The Ghost Resorts: Japan – Deserted Infrastructures, Cables Frozen in The Shadow of Joy and Tons of Light Pacific Powder.

Mountainwatch |Video

This is the third episode in Black Crows’ series on ghost resorts, once-thriving ski resorts that have closed for a number of reasons and are now eerily empty. The subject in this film is a resort deep in the Kansai region of Honshu, Japan where Celeste Pomerantz and Daisuke Fukasawa ski classic light powder through the trees and on cleared piste runs that were once serviced by deserted lifts that are now in disrepair.

Japan has a long history of skiing and once boasted over 700 resorts but that bubble burst in the 1990s and hundreds of resorts have since closed.  Interviews with resort operators and a local snow historian tell that the boom times of the late ’80s were built on a fad and that the current state of Japan skiing is not only more realistic, but healthy and sustainable.

“The cinematic experience is heightened by the contrast between archive images and the newfound silence of the mountains, creating a poignant narrative of romantic nostalgia and mystery.”

From Black Crows

“For blackcrows the Ghost Resorts series is an exploration of the ski culture, of a heritage, a golden age, those places where there was life, that have closed, but where skiing still remains,” said Camille Jaccoux, co-founder, blackcrows.