An enormous snow corridor is opening to visitors in Japan this weekend, close to one of the country’s three sacred mountains.
Yuki no Otani (Great Valley of Snow) is a 500-metre pathway surrounded by walls of snow that reach 20 metres at its highest point, reports CNN. The attraction takes around 20 minutes to walk through.
The area sees heavy snowfall during winter but, come spring, the road is cleared by snowploughs, which creates this huge spectacle.
It’s part of an annual snow festival along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, which connects Toyama and Nagano prefectures. The 90km scenic stretch offers incredible views of Mount Tateyama and Mount Akazawa-dake’s peaks. The route celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021.
As well as the snow corridor, visitors can also check out a Japanese igloo as well as the snow tunnel at Daikanbo station, which has an observation deck overlooking the mountains.
Visitors can, for the first time this year, also help shovel the snow to create a new route as part of an event called Kuzusou Yukikabe (Let’s Break the Snow Wall).
Running parallel to the snow corridor is the Panorama Road, which is open until 7 May and is another place to stop and soak up views of the Tateyama mountain range.
The Yuki no Otani Festival is open every day from 15 April until 25 June, 9.30am until 3pm, although it may close if there’s adverse weather. The festival’s website encourages people to visit in the summer if they wish to avoid crowds, with snow walls still over 10 metres.
You can reach the attraction by cable car from Tateyama Station, getting off at Bijodaira Station, before a 50-minute bus ride to Tateyama Murodo. Private cars are banned so visitors must use public transport and walk along designated areas.
More information can be found on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route website.
