Tateyama is not a single peak but a ridge of three: Oyama (3,003m), Onanjiyama (3,015m) and Fujinooritate (2,999m). Together with Mt. Fuji and Hakusan, it is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains, revered for over 1,300 years. Pilgrims once climbed it to escape the hells said to lie in the steaming valley below, and a shrine still stands on the summit of Oyama.
From Murodo at 2,450m, the highest point of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, Mikurigaike lies a ten-minute walk away. It is a crater lake formed by a steam explosion some 10,000 years ago, and on clear days it turns a deep cobalt blue. Nearby, Mikurigaike Onsen is the highest hot spring in Japan. Patches of snow linger on the green slopes well into summer, ptarmigan wander between the rocks, and Tateyama Murodo, the oldest surviving mountain hut in Japan, still keeps watch over the plateau.
When night falls, the sky above the tents clears into one of the darkest in Japan, and the stars slowly wheel around Polaris.
立山不是一座山，而是雄山（3,003m）、大汝山（3,015m）、富士之折立（2,999m）三座山峰的合称，与富士山、白山并称「日本三灵山」，受人崇敬已有 1,300 多年。古时的修行者登上立山，相信这样就能逃离山下地狱谷的轮回之苦，至今雄山山顶仍供奉着雄山神社峰本社。
从立山黑部阿尔卑斯路线的最高点、海拔 2,450m 的室堂出发，步行约十分钟就到御厨池。它是约一万年前水蒸气爆炸形成的火山口湖，天晴时湖面呈深邃的钴蓝色。旁边的御厨池温泉是日本海拔最高的温泉。夏天的绿色山坡上依然残留着一道道积雪，雷鸟在岩石间走动，日本现存最古老的山小屋「立山室堂」至今守着这片高原。
入夜后，帐篷上方的星空格外通透，群星绕着北极星缓缓旋转。
