Hakuba: Peak Colors

Today I headed to Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture. Known as one of Japan's leading winter sport destinations, the town offers tourists also the possibility to see autumn colors early in the season thanks to the fact that several of its ski resorts let visitors use their gondolas and chairlifts to access higher elevations and see the seasonal colors as early as late September.

This year the colors seem a little bit behind their average schedule, and the peak of the season was still taking place only in the resorts' highest elevations and the slopes above them. The middle and lower areas were still mostly green and will see the colors gradually descend over the coming weeks.

I visited three ski resorts today: Tsugaike, Happo-One and Iwatake. Unfortunately the majestic peaks of the Northern Japan Alps were wrapped in clouds most of the day today, so that I could only imagine how the sight would have been with the additional natural backdrop.

At the very top of the Tsugaike Mountain Resort, reached by a 20-minute gondola and 5-minute ropeway ride, is the Tsugaike Nature Park, an idyllic collection of marshlands and forests, covered by a network of hiking trails - mostly on elevated wooden paths - offering anything from 20 minute to 4 hour options on a terrain spanning an elevation of around 200 meters (1820 to 2010 meters above sea level).

The autumn colors today were at their peak in the entire park and have also started developing along the ropeway, while green was the dominating color along the gondola.

At Happo-One - the site of several alpine ski events during the 1998 Nagano Olympics - visitors need to take even three lifts (an 8-minute gondola, a 7-minute chairlift and a 5-minute chairlift) to reach the top of the resort and the autumn colors. From there, visitors can then hike in a steep 45-90 minute ascent (just over 200 meters in elevation gain) to the Happo-ike Pond, which is surrounded by some peaks of the Northern Japan Alps.

The colors today were at their peak around the trail and the pond, which is located at an elevation of 2060 meters above sea level, but they felt less intensive than at the earlier visited Tsugaike Nature Park. The slopes along the uppermost chairlift have also started changing colors, while the lower slopes were still green.

The Iwatake Mountain Resort is much smaller and gets visitors to just under 1300 meters above sea level in a single 8-minute gondola ride. At the summit, visitors can enjoy some easy walking trails and a variety of activities and restaurants. In addition to the trees on the mountain itself - which were still green today - a highlight of the centrally located Iwatake are the views onto the surrounding mountains, whose slopes display - when the timing and visibility is right - so called three-tired colors: green at the bottom, red in the middle and the white, snow-capped peaks above.

Today, I could not confirm the arrival of snow yet, and the red tier was still limited to the highest elevations, while the middle and lower sections were still mostly green.