Hakuba Overnight Hikes
For day hikes please go to the day treks page . The overnight hikes entail you either staying in a mountain lodge which are all about 9,000 yen including 2 meals, or at campgrounds (about 500 yen pp) usually adjacent to the huts and run by the management of the huts. Most of the more popular huts are open from the last week of May until about the 10th October (but not Yari onsen). For the lodges you should make a reservation in advance. We can do this for you once you arrive at the hostel. If you do choose to camp you must absolutely have a proper alpine tent that can withstand the seemingly ever present strong winds at the peaks. Don't forget your waterproof clothing.
Mt Shirouma
Mt Shirouma is the mountain after which Hakuba is named and is the most popular overnight hike. This peak can be tackled as a return trip from either the Tsugaike side or via Daisekkei (the snowy gorge), or better still as a round trip combining both legs. Either way it is a 6-7 hour hike to the top and will require you to spend a night either at the mountain lodge 30 minutes below the summit on the Daisekkei side, or at the adjacent camping ground. Many people get up early (before 5 am) to make the short hike to the summit in time for sunrise where you are often treated with a spectacular view of the valley shrouded in cloud with just the peaks jutting out. It is probably best to start from the Daisekkei side as it is easier to climb snow then it is to descend it, and it is a shorter trek to the mountain lodge/campground. From the Daisekkei side there is about an hour hike through the forest till you get to the snowy gorge then it is a steep climb, some on snow and some not. Make sure your boots are waterproof for this hike. From the Tsugaike Nature Park side it is about a 7 hour hike to the summit of Mt Shirouma via some very varied scenery such as highland marshes and a large lake which is often still be frozen over even in July. The last 2 hours involve you walking the main North/South ridge which gives you great scenery all the way on a clear day.
Access
The easiest access to Daisekkei is to walk to the Happo Bus terminal from the hostel (about 15 minutes walk) and then there are buses (20 minutes and 900 yen) that will take you to Sarukura which is the start of the trail. The bus runs from early July until mid October. You can hike the course from mid June but you will have to catch a taxi each way which will set you back about 3,700 yen one way. For the Tsugaike side, walk to the Happo Information Centre from the hostel (about 15 minutes) and catch a bus from there to Tsugaike (every 2 hours or so and about 500 yen). From Tsugaike you can get the Tsugaike Panoramic Way (gondola + ropeway - 1,500 yen one way) which will whisk you to the Tsugaike Nature Park at an altitude of 1800 metres in about 50 minutes. There is a visitors centre located at the top and you can get maps, information and refreshments and the like from there. The Panoramic way is operational from around the 20th of May till about the 3rd of November.Karamatsu Dake/Goryu Dake
You can do this overnight starting on either the Goryu side or the Happo side and stay at the mountain hut/camping ground of either one. The Karamatsu mountain lodge is open from the end of April till early November whereas the Goryu lodge is open from the same date but closes about the 17th October and is also closed for a month from around the 7th May till the 12th June. The trek involves basically going up the Happo One ridge till you hit the main North/South ridge, then going along that ridge till you hit the ridge coming back down to the Goryu ski area, or vice versa. Being completely on ridges or summits for the whole duration of the trek, in clear weather the views are endless. Since you can make use of the lifts/gondolas at both ski areas it means there is less of a climb than for example the Daisekkei trek. The summit of Goryu Dake is about an hour hike in the opposite direction from Karamatsu so there is an extra 2 hours you need to factor in if you want to get to it's peak.
