Snow holiday company Japan Ski Experience are reporting that the country’s most famous resort in the modern era, Niseko, is installing a new gondola lift ready for winter 24-25.
The new Hirafu gondola, Niseko’s third in its main Grand Hirafu sector, will replace the Ace Quad Lift #2 Center 4 quad lift that has been operating at Dot Base since 1985, serving some of Niseko’s best terrain from the top of the Ace Family run. It will be an ultra-modern 10-person gondola with a running speed of 6m per second, 1.5 times faster than the old quad. The new gondola will also be able to carry 2800 people per hour, a significant increase from 1800 people per hour.
“The Family Run is where nearly all the ski in ski out accommodation is based, so it is the area of the mountain that has got the most overcrowded from recent development,” explained Japan Ski Experience’s Managing Director Lindsay Colbert.
Lift upgrades are comparatively rare in Japan with Niseko upgrading the most of all resorts over the past two decades. Other recent new Niseko lifts have included the Symphony Gondola in the Hanazono sector which debuted in the winter of 2021-22.
Despite the welcome upgrade, there’s the usual nostalgia for happy memories tied into the old lift being replaced. A goodbye ceremony was staged at the end of the season and an auctioning off of the old seats, which fetched up to JPY150,000 each (about £750).
