Kita-Yatsugatake Ropeway

Update:2019/09/30

• Ropeways
• Superb Views
• Nature Observation
• Forests and Lakes
• Autumn Leaves
• Mountain Climbing and Trekking
• Mountains and Rivers

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The Kita-Yatsugatake Ropeway travels up the Yatsugatake mountains to a 2,237-meter-high plateau with amazing scenery of the three ranges of the Japanese Alps. Beyond the ropeway station is an otherworldly garden of igneous rock and windswept pines surrounded by rounded peaks. There are many walking and hiking trails at the top of the ropeway, winding through the plateau’s garden and ascending to the summits of nearby Mts. Yokodake and Shimakare.

At the top of the ropeway, you can see an unusual phenomenon. Stripes of dead trees cut a swath through the forest on the mountainside. These patterns are called fir waves, or shimakare in Japanese (hence the name of the latter mountain above). Over many years, these stripes move up the mountain as trees exposed to the wind begin to wither and new trees grow behind them.

The highland here has beautiful scenery year-round. From June to August, enjoy fresh greenery and alpine flora. From late September to mid-October, marvel at vivid autumn colors. From late December to late March, snowshoe through a winter wonderland covered in a carpet of snow.

(Snowshoe and boot rentals are available at the ropeway base station; 2,500 yen and 1,000 yen respectively.)