Hokkaido Travel Diaries: Day 4 and the End — the Mighty Asahidake
Travel diaries: December 24th, Day 4 - a visit to Hokkaido`s highest mountain, quick stop at Asahikawa City and wrapping up the series.
Good afternoon,
This is the final post of the Hokkaido Diaries, which covers a day trip to Asahidake Mountain and a brief visit to Asahikawa City before my return to Tokyo.
At the end of the post, you'll find planning tips on transportation, bookings, and other planning resources. I'm also preparing a downloadable PDF collection of all diary and itinerary-specific posts for monthly and annual subscribers. Once it's ready, I’ll share the link.
Before moving on to the final diary and wrapping up this series, I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have chosen a monthly or annual subscription—for welcoming my letters into your inbox. During the months I run the travel diary series, I sometimes worry they might feel too frequent, so I'm especially grateful for your patience and continued interest.1
After this final post in the Hokkaido series, there will be a break until the end of the month, when the January edition of Letters from Japan will be posted.
Asahidake, Hokkaido`s highest peak
After the first three days of exploring the frozen waterfalls, ponds, uniquely shaped or positioned trees, cozy dinners, and lunches in Biei town and the surrounding area, I was ready for a winter visit to my favorite national park in Japan, though with its notoriously volatile weather—even in summer—I wasn’t sure if I’d find a winter wonderland or a snowy hell.
Trusting the weather forecast, which promised sunshine for the first part of the day, I got on the 7:30 a.m. bus to Asahikawa Airport, where I would transfer to another bus bound for Asahidake Onsen and the ropeway station connecting the village to the foothills of Asahidake Mountain, the highest peak in Hokkaido. At 2,291 meters, it might not sound too impressive—until you realize it is an active volcano.
The bus trip, particularly the section between Asahikawa Airport and Asahidake Onsen, offered beautiful scenery on both sides, featuring rivers, dense forests, and lonely but beautiful skinny trees—a hallmark of central Hokkaido’s landscape.
By the time we arrived at the ropeway station, the weather looked promising, with sunshine and blue skies. Despite it being a weekday, there were still around 20 people in line, some carrying only cameras, and others snowboards or skis.2 Within less than a minute of leaving the station, it was clear that even if visibility was bad above, the ropeway ride alone was worth the trip.
For ten minutes, we slowly traveled above a sea of pine trees, all covered with snow with the sun peeking through. Everyone seemed quite taken with the scenery, with sounds of appreciation in multiple languages coming from all around.
Once we got off the ropeway, the first thing that struck me was the brutal wind, which felt vastly different from the cold but calm weather of Biei town, 2,000 meters below.
As expected, everything was completely white, with all the features I remembered from my summer visit—such as the picturesque Suribachi and Kagami Ponds—frozen or covered in snow. Using my scarf as a face mask (I should have brought a proper one), I started walking slowly, following the footsteps of others. I crossed a small slope, unsure if there would be any view on the other side.
Although the peak of Mount Asahidake was nowhere in sight, I was delighted to find the picturesque mountain cabin largely covered by snow but not buried in it, with the ever-roaring volcanic steam in the background.
I had only a few minutes to enjoy the scenery and admire the courage of a lone snowshoer heading toward the cabin before the wind picked up again, greatly reducing visibility.
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