The SSAWS indoor slope in Japan will close on September 30th 2002. The SSAWS was one of the first indoor slopes and until recently the longest.

The ten-storey high centre, visible for miles around, opened in 1994 following a $400 million (US) investment and has remained the giant of indoor ski centres ever since. The ski slope was built in an earthquake zone on reclaimed land in Tokyo Harbour. Special construction techniques make it earthquake proof, in part to prevent collapse and allegedly also to prevent any danger of an indoor avalanches being set off. A German dome opened early in 2001 with a slope in excess of SSAWS's 500m length, but not the 100m width of the Tokyo dome.

A feasibility study carried out for the dome in the early 1990s indicated that the centre would take 11 years to reach profitability and repay its debts after 18 years. However its opening coincided with the downturn in the Eastern Asian economy which remains in recession. The figures relied on visitor figures of 1.3 million per annum, spending an average of $80 per visit and generating $104 million annual. Tax and interest on the initial investment to build the centre was over $30 million per year and operating costs $40 million.

Since SSAWS opened around a dozen more domes have open in Japan and neighbouring countries in the region, although none on the same spectacular scale. There are constantly circulating rumours as to the financial health of several other snowdomes around the world, and the vast majority of dome development projects never get off the ground because their figures don't bear close examination. However most new projects are on more realistically sustainable business models and operating costs to maintain the snow surface have also fallen dramatically since SSAWS was built.



Interestingly there's a reader's review of the slope in DCMT#12p60. They wonder why our domes are so expensive in comparison. I guess we know why now!

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