Hida Mountains

Hida Mountains (飛騨山脈)
Northern Alps (北アルプス)

a view from Mount Kashimayari
Highest point
Peak Mount Okuhotaka (Kiso District)
Elevation 3,190 m (10,470 ft)
Dimensions
Length 105 km (65 mi)
Width 25 km (16 mi)
Geography
Country Japan
Prefectures Niigata, Toyama, Nagano and Gifu
River Kurobe Source Part in Hida Mountains

The Hida Mountains (飛騨山脈 Hida Sanmyaku), or Northern Alps (北アルプス Kita Arupusu), is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Japan, but he was only referring to the Hida Mountains when he used that name. The Kiso and Akaishi mountains received the name in the ensuing years.

Geography

The layout of the Hida Mountains forms a large Y-shape. The southern peaks are the lower portion of the Y-shape, with the northern peaks forming two parallel bands separated by a deep V-shaped valley. It is one of the steepest V-shaped valleys in Japan. The Kurobe Dam, Japan's largest dam, is an arch dam located in the Kurobe Valley in the central area of the mountains. The western arm of mountains, also known as the Tateyama Peaks (立山連峰 Tateyama Renpō), are dominated by Mount Tsurugi and Mount Tate. The eastern arm, known as the Ushiro Tateyama Peaks (後立山連峰 Ushiro Tateyama Renpō), are dominated by Mount Shirouma and Mount Kashimayari.

Glaciers

Although it was originally thought that no glaciers existed in East Asia south of Kamchatka, recent research has shown that three small glaciers still survive in Mount Tsurugi and Mount Tate owing to the extremely wet climate of the Hokuriku region allowing for very heavy snowfalls on the high peaks.[1]

Major peaks

Gallery

South half part
of Hida Mountains
Mount Tateyama Mount Yari and Mount Hotaka Mount Nishihotaka
from Nishihotaka-guchi Station
South half part
seen from Mount Kurai

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hida Mountains.

External links

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hida Mountains.

Coordinates: 36°30′N 137°36′E / 36.500°N 137.600°E / 36.500; 137.600


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, October 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.