Umanose Hutte

Mountain hut at 2,630m in a birch forest on the flank of Senjogadake (3,033m), the peak known as the Queen of the Southern Alps. It stands about three minutes below the junction of the Tankei-shindo and Yabusawa routes. To reach the Kitazawa-toge trailhead, drive from the Ina interchange on the Chuo Expressway via routes 361 and 152 to Senryuso, then transfer to the Southern Alps forest-road bus, as private cars are barred from the road. Stays are by reservation only and there is no campsite. Dinner is the hut's own game curry made with Southern Alps venison, and early starters are given rice balls wrapped in kyogi, thin sheets of Ina valley red pine.