Senjojiki Cirque

Senjojiki Cirque is a bowl-shaped glacial valley in the Central Alps (Kiso Mountains) above the city of Komagane in southern Nagano. It sits at an elevation of about 2,612 metres and was carved by a glacier roughly 20,000 years ago. The Komagatake Ropeway climbs from Shirabidaira station at 1,662 metres to Senjojiki station in about eight minutes, giving one of the largest single elevation gains of any ropeway in Japan. A walking loop of around 40 minutes circles the cirque floor, which fills with alpine flowers in summer and snow in winter. Visitors reach the ropeway base by bus from Komagane, as private cars are not permitted on the mountain road. The site is also a starting point for climbs of Mount Kiso-Komagatake.