Kamoshika Canyon
not verifiedpermit unconfirmed 2026-08-20
Ungraded
High flood risk
Hakuba, Nagano
A shaded Hakuba slot under the Northern Alps with waterfall slides, a 10 m rappel, and a 70 m flying-fox zipline.
Run by Evergreen Outdoor Center and Evergreen Vertical Adventures, the dominant Hakuba operators since 2000. The canyon stays cool in midsummer when lowland Japan is brutal; June and July run the heaviest water. Distinct from the harder sawanobori shower-climbing routes higher in the Hakuba range (which use the same approach valleys but go upstream technical).
Logistics
| Manager | Chubu-Sangaku NP, Nagano Prefecture |
|---|---|
| Permit | No permit is required, but a filing obligation may be. Since 1 July 2016 the Nagano Prefecture Mountain Climbing Safety Ordinance has required a climbing plan (tozan-keikakusho) to be filed with the prefectural governor by anyone travelling a designated climbing route, and the prefecture states that the obligation extends to variation routes and to routes not generally known, not only to the marked trails. Whether this descent falls inside a designated route was not established here. It is run as a guided commercial trip by Hakuba operators, and a guided party's filing would normally be the operator's responsibility rather than the client's. Independent parties should check the designation before going. |
| Distance | Short, course-graded |
| Elevation | Modest loss, not published |
| Time | 3 to 3.5 hr half day, 6.5 hr full day |
| Technical | Commercial guided canyoning in a shaded Hakuba side drainage. Half-day course includes multiple waterfall slides, jumping and diving pools, and a short zipline. Full-day adds a 10 m waterfall rappel and a 70 m flying-fox zipline across the canyon. Wetsuit, helmet, harness, canyoning boots, gloves provided. CIC-certified guides. Half-day minimum age 8 and 130 cm height; full-day minimum age 12 and 140 cm. |
| Season | Mid-Jun to Sep, water level dependent. June and July run highest and coldest. |
| Flood risk | Moderate. Hakuba sits under the Northern Alps headwall and afternoon thunderstorms can spike flow; operators cancel on high water. |
| Vehicle access | 2WD paved to Hakuba village, served by the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Nagano then bus. |
| Crowd | Heavy in season. The flagship summer activity at Evergreen Outdoor Center; runs at scale through July and August. |
| Coordinates | 36.6962, 137.8617 |