The 10 Best Mountains in Hokuriku, Chubu

Reviewed By Eevon88

We hiked up Mt Tateyama on 8th May 2018. We started our journey at Toyama Chitetsu Railway station departing at 5.26am, exchanged our tickets (JR tateyama promo tix 9000 yen) at Tateyama station, and took the 1st cable car at 7am. Then, switched transport to Tateyama highland bus and reached Murudo station around 8.15am. We did approach the customer service counter to get some guides as we have no clue how to get to th summit, however we were given assurance that path is footprinted and many has gone up already. No registration required. We started our hike at 8.30am, putting on our crampons, prepping hiking sticks and most importantly, sunglasses as the reflection from the snow is very glaring. We found poles sticking out from the snow and that was the guide to lead to the 1st resthouse. The snow was thick and deep, but crampons did help to grip the snow. It was a relaxing climb, but there were few steeper slopes. We were amazed by the view as we were surrounded by snow mountains. There was this little stinch of sulphuric smell in the air and the snow has yellowish patchy colours that represent the mixture of sulphur with ice. Once we reached the first resthouse, we kept our crampons as the rest of the hike was loose rocks and gravel. There wasnt much of a path at the rocky areas, and you have to be careful where you step as some promising rocks are shaky or will give way due to your weight. In between the rocky path there was a very small shrine. We made our prayers and continued our journey. We reached a false peak only to find a longer path up the summit. After the false peak, the path is zig-zagged. Please be careful not to step on the frost as it could be slippery. Initially, halfway up from the false peak, we took a wrong turn to the right and reached a frosty steep slope. We decided to turn back, but another hiker who is descending pointed a different direction and we somehow found another path up the summit. Finally, we reached the summit and the view was amazing!!! Took us 3 hours to get up there from Murudo station! The resthouse at the summit was not operating and buried in snow. We took our time to savour the moment and just spoil ourselves with the view and coldddd wind. Please prepare warm clothings and waterproof shoes as it could get very cold and windy up there. Amazing experience and it was our very first alps snow hike!!!