Areal Classification Based on the Number of Trekkers in the Ushiro-Tateyama Range, Northern Japanese Alps

Abstract

The Northern Japanese Alps (Chubusangaku National Park) has experienced a dramatic increase in the number of visitors since the boom referred to as “the Japanese hundred mountains”. The Ushiro-Tateyama Range, located in the northernmost area of the Japanese Alps, provides various alpine landscapes such as cirques, asymmetrical ridges, patterned ground, perennial snow patches and alpine plant communities. Data from 6922 trekkers indicate that the distribution of mountain huts and accessibility to trails control their trekking courses, and that the trekkers concentrate in three mountain areas : Shirouma-mountain area, Goryu-mountain area and Kashima-mountain area. These areas are divided by a landform called kiretto, where a col with steep rockwalls lies along a main ridge, operating as a natural obstacle. Such a concentration suggests that human impacts on mountain geoecosystem occur locally, but intensively.