Ciao Ontake Mount Resort is located on the northern slopes of Mt Ontake, to the south east of central Takayama city in Gifu Prefecture (and close to the border with Nagano Prefecture). Getting there might not have been as convenient as many ski areas but the high elevation around 2000m and northerly slopes meant this ski area often enjoyed good powder conditions, and a long season as well. The 2200m long Gondola lift holds 8 people in each cabin. Ice climbing, snow shoe tours and snow rafting attractions were also available at this resort.
This ski area first opened 1998 and was known as Ciao Ontake Snow Resort before changing to Ciao Ontake Mount Resort in recent years. Unfortunately, opening for the 2018-2019 season was delayed and eventually cancelled due to recovery needed from flooding in the region during the summer of 2018. It also did not open for the 2019-2020 season and during 2020 there was an unsuccessful attempt to try and get it back operating for the 2020-2021 season by crowdfunding.
More information about Ciao Ontake Mount Resort can be found on SnowJapanHistory.com.
Gifu Prefecture is located in the Chubu region of the central region of Honshu island, and it one of only a handful of landlocked prefectures. It shares borders with (from the north) Toyama, Nagano, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Fukui and Ishikawa. Most of the ski and snowboard resorts in Gifu are located in the northern region of the prefecture – in Gujo city, Takayama city, Hida city and Shirakawa village.