down into one valley like Cortina so you couldn't get lost, and they had a backcountry gate that they would open if conditions allowed. The backcountry gate gave you access to a 15~20min ridge-line hike up to the peak above the resort, which in turn gave you 5~6 nice turns in a completely open bowl.

 

The crazy thing is that the last time I rode there, I spoke to the manager as I was unhappy that I'd paid full whack for lift tickets, and yet most of the big/longest pistes were closed; un-groomed and roped off. This was mid-season!? Conditions were good and the snow stable. I told him that it was bad business not having a huge ski-resort up and running 100%, as that's what us customers were paying for/expecting. I said that people will not bother to come all the way out here to ski if you don't make the effort. You'll go out of business! Anyway, he apologised, understood where we were coming from, but if we didn't like how the resort was run, we shouldn't return....

Next year they were closed!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks like I will be checking it out with a buddy tomorrow.

Well, that buddy is me and it was truly wild seeing that place again after having ridden there back in 2004/2005...

 

Yes Bushiman, that buddy is you :thumbsup: :lol:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks like I will be checking it out with a buddy tomorrow.

Well, that buddy is me and it was truly wild seeing that place again after having ridden there back in 2004/2005...

 

In fact, I didn't even remember the whole Plaza part! -How I could've forgotten that epic complex I have no idea...

 

The resort was pretty decent to ride back in the day. The terrain was varied, quite open, it all funneled down into one valley like Cortina so you couldn't get lost, and they had a backcountry gate that they would open if conditions allowed. The backcountry gate gave you access to a 15~20min ridge-line hike up to the peak above the resort, which in turn gave you 5~6 nice turns in a completely open bowl.

 

The crazy thing is that the last time I rode there, I spoke to the manager as I was unhappy that I'd paid full whack for lift tickets, and yet most of the big/longest pistes were closed; un-groomed and roped off. This was mid-season!? Conditions were good and the snow stable. I told him that it was bad business not having a huge ski-resort up and running 100%, as that's what us customers were paying for/expecting. I said that people will not bother to come all the way out here to ski if you don't make the effort. You'll go out of business! Anyway, he apologised, understood where we were coming from, but if we didn't like how the resort was run, we shouldn't return....

Next year they were closed!

 

Sounds like YOU were the one that caused it to go under!

 

:grandpa:

 

Bad person!!

 

;)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sounds like YOU were the one that caused it to go under

Nuffin to do wiv me Guv'nor! I'm innocent!

I was trying to tell him where he was going wrong!

I reckon your bushy grilling scared them all from coming back to work :omg:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Apparently not walking up the hill resulted in them failing to notice how bumpy and craggy the terrain was. I remember them routinely opening later than other local resorts in spite of how snowy the location is, and Blair saying that they needed 1.5 meters plus to get the groomers out.

 

My impression was that there were offpiste deaths every year at Arai, at a time when offpiste wasn't that popular with Japanese. People falling into rivers and going over cliffs. The reason I mention it is that its the last thing you'd want in the paper if you want to fill those huge hotels with school trips on weekdays. Big hotels in the middle of nowhere with no izakayas and little obasan shops selling cigarettes nearby are just what schools normally want. Folks going there on the weekend got the luxury of getting on the highway behind everyone heading back from Myoko, Shiga Kogen, and Nozawa. That must have been fun.

 

Club Med seem to do okay in Japan, so maybe it was a case of wrong location, wrong time, but not such a bad idea.

Link to post
Share on other sites

So maybe it was a case of wrong location, wrong time, but not such a bad idea.

 

I think it was. In a different time and place, it could perhaps have been a real success story.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Cool thread and nice pics Neck! :thumbsup:

 

Followed all the 'abandoned' links on here...turns out one of the places (Hashima island) was a model/inspiration for a scene in Skyfall:

 

From Wikipedia:

In the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, the island served as an inspiration for the lair of villain Raoul Silva but filming did not take place on the island itself. One section was recreated at Pinewood Studios in Great Britain and the rest via CGI.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Cool thread and nice pics Neck! :thumbsup:

 

Followed all the 'abandoned' links on here...turns out one of the places (Hashima island) was a model/inspiration for a scene in Skyfall:

 

Yeah that place looks amazing! I have actually been to a few different abandonments, including another ski resort, but I have to say that Arai was the most interesting one so far for sure.

Link to post
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...