Kitadake

The road sets the season here. The forest road to the Hirogawara trailhead, at 1,550 meters, is closed to private cars, and it opens to buses and taxis only from late June to early November. Drivers leave the car at Ashiyasu, with room for about 650, or at Narada, with about 300, and transfer. Yamanashi Kotsu also runs buses from Kofu Station. Heavy rain can shut the road, so check its status the day before. At 3,193 meters Kitadake is second only to Fuji, and its tree line sits high, at around 2,700 meters, which leaves a wide band of alpine meadow that flowers in July and August. One plant grows nowhere else: the Kitadake buttercup, a white flower that opens near the summit in late June and early July, right after the snow melts. Stay on the path. The old shortcut up the Okanbasawa valley has been closed since a bridge washed out in 2022, so the usual line now climbs through forest to Shirane Oike Hut at 2,200 meters, and most people spend a night on the mountain. On the east face, the 600-meter Kitadake Buttress draws rock climbers.