I woke with the rising sun at 5:15 am, ugh. Four hours of sleep is not enough, but it was hard to stay asleep with the car door slamming noises as well. People started lining up for tickets shortly before 6 am with the offices opening at 6:50 am for the first bus departure at 7:30 am. The Alpine Route stretches across the mountains between Nagano and Toyama. There are several different modes of transportation you take and the whole journey across can take 7 hours with waiting times. I was only going as far as Murodo where Japan’s highest altitude hotel and onsen were, and where the famous snow corridor was. Due to the lack of snow, this year it was only 13 m high instead of the usual 17-19 m. This was probably the best website I’ve encountered in Japan in terms of English information. Everything but the timetables had been translated.

I wanted to get here super early because the crowds were supposed to be intense as it was the weekend after the opening weekend. They estimated over one hour waiting lines at each station. No thank you.

It was pretty warm out already in the sun, but I wore a lot of layers anyway with my snow pants. I joined the line at about 6 am, and ate my breakfast there. I had bought food ahead of time although they sold things at a station shop (at a higher price). Many other Japanese people were waiting along with loads of skiers and snowboarders. There’s no ski resort, but plenty of places to go backcountry. It’s always impressive to me to watch people strap them on to their packs and hike with that weight. I easily got my ticket for a round trip between Ogizawa station and Murodo and took my spot in the next line for the first part of the transportation chain, riding the trolley bus.

Electric buses are rare in Japan. Unlike Czech Republic, where the inner city of Plzen was filled with them, this is the only trolleybus line in all of Japan. Plenty of Japanese tourists were eagerly taking pictures of the buses. The tunnels through the mountain took years to complete and claimed many lives. After waiting about 5 minutes, and catching the first bus at 7:30 am, we unloaded at Kurobe Dam 15 minutes later. It’s like the Hoover Dam of Japan and is the tallest one here. I climbed the many stairs to emerge from underground on the observation deck. The views were stunning. Seeing snow capped mountains is my favorite. I then descended a bazillion stairs to walk across the dam to the next station and wait in line again.

The next round of waiting took about 10-15 minutes before I managed to get on the cable car. The cable car took 5 minutes before we were at the next station, Kurobedaira. They handed us a number to tell us when we could get on the ropeway to help keep the lines down. In the meantime, I went to the deck observatory and got my photo taken at the altitude marker. The temperature was still pretty warm here although there was snow all around. After a quick 5 minute ride on the ropeway - with amazing views - I switched to another trolley bus at the next station. Again it only took about 10 minutes waiting before I could board and another 10 minute ride, before I finally arrived at my destination, Murodo!

I arrived at about 9 am at the already crowded station. It was rather confusing to find my way out towards the snow corridor. It was finally cooler at this altitude, 2450 m (8000 ft). Following the stream of people down the street, I encountered the highest part of the snow corridor, 13 meters tall this year. I got the famous bus shot with the snow towering overhead. Some years the snow is 17-19 m tall! It’s really cool to see the stratification patterns where the snow has melted and refrozen over winter. Next, I stopped by to catch a glimpse of the lake that was still completely frozen. I put on my crampons at this point because there was plenty of snow on the ground and I was slipping everywhere in my hiking boots. Interestingly enough, the top layer was kinda crusty and melted so you didn’t sink through like with the powder at Mt. Asama.

My goal was to summit Mt. Oyama, the main peak of the Tateyama range, at 3000 m. I wore too many layers and got hot quickly. It was slow going and rather steep up the first bit. You had to be careful not to slip. I made it to the mountain hut at 2700 m (a rise of 300 m from my starting point) and ate lunch. The wind was really strong at this peak so then I was thankful for all my layers! I was accompanied by some skiers, snowshoers, hikers, and snowboarders. Had a nice conversation with one guy and his group as we climbed at about the same speed. One again, they were surprised to hear that I was hiking by myself.

I started the last bit of ascent. It was extremely rocky and more like the bouldering I was used to in Maine. The patches of snow, ice, and bare rock made it tricky with the crampons. I really need the full on 6-8 point spike ones. Suddenly, the cloud cover started coming in pretty quickly and whiting out everything. Soon I could barely see in front of me. I decided to turn around at this point. It cleared a little bit, but after the partial descent I had started, I realized I was ill equipped. It was incredibly difficult going down. One of the hardest things I’ve done. My shoes didn’t grip at all and I slid a lot. I can’t imagine doing it much further than the short distance I managed. The rest of the way back was easy enough as it was just sliding down on snow for short bits. You had to watch out for hollows and cracks under the snow though.

I made it back to the hotel (the highest altitude hotel in Japan). I wanted to go to the onsen (also the highest altitude one), but mother nature had determined it was not to be. After buying some omiyage, I began the journey back. Hordes of people had flooded the route and my wait times were bad, but not awful. Most people were going in the opposite direction. I’ve never been so glad I started early. I made it back to my car and got ready to do the drive back on local roads. I ended up stopping in Ueda at a FamilyMart around 6 pm to take a nap. I was so tired from the lack of sleep last night. I could barely keep my eyes open while driving. The one hour nap rejuvenated me and I finally got home at 9 pm. What a successful, fun trip!

Side note: The next day I realized I had forgotten my glasses there! I must have left them in the restroom in the morning when I put my contacts in. I contacted the staff via the website and they got back to me saying they found them! They even wrapped them up nicely and mailed them to me by pay on delivery. Yay!