Snow walls of Norikura

It was my great dream in life to visit a place full of snow. As I reached Japan in March last week, I missed the winter here, eventhough there was snow fall at one night of that week which I missed to see, but  it was really cold -untolerable to a tropical fellow like me.

As we heard about the snow walls of Norikura, we decided to go there and enjoy the snow which still remain at the mountain tops in this time of early summer too.  We booked for a bus tour to  Norikura on May 27, 2012. This is our first bus tour in Japan. Me and my husband reached Nagoya eki (railway station) at 7.45am as the bus starts at 8am. We were about 50 passengers including two guides also. As we could see in any other bus tour groups in Japan, most of the travelers were old people. The guide asked the travelers about various things and she kept on speaking about different places and all.  Since I couldn`t understand what she is telling, I felt it so irritating. My husband translated some parts of her speech or me and from that I could understand that she is explaining about the places that e are passing by. The bus made two stops for refreshment. At the first place we found a lot of Japanese traditional shops with different cuisines and other items. At the second place, there as a factory of noodles. There we saw the various steps of manufacturing of noodles which I felt so interesting to watch. Also there were shops with that noodle items  an other things. 

After that, we entered the bus and they served us lunch inside.  Each of us were given a packet of Ocha (green tea- the common drink of Japan) and a lunch box with riceballs, boiled egg, steamed potatoes, vegetables, fried prawns and chicken. It was so delicious, but still I can`t do up with the taste of the green tea. 

Ocha - green tea

A sight from the way to Norikura.

On the way to Norikura.

Snowy mountain tops of Norikura.

A frozen waterbody in Norikura.

We walked over the snowy mountain slopes.

Me in between the Snow walls.

I wrote our names on the snow wall. :)

As we reached down the valleys of Mt. Norikura, we could see the snowy mountains touching the sky and the clouds passing aside the mountain tops. On the way up along the road, we saw the snowy valleys nearby and white snowy depths with trees peeping out of it. It was really an exciting trip for me as our bus passed through the steep road with great snowy mountains on one side and deep snowy valley on the other side. As we reached near to the mount, our bus passed in between the snow walls and it was actually so nice experience to have a journey in between white walls. This route famous for its snow walls is named as `Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route`.

All of us, got out of the bus and the guide made us free to walk around with the condition that we would be back in the bus after an hour at 1 pm . We both ran to the snowy mountain valley to click some snaps. I was totally in a thrilling mood as I am seeing such a snowy place for the first time in my life .  I walked through the snow and took hands full of snowballs and played with it. After a few minutes, I could understand the fact that I am unable to withstand there over the snow as my hands got freeze. I ran down leaving the snow even in sadness that I can`t spent some more time there. 

Then we took some photos of the snowy mountains with thick white clouds passing on their top. While standing there, I feel like the sky has reached down.

Then we walked towards the snow walls. `Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route` is famous for higher snow walls. The trips to this place will open in May. The highest snow wall along the road is around 10 meters high and it can be seen along a road, Echo Line, in Norikura. It is really an interesting experience to walk in between the walls of snow. We saw dark spots moving over the snowy mountain tops. There are so many skiiers enjoying skiing along the mountain slopes. In Norikura, the snow remains even in August and some skiiers enjoy skiing in May to August. 

I wrote our names over the ice walls in Malayalam thinking that I am the first man here who got such an idea. Only after that I could saw so many Japanese names written over the walls nearby.

  

 Heavenly Marathon in Norikura

“Heavenly Marathon in Norikura” will be held at the end of June. It is a  summer marathon event that is getting popular among the runners all over Japan.  They run along the road between the snow walls up to an altitude of 2,700m halfway up Mt. Norikura.

  After an hour around that place, we returned from Norikura. Our next aim is "Shinhotaka Ropeway"