(五竜岳) Mt. Goryu Hike

 

Given that this is in the Hakuba area, a good portion of the trailheads use the ski lifts. Since I'm doing my research November 2020, most of the information online is geared towards hiking, so I'll just update this next year. 

Budget: JPY10,150 (~USD98)

• JPY4,820. Two days' worth allocated with Seishun 18 ticket. (if from Tokyo)
• JPY5,000. Ropeway, estimated (going up and down)
• JPY180. Bus, Hakuba Station to Hakuba Happou Bus Terminal.
• JPY150. Train, Iimori Station to Hakuba Station. 

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 2,814m / 9,232ft)

• 2021
• Difficulty: 5 out of 5.
• Route below is around 15.6kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,736m/ ▽2,060m
• PDF Map Link 

When to Go
I am yet to see logs for winter, so I'd put May to early November as the safe periods. 

Special Notes

• Weather check: English / Japanese. 
• Live camera.
• Trailheads. 
• Hakuba Happou (白馬八方). From here to Mt. Goryu's summit, it's a 7 hour hike, covering 8.1kms with elevation change of ▲1,465m/ ▽493m
• Train, Tokyo to Hakuba Station. 
• Bus, Hakuba Station to Hakuba-Happou Bus Terminal (白馬八方バスターミナル). 
• Bus schedule here, google maps pin here.  Bus runs from latter April to early October. JPY180, 5 minutes one way. It's also a 1.7km walk from Hakuba Station if you'd rather walk.
• The bus stops are not difficult to find - from Hakuba Station, just go out of the train station and turn left. The bus stop is right in front of the foot onsen. 
• Gondola Lift Adam -> Alpen Quad Lift -> Grat Quad Lift . Hakuba-Happou Bus Terminal to Happou Trailhead, map here. The lift will take about 15 minutes in total. One way pass will likely be around JPY2,000. 

Bus Schedule, Hakuba Station (白馬駅) <> Happou Bus Terminal (白馬八方バスターミナル). 

• Alps-hira-eki (アルプス平駅). From here to Mt. Goryu's summit, it's a 6.5 hour hike, covering 7.5kms with elevation change of ▲1,567m/ ▽271m
• Train, Tokyo to Hakuba Station. 
• Train, Hakuba Station to Iimori Station (飯森駅). 
• Walk, Iimori Station to Hakuba Goryu Snow Resort. Google maps pin here. It's about 31 minutes, 2.1kms. 
• Gondola -> Lift, Hakuba Goryu Snow Resort to Alps-hira (アルプス平駅)
• 大谷原. No public transportation. Google maps pin here. 
• Mountain huts. 
• Paid. 五竜山荘. About an hour to the summit. 
• Free. None.
• Camping. Next to the mountain huts. 

Itinerary
Friday

• Train/Bus, Tokyo to Hakuba Station. 

Saturday

• Hakuba Station to Hakuba-Happou, take Gondola up. 
• Start hike.
• Camp near the summit. 

Sunday

• Descend via Alps-hira-eki. 
• Train/bus, Hakuba Station to Tokyo.