Detour #242: The Snow Tunnels of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Highway, Japan
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ONe of Japan’s most amazing roads is cut through solid snoW as it scales mount tateyama.
This is a Detour with a difference because you won’t be behind the wheel. Instead, you’ll be giving up driving duties to the skilled coachmen and women who navigate this incredible road.
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Highway may only be the second highest road in Japan, but, when it comes to offering a unique experience it towers above them all.
That’s because, for just eight months a year when weather permits, the road is plowed through a 15m-high wall of solid snow as it climbs the slopes of Mount Tateyama. Along with Fuji and Hakusan it’s a holy mountain and pilgrims have been making (slow) progress here since the 17th century.
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After 1971, however, there’s been a less exhausting way, although it remains pretty complicated! There are two routes to the highest point at Murodo station, which sits at 2,450 metres. From Ogizawa you ascend first by electric bus through a six-kilometre tunnel, then walk 600 metres across the Kurobe dam, take a funicular railway for another 800m (and a 400m gain in elevation), brave a 1.7km cable car and then, finally, take a trolley bus through another tunnel.
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The winding bus ride through the incredible snow corridor begins at Bijodaira (to get here you’ll already have taken a 65 minute train ride, followed by a seven-minute 977-metre funicular). Once aboard the Tateyama Highland bus it takes 50 minutes to zig and zag up the 23km to Murodo. During this whole journey all you’ll see from the window of your coach is white. Just a shear vertical wall of snow. The bus does stop around half-way for photos, however.
Once you reach the top you can grab a warming alpine curry at one of a trio of restaurants, or even extend your stay overnight. In total the pilgrimage takes around eight hours, whether you opt for the full crossing or a there-and-back on the same route.
Words Nik Berg Twitter/X | Instagram
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