草津白根山
Kusatsu-Shiranesan
2.160 m
- Jun 2009
It was a rainy summer day. We decided to drive to Kusatzu and walk in the mountains. This would became the first hiked mountain of Japanes 100 Meisan, but honestly spoken, at this time I did not know anything about 100 Meisan. We just wanted to explore the area around Takasaki and escape the bad weather.
We left Takasaki at 10:45 am and arrive at a parking place below Yokotesan at 1:15 pm. We have been lucky – it was not raining there, even if lots of clouds have been hanging in the mountains. We had our lunch break on the top of Yokotesan, returned to the car and drove to Kusatzu-shiranesan parking area. The direct way to the crater was closed due to volcano-activity. We walked up to the top of Kusatzu-shiranesan. Suddenly the weather became clear – we had a good view on the turquoise crater-lake. On the way back we stopped at the sulfur-fields. The ground is warm and hot steam comes out of some holes which are covered with sulfur-crystals. Really exciting! Besides: Kusatzu-Shirane is one of the top tree Onsen places with the largest amount of hot spring water in Japan.
There are several very well customized hiking paths around Kusatsu-Shiranesan. The crater can be reached by car easily, trails lead around the crater and through the surrounding highlands.
Hiking-Keydata:
草津白根山 Kusatsu-Shiranesan 21. Jun 2009
Top 横手山 (Yokotesan) 2:00 pm 2.305 m
Duration: 1 h 30 min Distance: 2 km Height: 150 m
Start 白根火山 parking area 3:30 pm 2.018 m
Top Kusatsu-Shiranesan草津白根山 4:00 pm 2.160 m
Finish 白根火山 parking area 4:40 pm 2.018 m
Duration: 1 h Distance: 1,5 km Height: 142 m
Total-Duration: 2 h 30 min Distance: 3,5 km Height: 292 m
- Feb 2012
For Snowshoe hiking beginners Kusatsu Shiranesan is the perfect mountain. You can park your car at the skiarea and take the Shirane volcano gondola up to summit depot. The way is flat and you can easily reach the bus stop and restaurant area below Shiranesan. It is closed in winter, same as the road. From there the way leads strait up the hill until the peak.
I met about 40 hikers this day, most of them wearing snow shoes. I used cross country ski. This is not necessary but allows to sky down instead of using rope-way again.
