REPORT

After leaving the Tsugaike Visitor Center, it took me about 3 hours and 15 minutes to reach the cairn marking the summit of Mt. Hakuba Norikura (pictured, background). The main ridgeline featuring the three major Hakuba Sanzan peaks and Mt. Korenge was often hidden by clouds billowing dynamically up from the eastern valley. From time to time, a strong, chilly north wind swept across the peak, carrying with it a clear sense that autumn is on its way to the Ushiro-Tateyama Range.
[Mt. Hakuba Norikura Summit]

At the base of the ubiquitous, low-growing Haimatsu pine shrubbery, patches of early-turning iwa-tsutsuji (pictured) were already tinted red. While nanakamado usually provide the first splashes of autumn color, other shrubs and trees such as varieties of tsutsuji, yama-urushi, and maruba-mansaku have also begin to show their autumn hues early in the season. Over at Tenguhara, the white spikes of iwa-shobu flowers had begun to take on a delicate pink tint at their tips, another subtle sign of the changing season.
[Mt. Hakuba Norikura Summit]

Between the breeze, the trees, and the alpine plants, there was a clear, collective sense of autumn’s approach. Yet in the meadow of flowers near the lingering patch of snow shown in Vol. 1’s first photo, signs of summer still prevailed, with Hakusan-furo and miyama-senkyu in full bloom (pictured). Some hikers set down their packs and stepped slightly off the trail* to get closer to the flowers, exclaiming things like, “How beautiful!” and “I never expected to see so many blossoms here!”
*Please follow standard mountain etiquette by sticking to hiking trails and avoid trampling fragile off-trail plants and environments.
[Mt. Hakuba Norikura Eastern Slope]

About ten minutes from the summit of Mt. Hakuba Norikura, I reached a slightly wider section of trail where the view of Hakuba Oike gradually opened up (pictured). I observed many hikers pausing there, with some taking in the scenery, others snapping photos, and quite a few sitting down for a longer break. I joined them, enjoying my lunch in the company of the mountain crowd, before setting off again and beginning my descent a little earlier than planned.
[Hakuba Oike]

　　
[Tsugaike Nature Park Opening Information]
*Period … 6/7 (Sat.) to 10/26 (Sun.), 11/1 (Sat.) to 11/3 (Mon., holiday)
*Hours … Tsugaike Ropeway is open weekdays from 8:00 a.m., weekends and holidays from 8/23 to 9/23 and 9/22 from 7:30 a.m.
*Fees … Tsugaike Ropeway Roundtrip + Entrance Fee / Adults JPY4,000, Elementary School Students JPY2,200, Preschoolers Free → Advance Discount Tickets: Adults JPY3,500, Children JPY1,950! (No need to exchange at the ticket window! You can proceed straight to the gondola.)
(*One preschooler free with each paid adult. The second preschooler will be charged at the normal children’s rate.)

[Hakuba Tsugaike WOW! Opening Information]
*Period … 2025/7/19 (Sat) – 8/31 (Sun) *Closed on weekdays from 6/7 – 7/13 and 9/1 – 10/26.
Opening hours … 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (last admission at 3:00 p.m.)
Charges … Tobidas (1 time) JPY1,000 Kabedas (1 time) JPY500 Amidas (60 min) JPY1,600 for adults, JPY1,000 for primary schools students Kogidas (1 time) JPY2,000

*This season’s Tsugaike Report will be updated once or twice a week.
*To Visitors Requesting Original Data of Our Photographs

reported by Snownavi