We’re not massive snow activity persons. Nonetheless, when wintering in the country, we’d necessarily need to at least do some of it – if nothing else, just to tick off the item in the ‘must-do’ list! Unfortunately, the daughter had her surgery last year, and we were quite mindful about putting her at risk with activities like skiing. The amount of expected snowfall was also a significant factor: unlike many other Singaporean families also wintering in Japan, we had to finish our vacation latest on Christmas day to return to work immediately after. And if our previous two Japan vacations in December has shown us, it’s that there is only so much snowfall in December.
That was pretty much the primary concern leading up to Day 15. We wrote to numerous companies for possible snow activities during the several days we’d be in Nagano prefecture. But only one replied: a company called Little Peaks, which was operating activities in Norikura Kogen. The company nonetheless was not optimistic that given our preferred date of the activity, there would be sufficient snowfall for a snowshoe hike. Some sort of organised activity for us was always going to happen: just that whether it would be a snowshoe one was really up to weather! Fortunately, the company informed us 3 weeks ago that the projected weather was favorable against our date, and on Day 10, with a more confident weather forecast was able to confirmed that our snowshoe hike was a go.
So, we made the journey to Norikura Kogen this morning where we’d be hiking a trail to see the Zengoronotaki waterfall. Norikura Kogen is large plateau at the base of Mount Norikuradake. The directions to get to this place isn’t on Google Maps, but after some researching and also consultation with the Matsumoto Bus Terminal Office, it basically involves a 30 minute train ride followed by a 45 minute bus ride.
From Matsumoto Station, we took a train to Shinshimashima Station – a very quiet sedate spot and apparently the only tourists who stop at this station is to take a bus to Norikura Kogen area itself. The train and bus ride timings synced up quite well providing sufficient buffer for possible delays, but we largely experienced no such throughout this hike day. Besides us, there were only four other tourists on the bus: two couples in what look like their late 20s’ to early 30s’ and traveling to Norikura Kogen to ski.
The bus dropped us off at the Norikura Kogen Tourist Information Center stop, and we finally experienced our first falling snow this trip. Snow had been forecasted for these last two days at Matsumoto, but only the very lightest of snow had fallen on the city itself. But on Day 14 night at the Kogen, there was sufficient fall that led to about a feet deep of snow.
The immediate feeling of being in a quiet snowtown that barely anyone goes to was evident: aside from the couple of parked vehicles, there was barely any visible life. Or perhaps everyone had hunkered down in the buildings!
We headed to the company office which was just next to where the bus dropped us off, and we spent half an hour with paperwork and the usual signing-off of liabilities, and also a thorough briefing with our guide, followed by trying out of equipment. Our guide was a really nice lady I suspect in her late 30s’ or early 40s’, and asked that we call her ‘C4’, as her name was too complex to pronounce! She could manage conversational English though somewhat haltering, and by us speaking slowly and emphasising and enunciating keywords, we were able to converse.
As we needed to board the 12:16PM departing bus back to Shinshimashima Station to return to Matsumoto city, the usual 3 hour snowshoe hike was shortened to about 2.5 hours. That was fine for us and I didn’t feel like we were being shortchanged: hiking through a forest trail when it’s snowing is thrilling for the first 5 minutes, then just sheer physical exertion for the rest of it! That we had to wear snowshoes only added to the challenge: it of course ensured that you did not slip, but it also was pretty easy to accidentally step on your own shoe and subsequently lose balance.
The 3 hour hike as organised by Little Peaks normally involves them bringing the group to a closer point to the Falls, and from the Falls, the group would hike all the way back to the Norikura Kogen Tourist Information Center. Since we had less time, the company arranged for a pick-up on the return leg too after we’d hiked from the falls back to the main road. The trail to the Zengoronotaki Falls waterfall itself was probably perhaps about a kilometer, though it was pretty hard to judge as we were trudging through the snow slowly. C4 would also stop at various points to share interesting information about the flora and animal life in the park. Still, we made it to the waterfall after an hour’s (slow) hike. The waterfall had partially frozen overnight, and we were treated to the gorgeous sight from several vantage points.
The 12:16PM bus returned us to Shinshimashima Station at 1PM: after that it was a wait at the station – there was a heated room (whew) – for the 1:27PM train that brought us back to Matsumoto Station. We were famished and lunched at the coincidentally named Everest restaurant, an Indian-Nepalese joint which did up naans.
More pictures!
In all, this was a great and very memorable experience and the first time we’d hiked through snow. The actual experience was physically demanding, but NS boys would handle it easily, and uncles and aunties like us who’re still in reasonably good shape would manage fine. This isn’t something we recommend for young children or older folk who’ve not previously experienced such hikes in snow though.
We’d be heading elsewhere in the prefecture Day 16 tomorrow to see Snow Monkeys. More to come soon!