Back country skiing in Oze
The mountain on the left is Hiuchigatake
Oze is not a mountain name, it is a region between Gunma-ken and Fukushima-ken in Japan. The name is a part of Japanese traditional song and I guess most of Japanese people could heard the name.
The area has some famous mountains like Hiuchigatake, Mt. Shibutsu and etc. The both mountains are listed in 100 mountains in Japan.
Oze is famous for a hiking in a marsh. Except winter, there are many wild flowers and beautiful view along a creak and a marsh. Starting from some time around April / May, many people start visiting there for hiking. In the area, there are a few lodges where people can stay over night.
In winter, people needs to do long approach to visit. It is almost a whole day to approach there from Tokura. Also, there is a lot of snow in winter time. The amount of snow in the winter would be a several meters and it is not easy to visit there. In spring, the area becomes nice back country skiing. I really like back country skiing and visited there so many times in February and March.
Due to many snow, many time we made a snow cave to stay instead of tent. Then climbing up to Mt. Shibutsu. The picture above is a downhill from the top of Mt. Shibutsu. The big flat area is Ozegahara, a marsh. In summer time, there are hiking trails across the marsh.
Oze is not really far from Tokyo. However, the access from a train station is not really convenient. From JR Numata station, people might need to take a bus or taxi to visit there. After May to October would be a good season for most of people, especially from a foreign countries.
If people wants to visit there in winter time, people needs to collect more information and well prepared.
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