For a discovery journey of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, it takes 6 different public transports to wind through 8 segments of the mountains for almost 7 hours. To experience such kind of extraordinary immersive travels, stay tuned to Apple Travels.

For a discovery journey of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, it takes 6 different public transports to wind through 8 segments of the mountains for almost 7 hours. To experience such kind of extraordinary immersive travels, stay tuned to Apple Travels.

Every winter the snow falls incessantly over this region. So much so that it has recorded the highest snow fall in the world and the snow could easily accumulate to a height of 20m. Standing majestically at a height of 3,000m this is the Mt. Tateyama of the Kurobe Alpine Range.

The Japanese are really remarkable in putting the three factors of convenience, tourism and environmental friendliness all in harmony. In 1971, the Japanese had successfully completed a mountain sightseeing route of 86km long called the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and this route is constructed at Alpine Range that is about 2,000 – 3,000m high. On top of that, come every March at the point of 2,450m of height, they will make use of hundreds of technical staff together with some huge machines to work for 52 days; spending a whopping RM5 million just to make the 20km long Snow Corridor. By April, the Snow Corridor is ready to welcome its new visitors. Walking in between the 15m of height natural walls of snow with the snow covered undulating curves unfold before your eyes, that is such an amazing wonder.

snow wall.

For a discovery journey of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, it takes 6 different public transports to wind through 8 segments of the mountains for almost 7 hours. To experience such kind of extraordinary immersive travels, stay tuned to Apple Travels.

Before we took off on our journey through the Alpine Route, I reassured my group members that this visit to the Japan’s most famous mountain resort is going to be an unforgettable experience for them. We actually had so much of fun ascending the heights on different modes of transportation. The mountainous range, the waterfalls, the huge man-made dam, the corridor with 15m of snow wall – all these were so overwhelming.

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route stretching from Tateyama Station of Toyama Chiho Railway until Ogizawa of Nagano Prefecture is a total distance of 86km of mountainous road. Completed in 1971, this route is opened to visitors only from end April till early November. Visitors can only make use of the public transportation to visit this area which is very systematic and well managed.

The itinerary of a visit to Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is as follows:-

  • Firstly, you will need to take a 7 minutes’ ride on the funicular car from Tateyama station to the Bijodaira station about 1.3km away.
  • Change to a bus to go toMurodo station which is at an elevation of 2,450m. It takes 50 minutes to travel this 23km stretch.
  • The trolleybus transfers visitors from Murodo to Daikanbo which is 3.7km (10 minutes away). Visitors can get a panoramic view of the snow scenes of the mountain range.
  • Catch the spectacular aerial view from the aerial tramway on the way to Kurobedaira. This is a short 7 minutes trip for 1.7km.
  • From here take the underground tram (5 minutes, 0,8km) and walk for 10 minutes (0.6km) to arrive at the magnificent man-made Kurobe Dam. Be captivated by the picturesque lake view as the lake surface is still frozen in April-May.
  • The visit ends at Ogisawa station after getting off the trolley bus from Kurobe Dam which took 16 minutes for a 6.1km distance.

At the end of the journey, everybody felt the 15m high snow corridor and the snow valley at an elevation of 2,390m were so amazing, so incredible! It really made us feel as though the Mt. Tateyama is actually standing up. (as “Tate” in Japanese means stand up).


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李桑 作者

在旅游业纵横驰骋1万1000多个日子, 探秘南北极境, 足印遍布7大洲137国! 由衷信仰,“出走”; 身体力行,“走出”。