So SJ users seemed to show quite a bit of interest in the Arai Mountain Resort and Spa thread I started a while ago. I actually went to Aokiko a few weeks before my Arai trip, to check out how it looks now and to take a few photos.
Aokoiko ski resort closed just 5 years ago and I know the area well. I used to ride there fairly often during the first few winters I lived in Nagano. it was the middle resort of the Sun Alpina linked resort area and there were a few pretty fun lines between Kashimayari and Aokiko.
I had actually visited the resort a few times since it closed, but only during peak winter season when the snow base was concealing the general decay of the place. It was fun to snowshoe around last season while I was out with injury.
Going back there this May, I got to see just how much the elements had taken their toll on the place. The snow had completely melted, but the vegetation still hadn't fully rebounded from the weight of the winter base. I imagine that by the middle of summer, most of the smaller structures would be lost under a sea of vegetation.
It was a little sad to see the place that I had enjoyed riding in the not so distant past become what it is now. That said, the resort was leaking money and was on the way out years before it finally closed. Now it sits abandoned and rotting away, well beyond being able to be saved.
This is how it looks now.
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Aokoiko ski resort closed just 5 years ago and I know the area well. I used to ride there fairly often during the first few winters I lived in Nagano. it was the middle resort of the Sun Alpina linked resort area and there were a few pretty fun lines between Kashimayari and Aokiko.
I had actually visited the resort a few times since it closed, but only during peak winter season when the snow base was concealing the general decay of the place. It was fun to snowshoe around last season while I was out with injury.
Going back there this May, I got to see just how much the elements had taken their toll on the place. The snow had completely melted, but the vegetation still hadn't fully rebounded from the weight of the winter base. I imagine that by the middle of summer, most of the smaller structures would be lost under a sea of vegetation.
It was a little sad to see the place that I had enjoyed riding in the not so distant past become what it is now. That said, the resort was leaking money and was on the way out years before it finally closed. Now it sits abandoned and rotting away, well beyond being able to be saved.
This is how it looks now.