During the summer I spent in Hokkaido one of my favorite things was to go up the cable cars. The Hokkaido region is perfect for that, with high mountains surrounding the urban regions. During the freezing winters, all those mountains become ski slopes, but during the summer, they make for some spectacular observation decks down at the all green Hokkaido regions.
Here are some of the ones I visited in Hokkaido I already wrote about:
- Mount Moiwayama ropeway & observation deck
- Mount Niseko-Annupuri cable car
- Otaru
- Furano
- Lakes Shikotsu and Toya
- Niseko
Today, is another interesting one to add to this list – the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium, built for the 1972 Winter Olympics that took place in Sapporo. Ski jump is probably one of most insane sports ever invented, and it is only when you get to a place like this do you get a feel for just how crazy it is. If you can’t make it to see a ski jump stadium, just watch the movie Eddie the Eagle and that will give you a pretty good idea of the risks involved in jumping this thing.
I actually tried my luck to get there more than once, but the first time I arrived at a completely different ski jump in the area, where some of the locals were practicing. Although it’s summer, and there’s no snow, they were still doing all kinds of funky exercises, just not those insane jumps. Second time around I got it right, and could go up the mountain to get some perspective and a great view of Sapporo from above.
If we go up…
We’ll see this…
Down on ground level there’s a museum dedicated to the winter olympics and winter sports…
With all kinds of great interactive simulations…
Watch these next videos to get an idea:
Location:
A terrific attraction, I’d say one of the top things to do in Sapporo. Check it out if you’re visiting the area.