P190 - Japan - Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

Tateyama Kurobe : The Wall of snow, Japan

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (立山黒部アルペンルート) is a famous mountain sightseeing route between Tateyama, Toyama and Ōmachi, Nagano, Japan. The whole route opened in June 1, 1971.

The route is just 37km in length, but the vertical interval is as large as 1,975m. It takes 7 different public transports with 5 different modes, namely funicular, bus, trolleybus, aerial tramway, and walking.

The route is carefully built not to damage the nature around. Consequently, three lines go entirely under tunnels. (This is also to protect the lines from snow.) Among them, two are trolleybus lines. Trolleybuses are all gone in the country, except of these two lines, still used here as they don't exhaust gas.

The route goes through Tateyama of Hida Mountains with a lot of scenic sites, including Kurobe dam. Some stations have hotels around them, and are the bases of mountain climbing or trekking.

The section between Kurobe Dam and Ōgisawa was originally made for the construction of the dam, while the section between Tateyama and Kurobeko was for tourists from the beginning. Currently, the route is purely a sightseeing one, only used by tourists. Although this is the only route that directly links Toyama and Nagano, it is unpractical for normal users as it takes 6 transfers, roughly 5 hours, and ¥8,060 fare just between Tateyama and Ōgisawa.

立山黑部“高山道路”是從富山地方鐵道的立山車站到長野縣扇澤的全長約86 公里的山嶽道路，可利用巴士、纜車、架空索道等作交通工具。它是爲了建造黑部川第 4 發電所而修建的一條運輸道路，在 1972 年全線開通。

立山，在自古以來就就是人們敬奉、修行的名地，這裏有彌漫著硫磺味、寸草不生的地獄谷，還有立山最大的火山湖“禦廚池”，和夏季也不化雪的溪谷。從春天的新綠到秋季的紅葉，一年中前來欣賞四季景觀的登山者絡繹不絕。黑部川上游的黑部水庫，蓄水量 2 億噸，高度爲 186 米，是日本最高的拱形水庫，從水庫展望台看水庫放水，氣勢宏壯，使人百看不厭。

高山道路沿途還有許多景點，如一塊巨岩構成的惡城壁以及落差 350 米、氣勢爲日本之最的稱名瀑布和盛夏時期仍湧冒著 2～5度泉水的室堂等，都令遊人讚歎不已。

References sources : Wikipedia, 日本国家旅游局