Another mini post here regarding the recent experience I had in the Japanese mountains.  I started my Japan adventure in the Osaka area and after a brief stop in Hiroshima, I decided to purchase the Hokuriku Arch pass which was a 7 day train pass which gave me unlimited access to the trains that connected Osaka and Tokyo along the northern regions rather than the straight line bullet train that most people take.  One of the highlights of this pass is an option ticket called the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route which is several forms of transportation that bring you from Toyama to Nagano, over mountain passes rather than going around the mountains like the bullet train.  It is called the Roof of Japan and will take you through an elevation change of 2400 meters.

The option ticket is 9,000 yen ($90) and must be purchased at least one day ahead of time prior to it’s use.  It includes all of the forms of transportation required to get from Toyama to Nagano or vice versa.  This includes a Train, Cable Car, Bus, Trolley Bus, Ropeway, Cable Car, Trolley Bus and finally another bus.

I started my journey in Kansawa at 7am taking the Shinkansen from Kanasawa to Toyama.  This was a 20 minute ride.  I then jumped on the Toyama Chiho train bound for Tateyama Station which took about 40 minutes.  It was at Tateyama station where the Alpine route officially starts.

First ride is up the Tateyama Cable Car which takes 7 minutes and brings you up 502m in elevation.  This brings you to the bus station where a coach bus takes you an additional 1500m in elevation over a period of about 40 minutes through windy mountain roads.

You start getting glimpses of snow capped peaks at about halfway and by the end you are driving through a snow wall that is several meters high.  You travel 23km and eventually end up at Murodo station which is 2500m elevation.

Here there is a lot of snow and a few options for small or large hikes from the station where you get dropped off for the next leg of the journey.

It is here were the famous snow wall is as well as the opportunity to climb up the tallest peak in this area.  The snow wall is apparently much smaller than it was a month ago, but is still pretty cool.  For someone who has never seen a snow wall it is probably VERY impressive, but this type of snowfall occurs in Tahoe and I have seen similar things several times.

I had done a bit of reading on possible hikes to be done along the route and had settled on climbing to the top of Mt.Tateyama which on the internet said was about 3 hours round trip.  When I arrived, I was a little bit surprised regarding the ammount of snow still present in the area and the trail up to the summit appeared to be VERY snowy (essentially just walking along snow).  I was wearing shorts and running shoes, but figured I would push on until I felt like it might be too dangerous to continue.  At the lower altitudes we were told to watch out for the Raicho birds as they only live in the mountains and about 250 live in the area.  I was lucky enough to have two cross the trail in front of me.

I headed up the hill and passed several Japanese hikers who were in full mountaineering gear, with crampons, ice axe and summit boots.  They were a little bit surprised when I passed them heading up the mountain.  The trail up was a constant uphill, but we honestly not that bad.

At 2,700m there is a hut that sells hot soup and souvenirs and supplies.  They had some cold beer and I decided I needed a summit beer.  It was getting a bit windier as I climbed but I brought a wind breaker and a hoody, so was fine for warmth on the upper end, it was my hands and legs that were starting to get a little bit uncomfortable.  I knew I would survive so I pushed on.  There were probably about 10 people on the whole trail and it only took me 45 minutes to reach the first checkpoint.  After the hut, the snow was basically gone and it was a scramble over loose rocks to the top. Going up was not too bad, but I knew coming down would be trouble.

I passed a few more Japanese hikers and eventually made it to the top.  At the top there is a small shrine, that looks like the summit, but I had read that the actual summit (which was a few M higher) was another 400m down the trail.  So I got a photo op at the shrine and then headed to the summit.

By this point I was the only one within site and the wind was pretty strong, but I cracked my beer and set up the tripod for some photos.  It only took me about an hour to get to the top and I stopped a lot for photos so was pretty confident I would be able to finish the whole hike in less than 3 hours.  About 5 minutes after I made it to the summit, the clouds rolled in and reduced visibility to almost zero.  With the visibility so low, there wasn’t much point staying at the summit where it was cold and windy, so I started my way down.

As predicted scrambling down the loose rocks was much more difficult then going up and very shortly after starting my descent, I slipped on some loose rocks and fell pretty hard on my butt.  I had my gopro in one hand and so that took the brunt of my left hands impact but my right hand was skinned decently bad on a rock.  The gopro was fine, but my right hand needed some attention.  I had some wet naps in my bag because they are so abundant in japan and you never know when you are going to need one, but I didn’t have any first aid supplies and so I hoped that there would be a first aid kit at one of the huts on my way down.  When I reached the first hut that was closed , there was another hiker eating lunch and I asked him if he had a first aid kit.  He didn’t understand but when he saw my hand he lept into action and grabbed some dissinfectant, some wipes, a big bandage and anything else you might need.  I did my best to dress the wound and headed down the mountain again being much more careful this time.  My hand hurt, but otherwise I was ok and made it down pretty quickly.

The whole hike despite being described as three hours, only took 2.5 and that included some medical care and some tripod set up for photos.  It was beautiful and I am glad I decided to do it.

After returning to the main station, it was time to board the trolley bus which would take me directly under the peak I had just climbed. The trolley bus took 10 minutes and we were through the mountain.

We arrived at Daikanbo station which had a beautiful lookout and the entrance to the next form of transport.

I took a few photos at the lookout and then boarded the cablecar for the ride down to the Kurabe damn.

After the ropeway, there was another hill climbing cable car which would take us down another 373m to the dam.

The dam is HUGE and I am not sure how it compares to the hoover damn, but seems to me to be about the same if not bigger.  Even though the damn was impressive, the views in and around the damn area were amazing and so I spent a pretty decent ammount of time exploring the area and taking photos.

The last form of transportation on the alpine route was a trolley bus from the damn to the bus station.  It transported me 6.1km in 16 minutes and signaled the end for most passengers.

During the whole route there were clearly a lot of tour groups from all over the world and they were a little annoying but bearable.  But when the end of the line came and almost everyone jumped onto their tour buses to go home, it really hit home just how many people were there from a tour.  It turned out that I had to wait an hour to catch the bus from the station to Nagano and by the time the bus arrived there were less than 10 people on the bus.  Of the hundreds of people doing the alpine route, almost all of them were from tour groups.  It was not a hard thing to figure out on your own, so I am confused as to why you would need to hire a tour company to take you.  Anyways, I boarded the express buss from Ogizawa station to Nagano which was 1:45 and then jumped on the shinkansen back to Kanazawa where I was staying.

The whole experience was FANTASTIC and I really enjoyed getting high up into the mountains with limited effort.  The crowds were a little bit annoying, but once I set out on my hike, the crowds disappeared and I was all alone.  I wanted to write a separate post about this experience because it was only one day bit involved so many different forms of transportation and gave such a beautiful look at the Japanese mountains.  Where $90 seemed expensive when I got the ticket, it was totally worth it in the end.  This post is much more about the photos and less about the write up, so please enjoy!