The Hakuba Sanzan, the three peaks of Hakuba, are Mt. Shirouma, Mt. Shakushi, and Mt. Hakuba Yari, lined up along one ridge of the Ushiro-Tateyama Range in Japan’s Northern Alps. Mt. Shirouma is one of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains (Hyakumeizan), and it sits near the top of the list of mountains Japanese hikers say they most want to climb.
The reason it is so popular is that the route packs a lot into one line: the Hakuba Daisekkei, a great snow valley that never fully melts; an open alpine ridge; and Yari Onsen, a hot-spring hut that only hikers can reach.
The bar to entry is not high. The trail is clear and well marked, there is no terrain that calls for a rope or a harness, and the huts are spaced roughly every 3 to 4 hours, so your pack can be light. The hard part is somewhere else: the snow gullies.
I walked the whole route in July 2024 with my 10-year-old son. It rained or fogged for most of three days, and we lost the route on snow gullies twice. Looking back at the second time, two or three more wrong decisions could have turned it into a rescue. This post covers the information the route needs, plus what actually happened those two times.
What kind of route the Hakuba Sanzan is
The Northern Alps (the Hida Mountains) run 150 km north to south and are the heart of Japanese mountaineering. Their northern half splits into two roughly parallel ranges: the Tateyama Range to the west (Mt. Tsurugi, Mt. Tateyama) and the Ushiro-Tateyama Range to the east (the Hakuba Sanzan, Mt. Goryu, Mt. Kashimayari), with the Kurobe Gorge between them. The Hakuba Sanzan sit at the northern end of the Ushiro-Tateyama Range.
The three peaks are close in height, Mt. Shirouma at 2,932 m, Mt. Hakuba Yari at 2,903 m, and Mt. Shakushi at 2,812 m, so the ridge is a string of short drops and climbs rather than one long pull to a summit.
There are two main trailheads. One is Sarukura, from which you can climb the Hakuba Daisekkei (one of the three great snow valleys of Japan) straight up to Mt. Shirouma, or go up the Yari Onsen side to Mt. Hakuba Yari. The other is Tsugaike Nature Park, which reaches the ridge by way of the lake Hakuba Oike. There are several huts on the mountain: Oike Sanso, Hakuba Sanso, the Hakubadake summit lodge, Tengu Sanso, and Yari Onsen Hut, roughly one every 4 hours, so you can plan your nights around your own pace.
The two common itineraries for the Hakuba Sanzan are:
One: Sarukura → Hakuba Daisekkei → the Hakuba Sanzan → back the same way to Sarukura (or down from the Mt. Hakuba Yari junction to Yari Onsen, then out to Sarukura). The standard version is 2 days / 1 night, sleeping at Hakuba Sanso.
Two: Tsugaike Nature Park → Hakuba Oike → Mt. Shirouma → Mt. Shakushi → Mt. Hakuba Yari → Yari Onsen → Sarukura. This works as 2 days / 1 night or 3 days / 2 nights.
I had already walked the Hakuba Daisekkei on an earlier trip, and Yari Onsen had been on my list for years, so this time I chose the second itinerary and spread it over three days: in at Tsugaike, out at Sarukura, the first night at Hakuba Sanso and the second at Yari Onsen Hut. In total, three days, 20.7 km, and about 2,000 m of ascent.
On paper, that distance and elevation can be done in two days. I planned three, partly because this was a foreign range where the terrain, the culture, and the conditions were all less familiar to me, and partly because I had a 10-year-old with me, and a loose schedule is a safer one. It turned out to be the right call. The snow gullies ate far more time than I expected.
Getting to Hakuba from Tokyo
Hakuba village hosted events at the Winter Olympics and is one of Japan’s best-known ski resorts, so transport and lodging are easy to arrange.
The nearest big city is Matsumoto to the south, but Matsumoto has no Shinkansen. From either Tokyo or Nagoya it takes 3 to 4 hours to reach Matsumoto, then another 2 hours by train to Hakuba.
The fastest and simplest way to reach the Hakuba Sanzan trailheads is through Nagano: about 1 hour from Tokyo to Nagano on the Shinkansen, then an express bus from stop 26 at the east exit of Nagano Station straight to Hakuba, about 1 hour. I have come to Hakuba many times, by bus, by train, and by car, and this is the least trouble of all of them.
If you start from Tsugaike, the trailhead is up at Tsugaike Nature Park, and you have to ride two lifts from Tsugaike Kogen station at the bottom. The first is a small gondola that passes Shirakaba station (stay on) and ends at Tsuga-no-mori station; the second lift is in a separate building, a short walk away. The lifts do not open until 8:00 am, and that has a direct effect on how you plan your first day.
The huts: how to book, what you get
The main huts in the Hakuba area, Hakuba Sanso, Oike Sanso, Yari Onsen Hut, and Goryu Sanso, all belong to one group, Hakubakan. When I went in 2024, booking was a single email and you paid cash on arrival. Since the 2026 season Hakubakan takes reservations through its online system (yamayado.com); you register a credit card when you book, and from June 2026 a Nagano prefecture accommodation tax is added to the bill.
Half-board (ippaku-nishoku) for the 2026 season is ¥16,000 per person at Hakuba Sanso and ¥17,000 at Yari Onsen Hut. That is more than a hut in Taiwan, but what you get is on a different level: futons and pillows, hot meals, clean toilets, drink vending machines, lights and power, and outlets for charging (¥100 per hour).
Japanese huts also usually have a drying room. We walked two full days in rain; clothes, boots, socks, and gear went into the drying room at night, and the next morning everything was dry from head to toe. The key to all this comfort is a helicopter resupply every two weeks.
Hakuba Sanso itself opened in 1905, has been running for more than a century, and with 800 beds is the largest mountain hut in Japan. Its founder, Matsuzawa Teiitsu, built the first hut in the Hakuba range, the one that became today’s Hakuba Sanso. At the end of May each year Hakuba holds a mountain-opening festival in his memory, which also marks the official opening of the range.
Day 0: Tsugaike Sanso, a night at the trailhead
The lifts open at 8:00 am and take 30 to 40 minutes, so the earliest you can start walking is 8:30 to 9:00. If your first day is meant to reach Hakuba Sanso, let alone Tengu Sanso beyond it, that is tight.
The fix is to sleep up top at Tsugaike Sanso. It stands right beside the trailhead, you can swap breakfast for a packed lunch box, and you leave at first light, with no dependence on lift hours at all.
Tsugaike Sanso is at about 1,900 m and is run by Hakuba village. It is better equipped than a typical hut: clean private rooms and a communal bath. It sits inside the protected area, so on a clear day you get the views, and at night there is no light pollution for the stars. Half-board there costs little more than a night down in the valley.
It rained on us from the moment we arrived until the moment we left.
Day 1: Tsugaike → Hakuba Oike → Mt. Shirouma → Hakuba Sanso
9.1 km, 1,334 m up, 352 m down, 8 hours including rests. This is the longest day with the most climbing, but the path is clear, well maintained, and free of difficult terrain. Oike Sanso at the halfway point serves hot food and drinks and has water, which makes it a comfortable place for a long break.
Tsugaike trailhead → Tengu-hara → Mt. Hakuba Norikura
3.4 km, 600 m up, 3 to 4 hours.
July 15. We had planned to start at 6:00 am, but the rain was heavy. I had a coffee, dawdled, waited for it to ease, and in the end we left Tsugaike Sanso more than an hour late.
The first stretch climbs steadily on a natural trail. The rain came and went, and at times it was heavy enough to turn the trail into a stream, but it was never particularly slippery underfoot, probably because of the rock.
A little over an hour from the trailhead (1.5 km, 350 m up) you reach the first big feature, Tengu-hara. It is a wide alpine wetland with rare plants, so the government has built boardwalks that let hikers cross it without touching the ground.
After the junction at Tengu-hara the trail steepens, climbing among boulders, but there is no dangerous scrambling. Then comes a short snow gully (a steep gully where snow lingers into summer). It is not long; you hold the fixed rope and walk up. Above it the ground flattens out and you arrive at the first summit of the day.
Mt. Hakuba Norikura, 2,469 m, also written simply Norikuradake, is more a plateau than a summit. Without the stone cairn you would never know you were on top. Tengu-hara lies below it to the east, and Hakuba Oike below it to the west.
Hakuba Oike
Not far past Mt. Hakuba Norikura, Hakuba Oike appears below you.
Hakuba Oike is an alpine lake at 2,300 m, formed when volcanic activity dammed the valley, about 3.5 km from the Tsugaike trailhead. From Mt. Hakuba Norikura you drop to the shore and then pick your way along the boulders at the edge of the lake, 20 to 30 minutes to Oike Sanso. With no snow it is not hard. With snow on the rocks, watch that you do not slip into the lake.
Oike Sanso stands on the north shore, with 150 beds and a campsite. It sits exactly halfway between Tsugaike Sanso and Hakuba Sanso, 3 to 3.5 hours from either, so for anyone going in and out through Tsugaike it is a natural place to consider for the night.
Before the trip I went back and forth between Hakuba Sanso and Oike Sanso, and the deciding factor was which had the better photography. Hakuba Sanso, up on the ridge, has the big alpine views; Oike Sanso, on the lakeshore, has a quiet beauty of its own. It was a draw. In the end I went with whatever made the itinerary flow best, chose Hakuba Sanso, and used Oike Sanso only for a long lunch stop.
After 3.5 hours of walking in rain we got there at 11:00 am. My son and I ordered hot curry rice and fried rice, a Coke and a coffee, and rested for an hour before heading out again.
Hakuba Oike → Sangoku-zakai → Mt. Shirouma → Hakuba Sanso
Beyond the lake, the trail climbs gradually on scree up to the ridge, and the setting, the scenery, and the views all change. About an hour on (1.3 km, 221 m up) you reach Funakoshi-no-kashira, 2,612 m. From there the trail stays on the ridge between 2,700 and 2,900 m, rising and falling.
About another hour from Funakoshi-no-kashira (1.2 km) is Mt. Korenge, also called Dainichidake, 2,766 m and the highest point in Niigata Prefecture. An hour more brings you to Sangoku-zakai, where Niigata, Nagano, and Toyama prefectures meet, and where a side trail branches off toward Mt. Yukikura and Mt. Asahi.
Sangoku-zakai stayed with me for a simple reason: it was there that we got the best weather of the three days. The cloud opened for only ten-odd minutes, but it was the one time on the whole trip we saw the full view.
From Sangoku-zakai to Mt. Shirouma is a clear climb up scree, about 50 minutes (1 km, 215 m up).
Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake; the hut operator writes it Mt. Hakuba) is 2,932 m, one of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains, the high point of this route, and its signature peak. Of all the summits along the 150 km of the Northern Alps, the two with the biggest names are probably Mt. Shirouma and Yarigatake. I had been to Hakuba village four times before, every time looking up at this line of peaks from the valley. That day I finally stood on it.
Hakuba Sanso is 300 to 400 m below the summit, a 10-minute walk. We hung around on top until a sudden downpour sent us hurrying to the hut.
Day 2: Mt. Shakushi, Mt. Hakuba Yari, and down to Yari Onsen
5.5 km, 402 m up, 1,225 m down, 5 to 6 hours. Over two peaks on the ridge, then all the way down.
Strictly speaking, day two of the Hakuba Sanzan is neither hard nor tiring. Two things need attention: it is easier to lose the trail after Mt. Shakushi and Mt. Hakuba Yari, and there is a short chain section just before Yari Onsen.
The other two peaks on the ridge
Hakuba Sanso is not only the most important hut on the range, it is also a major junction. About 200 m along the trail toward Mt. Shakushi the routes split. West (downhill) is the path from Sarukura up the Hakuba Daisekkei to Mt. Shirouma; most people climbing Mt. Shirouma or the Hakuba Sanzan go up and down this way, because it is shorter and because the Daisekkei is one of the three great snow valleys of Japan. East is a quieter, more advanced route toward Ubadani Onsen and Keyakidaira station in the Kurobe Gorge. South is the ridge we were following.
That day the Hakuba Daisekkei route was closed, so most of the hikers in the hut the night before went back the way they had come. Only 7 or 8 of us headed for Yari Onsen.
Hakuba Sanso is at 2,832 m, Mt. Shakushi at 2,812 m, Mt. Hakuba Yari at 2,903 m, all much the same height, so the section is a series of short drops and climbs. About 1.5 hours from Hakuba Sanso (2.2 km), past Maruyama, you reach Mt. Shakushi.
On the scree below Mt. Shakushi there is a fork: up to the summit, or a shortcut that contours around the peak and rejoins the trail on the far side. The thing to know is that the marker for this fork is just a small stone and a wooden board lying on the ground in a wide field of scree. It is easy to go wrong here.
From Mt. Shakushi the ridge continues south, and a little over an hour later (1.3 km) you reach Mt. Hakuba Yari, 2,903 m, the last of the three. Below it there is again a choice between contouring around and going to the top; if you are skipping the summit, the contour path is quicker.
About 30 minutes south of Mt. Hakuba Yari you come to a junction. Straight on along the ridge leads past Tengu Sanso and through Kaerazu-no-ken to Mt. Karamatsu, 5 to 6 hours; I had considered that line too. But Kaerazu-no-ken is one of the three great notches of Japan, with real exposure, and with a child along I decided against it. East (downhill) from the junction is Yari Onsen.
Lost on a snow gully, the first time
The junction is at 2,742 m and Yari Onsen Hut at 2,100 m. The descent is 1.7 km and 732 m by my track, 2 to 3 hours.
From my research I knew there was one short chain section just before Yari Onsen, and I judged it would not trouble us much. But this side is far quieter than the Mt. Shirouma side, with fewer hikers, and parts of the trail are less distinct.
More to the point, there is not much written about this section, and the Japanese offline map I use, YAMAP, does not mark the snow gully at all. So I was not mentally prepared to cross snow.
When the scree brought us down beside a snow gully, it did not occur to me that we had to cross it. My son was in front, and we kept going down along the edge between the scree and the snow, on what looked like a path. On open ground like this with no clear trail I habitually open the offline map to check our position, and that is when I saw we were drifting further and further from the main trail.
When we stopped there were only two options: go back, or cross the snow.
We had no chain spikes, and it started raining again. All we could do was pick a place where the crossing was shorter and the slope gentler, and creep across the 100 to 200 m of snow very slowly, ready to retreat at any point. Halfway over I could just make out what looked like a ribbon on the far side and a cairn at the exit, and with the map that confirmed the route really did cross the snow.
At the hut that evening we met a group of Taiwanese hikers who had also gone slightly astray at the same crossing. They, though, had noticed faint red spray-paint marks on the snow showing the way.
The chain section before Yari Onsen
Besides the snow, there is one short chain section on this descent, 300 to 500 m before Yari Onsen: three or four spots where you traverse or climb over rock. Each is short, and each has a fixed chain.
The risk here is not the rock itself. It is that the section runs close to a stream gully: the path is narrow in places, with drops, and water runs across it, so it is wet and slick and a slip would matter. We went through in heavy rain, and even then the footing was better than I expected. If you hold the chain and take it carefully it is fine. It was easier than I had expected. Not far past it, the hut came into view.
Yari Onsen
Hakuba Yari Onsen sits at 2,100 m and is the second or third highest hot spring in Japan. It is a bicarbonate spring at 43.1°C, pouring straight out of a crack in the rock beside the hut into the bath, free-flowing with no recirculation. You can smell the faint sulfur long before you arrive.
Two days of rain, no shower, and the fright of the snow gully still fresh, and then this: a hot spring to sink into. A mountain hut with a hot spring on the trail is something you will find in very few places in the world.
Yari Onsen Hut itself is a simple building. It is dismantled every winter for the snow season and rebuilt each summer, so the facilities are basic by Japanese hut standards; there is no drying room, for one. Futons, charging, and meals are all there. Half-board is ¥17,000 per person.
I have written a separate post on the hot spring itself: Japan’s Best Open-Air Onsen: Hiking to Yari Onsen.
Day 3: Yari Onsen → Sarukura, the most dangerous day
5.7 km, 200 m up, 962 m down, 3 to 4 hours. From Yari Onsen at 2,100 m down to Sarukura at 1,245 m.
Everything I had read said there was no dangerous terrain on the last day of the Hakuba Sanzan, only several snow gullies to cross. At the hut I talked with a Nagano prefecture ranger and asked about the snow. He said we would be fine without spikes, just take it carefully with trekking poles, but he also warned that the snow gullies on the way down were much longer than the one we had crossed the day before.
The forecast promised a 3 to 4 hour break in the rain in the morning. I expected an easy walk out. Instead, on the last and longest snow gully, I lost the route again, and worse than the day before. Going over it afterward, two or three more wrong decisions in that stretch could have put us in real danger. Apart from falls, landslides, and earthquakes, most mountain accidents are the sum of a chain of bad judgments and bad decisions.
After the previous day I understood that snow gullies carry a route-finding risk: the snow shifts with the date and the season, and the line marked on the map is not necessarily the line you can walk today. So on this long gully I switched to following the man-made markers, faint red spray paint on the snow (hard to see, and it breaks off), the occasional ribbon on the ground, and footprints, with the offline map in hand for position. I asked my son to watch too. Four eyes, I figured, would not miss much.
But near the bottom of the gully the paint disappeared, and so did the ribbons. And from the start, our line across had drifted a little from the one on the map.
I followed what looked like a track further down the snow, and began to suspect the trail was above us, on the hillside beside the gully. I could not tell whether the line we had drifted from was on the snow or on the hillside. Continuing down the snow felt too risky, so I decided to get off it. Once off the snow it was clear the trail really was above us, but the slope where we had left the snow was thick brush. On the map the slope did not look too steep or too far, so I decided to push straight up through it.
Swimming through pathless brush, we forced our way back to the trail. That mistake cost us close to an hour.
Looking back, getting off the snow where we did and then bushwhacking up through trackless brush was not the right decision. When you are off route, the better move is to go back the way you came to known trail, and find the route again from there.
Once we were past the snow, the rest was easy. On the way we met two Taiwanese groups heading up and warned them about losing the route on the snow. Shortly after the snow the rain came down hard. My son had burned a lot of nerve and energy in that stretch and was tired now, but there was no more danger on the way down. Not far above Sarukura we joined the trail coming down from the Hakuba Daisekkei, and the Hakuba Sanzan traverse was done.
Snow gullies are the real risk on the Hakuba Sanzan
Most people assume the risk on a snow gully is slipping. After three days and two lost routes, my experience is that the risk is not the slip. It is how not to lose your way on a wide blank of white, and knowing where to step onto the snow and where to leave it.
A few concrete lessons:
The position and extent of a snow gully change with the date and the season. Offline maps do not necessarily mark the snow (mine, YAMAP, did not), and the line on the map is not necessarily the line you can walk that day.
In practice you navigate by the man-made markers: faint red spray paint on the snow, ribbons on the ground, cairns at the entry and exit points, and footprints. These break off and disappear, so you keep checking the whole way.
Bring chain spikes. I did not, which meant creeping across the snow, and it also raised the cost of turning back.
When you are not sure, go back to known trail and find the route again. That is better than cutting up off the snow onto the hillside. That is what my second mistake taught me.
Doing the Hakuba Sanzan with a child, and what foreign hikers should know
On difficulty: the Hakuba Sanzan trail is clear and well signed, and there is no terrain that needs a rope or a harness. The chain sections above Yari Onsen are short and the chains are solid; if you dislike heights you will not enjoy them, but no climbing skill is needed. Physically, the longest day is 9 km with 1,300 m of ascent.
The skill the route really asks for is judgment and navigation on snow, not climbing. That is why I recommend chain spikes, an offline map, and a schedule that is not packed.
The huts are the route’s biggest advantage. One every 3 to 4 hours, serving meals, with water, power, and drying rooms, so your pack can be light. That is a completely different experience from alpine traverses in many other countries, and it is why a 10-year-old could walk the whole thing.
On season: Hakuba Sanso and Oike Sanso are open from late spring to mid-October, but Yari Onsen Hut only opens from mid-July to late September (11 July to 27 September in 2026), and that is what sets the window for this itinerary. Even at the height of summer there is snow on the route. On paperwork, no entry permit is required, but you must file a climbing plan (tozan-todoke).
Finally, three days is better than two, especially with a child, or on your first alpine route in Japan. On paper two days is enough, but snow, weather, and unfamiliar ground all eat time, and a loose schedule is your margin of safety.
For another Northern Alps route from this blog, see Japan’s Hardest Single Peak: Mt. Tsurugi with My Son.
