3-day hiking traverse in Hakuba mountains

Go to Kayo Sonoda if you wish to have a safe & meaningful experience traversing the Hakuba mountains.

Overall, the hiking itinerary sounded incredible, and the communication with our guide was prompt and helpful, which I appreciated. Kayo, our guide, was very friendly. However, leading up to the trek, there was a lack of proper preparation and communication regarding expectations. We were instructed on the route closure and alternate route that we would be taking, also to purchase specific gear but were only provided with basic details about the hike such as the expected hiking time, no distance, elevation, or how many water sources there would be in route, or any questions based on our previous mountain experience. The day before our scheduled three-day trek, we were warned about potentially unpredictable weather conditions on the mountain. Out of concern for safety, we opted to shorten the trip to a one-day hike. In hindsight, the weather turned out to be great all weekend, so the full trek could have been completed. That being said, I don’t fault the guide for this decision as we chose to play it safe. Unfortunately, the main issue we had was with the pace of the hike. Our guide was hiking at approximately 1 mile per hour, taking breaks every 30 minutes. This was unnecessary for us, as we are experienced hikers. A 3.5-mile hike with 2,000 feet of elevation gain took us about 5 hours, a distance and elevation we could typically cover in much less time. At one point during the descent, we hiked only half a mile in 50 minutes. It felt as though we were paying to escort the guide rather than being guided ourselves. Despite being nice and having mountaineering experience, she was texting the entire time we were hiking and looked as she was in pain due to the lack of conditioning. The guide did not adequately communicate safety concerns during the hike. She didn’t point out the more challenging or potentially risky areas, and she didn’t check on how we were doing. At one point, we even felt ourselves nodding off from the slow pace. For our safety, we eventually asked if we could go ahead, and we completed the final 1.5 miles down in about 25 minutes by ourselves, waiting for her at the bottom. In conclusion, while the hike itself was beautiful, I would recommend either doing it independently or considering a different company.