Arrived in Japan last week-end for 2 month, I took the opportunity to enjoy some snowshoeing in Japan. This week-end’s menu : the north part of the Yatsugatake range. In 2 hours by train plus 1 hour by bus from Tokyo we are at the bottom of the piratasu-tateshina resort’s ropeway which bring us to the ridge. As mountain huts are opened all year around, it is a great spot to start exploring the surroundings and admire winter landscapes from the ridge with a playground wide enough to satisfy everyone from beginners to experts :

This time we choosed the Shimagare hut, easily reachable from the top of the ropeway, as our base camp.

As the weather was great, we decided for the first day, to do a loop and go up to two surroundings summits : mount Shimagare and Chausu-dake. Snow conditions were excellent and as we were not the first ones to snowshoe in the area, we didn’t had to struggle doing a trace in powder snow while going to the top, that we reach in less than an hour. From the top we had great views of the Yatsugatake range, the Southern, Central and Northern Alps and as there was no wind, we could take our time and fully enjoy the panorama.

After this really nice half-day walk in the forest, on top of the ridge and down in powder snow, we were just on time for dinner after admiring the sunset.

The next morning, I woke up at 4h30 to be on time on top of mount Shimagare for sunrise with our group’s photographer, while other prefered staying warm in their bed. Wheather was as nice as the day before but the wind also decided to wake up early this morning. It was quite chilly on top but the morning lights were beautifull as always and made us forgot the rest!

After picking up our team mates at the hut, we went for another loop. This time we avoided summits because of the wind and went down to a frozen lake below the refuge.

Back at the ropeway before 13h, we were just on time for one of the few buses that droped us to an onsen on the way back to Chino station. As the next bus down was 2 hours later, we had plenty of time to enjoy the onsen and have lunch before heading back to Tokyo.