Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, Chubu, Japan

5Maizatul Akmam 5:00 PM Jun 23, 2015

Snow in June?
It was an expensive day trip but all worth it. I actually discovered this place by chance. Never thouhgt of seeing snow in summer! After extensive research especially on the transport and asking for advice from few tokyo forum, I decided to proceed with a day trip to see the snow wall which is only opened in spring from mid April to mid June. Every now and then before our trip, i checked the official website to make sure the snow wall would still be there when we made our trip. The alpine route website is excellent. It provides you with the transport timetable to the detail, so you can plan your journey well. To sort of save on the fare, i bought the JR East Pass for 5 flexible day for the whole family upon arrival at Narita. With the pass we could ride the Narita Express to Tokyo, shinkansen and JR trains within for 5 days within the Kanto region. Since it's a day trip and the last bus from Ogizawa (at the based of the alpine route) back to Nagano station was at 4.30pm, we started our journey very early. We took the 6:16am Hokuriku Shinkansen from the Tokyo Stn to Nagano Stn which took us about 1.5hrs, at maximum speed of 240km/hr. To maximise the time and minimise cost, we opted for the halfway journey up to Murodo and back to Ogizawa/ Nagano. The fare for the transports from Nagano and along the alpine route were not covered by the JR East Pass. The bus ride from Nagano to Ogizawa was abt 1.5 hrs passing some Japananese villages with padi fields, crossing some rivers, and up the mountains, with on my family of 5 in it. To reach the peak of the alpine route (Murodo) on the Mt, Tateyama, we went on 4 modes of transport, from 4 stations, walked through tunnel and across the higest dam in Japan.Since we were going up the mountain, except for the ropeway and Kurobe dam, we were most of the time inside tunnels that were build way2 back as in the 1950s. The cablecar ride from Kurobe to Daikanbo was the best. The tunnel which the cablecar went through was very steep, almost at 100 degree angle, and the ride was smooth. When we reached Murodo, it was raining and covered with heavy fog. The opening to the snow wall entrance was delayed. But we got to play in the snow for quite a while, in a low visibility. Felt like snow was falling, though. Slightly in the afternoon, the weather got better and they opended the snow wall. It was breathtaking. The wall was still high, 11m at highest point. As the cloud began to clear, we could see some of the mountain peaks, still covered in thick snow. I read that his place received the most snow in Japan. We walked down the road a bit and began our journey down, on the 4 modes of transport, by 2pm, just in time to catch the 4,30pm alpico bus. It's June, off peak season, so there weren't many people, except when you met up with the group tour. There were no long queue, so we didnt have to wait long to get on each of the transport. Eventough it was a short trip, expensive and quite tiring, it was worth it!

4romgozaimas 5:00 PM Jun 17, 2014

We did the Alpine Route from Osaka unscathed.
The Tateyama Alpine Route was not in our initial itinerary. We had an extra day in Osaka and we decided to do this route. We have heard so much about this route that we just couldn’t let this opportunity slip away while we were still holidaying in Japan. Our train journey from Osaka to Tateyama took about 5 hours. The idea of sitting in trains that long may not be very encouraging for some. We psyched up ourselves and were determined to go through with it. We are in our late 50s and we completed the whole route unscathed. We did this not to prove anything, except that we were afraid another opportunity to visit Japan may not come again in future. Our day started early at Osaka station. We took the 7.00 am Limited Express Thunderbird and reached Tateyama Station at 12.00 pm. There were 2 train transfers at Toyama and Dentetsu-Toyama. We encountered a slight hiccup at Dentetsu-Toyama because we couldn’t locate the station. There was an on-going construction work in the area and the diversion confused us. A good salesman on the ground floor of a shopping building, although spoke little English, was kind enough to show us the way. The station is actually located on the 2nd floor of that same shopping building. At Tateyama Station, we purchased tickets for the whole route from Tateyama to Ogizawa. We departed from Tateyama using the cable car at 12.20 pm. The “Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route Time Table” is a useful "must have" guide. We referred to this guide for all the timings and transfers in order not to miss the last bus out from Ogizawa. There are different modes of transportation like cable car, highland bus, trolley bus and ropeway that visitors take from one place to another. Queues for “Group” and “Individual” are separated at all these places. At every transfer points, we noticed bigger crowds at “Group Queues” than at “Individual Queues” . They will also let in the “Individual Queues” first. Our family of 4 used the "Individual Queues" as the “Group Queues” are meant for tour groups. At 12.20 pm our route started with the cable car ride to Bijodaira. It was packed with passengers and luck wasn’t on our side. We did not get a good standing position to enjoy the scenery during the 7-minute ride. The 50-minute bus ride from Bijodaira to Murodo was enjoyable. Standing passengers are not allowed and we got seats at the front row to admire the snow-covered mountain range. One of the highlights of this route for us began at Murodo. This was where we got off the bus at 1.30 pm and walked along the snow corridor. We had a jolly good time here frolicking in the snow and snapping pictures for more than an 1 hour and departed by the tunnel trolley bus at 2.45 pm for the next destination at Daikanbo. The 7-minute Ropeway ride from Daikanbo to Kurobedaira is very unique. It has no supporting pillar and gave a panoramic view of the mountainside. Again, we were not lucky enough to get a good position inside the crowded car. Another highlight is the walk at Kurobe Dam. We arrived here at 3.25 pm from Kurobeko. It would normally take 15 minutes to walk across the dam but we took 1 hour to enjoy the awesome view. The dam is huge and majestic. It made us very small and it reminded us of "Optimus Prime". We did not venture the long steps up to the observation block. We departed here at 4.35 pm and reached the ending point at Ogizawa at 4.51 pm. We bought bus tickets at the counter for Omachi-Onsen where we spent the night there in a fabulous ryokan. This had been a worthwhile and successful trip since we managed to take the second last bus out from Ogizawa at 5 pm. There was a 55 minutes buffer until the last bus at 5.55 pm. The transfers between places were routine. The cable car and ropeway rides were not enjoyable due to the crowd. However, the snow corridor and Kurobe Dam will forever be etched in our memories.