Iizuna Kogen is located on the southern slopes of Mt Iizuna, to the north of Nagano city in the northern region of Nagano Prefecture. The freestyle ski events of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics were held at Iizuna Kogen. The bobsleigh and luge events of the Olympics were held at the 'Spiral' facility, about 3km to the south-east of Iizuna Kogen. The
Iizuna Resort ski hill is about 4km away and the resorts in Myoko (Niigata Prefecture) are to the north.
Unfortunately, it was announced in early January 2020 that the 2019-2020 winter season will be the last winter season for Iizuna Kogen. This ski hill originally opened in 1965. At its peak in 1984, around 230,000 people visited in one winter season. In recent years fewer people have been visiting and the region hasn't got as much snowfall meaning a shorter season. The result being that last year less than 30,000 people visited the resort. Nagano City had been looking for new owners, but nobody rained their hands. Apparently after the 2019-2020 season finishes, the city will plant trees and the area will be returned to nature.
Unrelated to Iizuna Kogen ski resort but in other new... sadly since 2018 the above mentioned Spiral facility is no longer used due to very high maintenance costs along with it not being used much at all. It is still standing though.
Nagano Prefecture is located in the Chubu region of the main island of Honshu. Most of the Northern Alps, Central Alps and Southern Alps are located within Nagano (along with neighbouring prefectures). Nagano has the second highest number of ski and snowboard resorts in all of Japan and they are spread around the whole prefecture. Nagano city and many of the major ski resorts are located in the northern region.
Ropeways
Gondolas
Quad lifts
Triple lifts
Pair lifts
Single lifts
Other
