3 years in Japan. What would you do?

Backcountry Skiing - Kamikochi - May 2005 - May 2006

2009-05-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

May 3, 2006
May 3, 2006

May 3, 2006

May 3, 2006 May 3, 2006

May 3, 2006

June 17, 2005

May 21, 2005

Backcountry Skiing – Kamikochi – Karasawa Valley

3rd May 2006

All winter and spring it didn't really seem like there was more than 2 or 3 clear days in a row. When the forcast for Golden Week came out I was amazed to see 4 straight days of sunshine. Things just don't get any better than that.The plan was set long before with Dan and Nick in for an epic trip into the big mountains of the Karasawa Valley. We would take our 5 days and ski a few lines that have been haunting me for the past couple years.Day 1Wednesday May 3, 2006I met Dan and Nick in Hirayu and after some interesting pack stuffing we all shouldered our massive bags and trucked on down to the bus station. We arrived just a few minutes after a bus left so looking at the scedule saw the next one going in 20-30 minutes. Dan thought now would be a good time to relieve himself. A few minutes after he left though another bus came up. Nick ran to grab Dan and in the chaos of the bathroom Dan ripped his jacket and we missed the bus. Alright. Next bus then in again what we thought would be 20-30 minutes. 5 minutes later and with Dan's gear now all over the ground the next bus rolled up. Well we got onto this bus but it wasn't easy with all of us carrying armfulls of gear. But we were on our way just a little bit disorganized.Into Kamikochi and we again geared up this time attaching skis to our bags. Dan and Nick would hike in shoes so had to attach their boots to their bags making them even heavier. But they didn't complain too much about it or maybe I didn't listen but we set off to complete the massive march to camp. The kilimetres ticked off and a quick couple hours later I was able to take my skis off the bag and skin the remaining distance to Yoko lodge. Amazing that there was snow this low in the valley this late in the year.A good break and I got the whip out and made the boys get their bags back on for the remaining haul to the end of the Karasawa valley.Again it went a bit easier for Nick and I as we could skin while Dan was still walking. We slowly made our way up the valley gaining altitude while passing as many people as I could. It was quite busy but most of the people climbing up the valley were on foot with only 2 or 3 ski tracks.The hut came into view and then I was crossing the roll and finally I threw my bag off in victory. I had made it to camp. I found a nice secluded spot a bit further from the mass of tents right around the hut and started digging out a platform. Dan and Nick showed up shortly after both feeling very demoralized at what they had just come up. Dan even went so far as saying that he didn't want to descend the super couloir to ShinHotaka on Day 5. I scoffed at that as I knew he was just tired. We set up camp and retired to sleep.Day 2Thursday May 4, 2006Up with the sun we all felt great and wanted to ski something big. The something big would have to be the classic and steep direct ski off the summit of Japan's 3rd highest mountain OkuHotaka. Last year during Golden Week I spotted a lone skier climbing up this route and have wanted to ski it every since. I didn't however want to ski it by myself. On the climb up however it looked like I would be doing just that. I was out front passing people like I enjoy doing with Nick a bit behind and Dan bringing up the rear way back. From my vantage it looked like he was hating life and wouldn't make it. Nick didn't look that positive as well so I made my decision. I would climb the couloir by myself and hopefully meet Nick at the top. I had to climb it so that I'd know what the snow was like and where the route went. As I traversed over to the entrance though Dan all of a sudden got a second wind and was practically running up the mountain. It would be good to have some company on the steep approach.I shouted across to Nick that our turnaround time was 11 and that if we wern't on the summit by then or vice versa we'd have to turn around. I thought we would easily make that time as it was only 9 and we only had another 500 metres to gain. But the going was slow for Dan and myself. We were following 2 mountaineers up the route and they were pretty slow however I wasn't complaining as the pace was nice for me. Dan on the other hand was feeling super human and was always waiting for me to get going so that I wouldn't fall on top of his head. The time ticked by and soon we were cresting the steepest pitch of the climb which just happened to be a couple metres below the summit. The snow was icy and the slope was at least 50 degrees for this short section. It felt great to get up something that steep and icy. At the top we had a quick picture with our Japanese mountaineer friends and then another quick summit shot. By then it was 11 and we had to get on our way. We downclimbed a short portion of the ridge to our entrance and then got ready.With all our climbing gear stashed, boots done up and gloves on I walked to edge only to find that we were still too high and would have to ski into the steep icy top section. I had fucked up a bit. We should have decended to the next entrance along the ridge. We couldn't just walk down though as the north side of the ridge was quite icy and fall wouldn't have pretty. I quickly got my crampons on and booted down the ridge to the correct entrance however Dan with strap-on crampons had to take a bit more time. He ended up struggling down the ridge with a line of 20 mountaineers waiting for him to finish up. Pretty embarrassing and completly my fault. But now at the correct line and with Dan's cursing finally finished we clicked into our skis. I went first and traversed into the line. The snow was great. Dan followed me in and we leap frogged eachother to the bottom of the couloir where we skied right back to camp. A great line knocked off.Day 3Friday May 5, 2006Up early again we set out to knock another of my lines off. This time we would ski the steep couloir between peaks 1 and 2 of the MaeHotaka area. This line holds snow well into the summer but it's really steep and I just havn't had the time or partners to ski it. The slush down low that we were booting up quickly turned to hard ice and we were lucky to have our crampons and axes. The slope steepened and it turned into one of my steepest and iciest climbs yet. We pretty much ran up the slope and were sitting on top just 2 hours after setting out. A very fun climb. This gave us lots of time to relax and let the sun work the snow for a bit. We waited for over an hour taking in all the mountains all around us before gearing up for the run. I went first and found that the sun had cooked the snow just right. It was a perfect corn snow run. As we rounded the corner at the bottom and changed aspects though the temperature quickly rose and the last section of snow was a bit mushy. But all in all it was a really great ski and climb. I was really happy to have knocked that one off. While drinking our usual afternoon beer we got a weather forcast for the rest of the trip and found that a system would come in for Sunday bringing rain. Our perfect weather wasn't going to hold for the 5 days we were planning in the mountains. We made a group decision to bail on the 4th day instead of the 5th. Day 4Saturday May 6, 2006I got up before the sun rose as I knew we'd probably have a long day getting up and over the high col. With camp slowly getting packed away Nick set out on the climb to the top hut some 750 metres above. I left second and Dan dilly daddled around camp hoping to run up the slope and pass me. We all struggled up the hill with some of us struggling a bit more than others. For me it was a good climb as there was a bit of a challenge. Under our large bags I set a goal of passing 2 snowboarders way above me with little day bags. With some hard work I caught and passed them just below the top of the climb. It had taken me 2 hours. Dan had gotten a little cocky over the past 2 days though and had waited about 20-30 minutes after I left camp to start his ascent. He thought he would be able to pass me but I wasn't about to let that happen. While he made it to the top in 1 hour 50 minutes he didn't pass me like he wanted so dearly to do. Nick soon arrived at the top like I knew he would and we trucked into the lodge out of the wind for a much needed lunch. With warm food in our bellies we geared up for the decent. The snow looked good and with an audience of hut staff to watch us ski the super couloir with our large backpacks we set off. The snow up top was really nice and I hope we looked good for the gallery watching from above. Lower down the snow turned a bit mushy though and made skiing very difficult. I ended up traversing back and forth with a few kickturns thrown in to make things interesting. We got to the bottom of the couloir where we'd have to bypass the water fall and skied into the steep forest.The snow was quite a bit harder here which was good. I found my tiny little entrance couloir that I used the year before and it looked to be the best option to get around the steepest section of forest. Dan on the other hand felt the best option would be to lose a ski down a steep chute. His only option would be to follow the climbers track down and find his ski. We said we'd meet him below and parted ways. I lowered myself into the steep chute which was much easier this time around as there was a lot more snow. The scrambling was really fun and Nick couldn't get over how big the smile on my face was. He scrambled in next and while not really enjoying it as much as I was looked to have some fun making tight turns in the steep and narrow chute. We skied out into the next couloir and quickly saw Dan's ski sitting on the slope but no Dan. Shouting up we found that he was stuck in some steep trees with difficult ice right under the snow. He had to retreat up a ways and put his crampons on to descend. It took him about an hour to pop out of the trees and he looked pretty shaken up. I now saw that the classic decent that I had been raving about all trip was not so classic at all and was kind of turning into an epic. But the hardest part of the trip was just about finished with all that was left was negotiating a little bit of avalanche debris before we were able to get into the forest and easily ski down to the road. But that is where I lie. The little bit of avy debris was actually a ton of debris. Easily a class 5 slide that probably slid right from the top of the col some 1500 metres above. A class 5 slide will take out a town. Would have been an interesting site to see that thing ripping down the couloir.We finally got off the slide debris and found some fun and dirty snow in the low angle trees before hitting the thankfully unplowed road. We were lucky enough to be able to ski all the way to the gate just 15 minutes from ShinHotaka. Pretty amazing and a fairly large decent of almost 1900 metres. It had taken us almost 9 hours to reach the bus station. Nick was supposed to buy a round of beer for this portion of the trip however because I had led them into what I thought was kind of a fun route but could have been very dangerous I had to buy beer. If that was the only consequence then I'm fine with that.Overall this trip was one of my best ever. I was able to knock off 2 biglines that have been haunting me for quite sometime and upped my climbing ability which is pretty good as well.Another great time in the mountains.

Backcountry Skiing – Kamikochi – Karasawa Valley

17th June 2005

Erik who is out from America on a 3 month vacation wanted to go hiking so Bill and I organized a trip into the mountains for the 3 of us. It not like he had to twist our arms. The destination for them was OkuHotaka the 3rd highest peak in Japan. For me it would be of course skiing in the Karasawa Valley. Day 1Erik miraculously made it out to Takayama only a day after arriving in Japan and even more surprisingly early enough for us to catch the 5:15 bus to Kamikochi from Hirayu. We started hiking right away and with Bill, Erik and I gabbing away we made fairly slow time to our camping spot at the base of the Karasawa Valley 11km out from Kamikochi. I had walked that distance in my skate shoes and had the startings of nice little blisters. A good dinner and we were in bed to the sounds of the river flowing by just a few metres away.Day 2As usual I'm the first one to wake and spent an enjoyable few minutes with my arm out of my bivi sack throwing small rocks at the tent to wake the other 2 up. Why they wern't awake already is a mystery to me. I mean it was after 4:30. A quick breakfast and slow pack up had us hiking up the trail at 6:00am. We pushed it a little faster this time and were soon resting at the suspension bridge however the Nazi hiker that I am wouldn't let them rest too long and soon had them on their feet again going for base camp. I was able to drop onto the snow once we turned into the correct valley however the skinning was a little difficult on the remains of the avy debris. It was really nice having the weight of the skis off my back though. Gaining more elevation I met up with Bill and Erik again where a film crew from the top hut was making a nature documentary to be shown on NHK. We made it up to the hut by 8:30 and set up camp. I smoothed out a spot for my bivi sack and then set to work digging a hole for my legs so I could sit comfortably. Bill and Erik however put their tent behind me so if I used my hole to sit in I would be facing away from them. I had to dig another hole on the other side of my bivi sack. Now I was perched between two large holes. Roll either way and I'd have a rude awakening. Thanks guys. After a nice long rest we all descided it was time to get going. Bill and Erik were going to attempt OkuHotaka while I was going to attempt a fun couloir between the 2nd and 3rd subpeaks of MaeHotaka. I was hoping that at least 1 of the 3 fingers still went to the saddle. I skinned up as far as I could and then switched from skis to crampons, iceax and helmet. The lower slopes wern't that steep however I knew it would get pretty steep up high and I would like the crampons. Up up up I went. I had to set little goals for myself as I'm not disciplined enough to do this slowly all in one push. Go to the rock. Rest for a 20 seconds. Climb to the next crack. Rest. And so on and so on. I made my way towards the top where I found that the middle and right couloir's went to the ridgline while the left couloir melted out on a steep face. The right couloir wasn't skiable so it was the middle finger for me. It was pretty steep here and each step involved sinking the ax right up to the blade for safety. Really fun stuff. Into the middle finger I found it was steep, narrow and off falline. I climbed up it a ways before getting nervous enough to take a look at the rock on the side. Tried that before finding it too loose for crampons and hard boots. Back on the snow I made the final steps to the ridge where I had a nice break. It was nice seeing the area from a different angle. I could clearly see my ski line from a month ago when I came into this area with Dan. It was still very skiable. A quick rest and it was time for the fun part. I was able to make a few turns through the middle finger however it choked down and as it was off falline I didn't feel comfortable turning. So I had to side slip a bit of it however I learned quickly that this is more difficult than turning. Out of the middle finger and into the main couloir I made nice fun steep turns all the way back to camp. A really fun run and just over 600 vert with the steepest pitch being above 45 degrees. I was back in camp by 12:00 just 2 hours after setting out. I went over to the now open hut and bought 4 beer. 1 for my rewarding run and the rest for Bill, Erik and I when they got back. I passed the time relaxing in the sun and even getting a few Zs however bordom overcame me and I built a nice sitting and eating area next to my bivi. Still bored after that I went and sat on the patio eating ramen wondering where Erik and Bill where. The line just above the hut was calling me so after relaxing for long enough I booted up it. A group of people had collected on the patio and were all watching and waiting for me to descend. At the top I clicked in and had a really good high speed run down. It is such a fun little run and the claps and cheers from the hut make you feel like a hero. Back at camp and now nearing 4:00 I was starting to get a little worried however 2 people people stumbling down the snow face from the high saddle turned out to be Bill and Erik. They walked into camp 6 hours after setting out having spent well over an hour on the summit. I know I don't have much disipline but they have next to none. We drank beer around the camp for a while sharing stories from the days events. A really good day.Day 311:30pm and still actually Day 2 my bivi sack opens up and I got a bright light in my eyes and an english voice talking to me. Dan, Risa and Tom had walked up from Kamikochi and had just arrived. We had given up hope on them but I guess they kept on going. The night passed very slowly and was difficult for me. I wasn't very cold but it was more that I was uncomfortable. I was sleeping in all my clothes including my jacket and inner boot liners and was always worried I would slide into the holes on both sides of the narrow platform I was laying on. I gave up trying to sleep around 5:30 and ate a cold breakfast and then started to get ready for another run. Bill and Erik were using all my gear to stake out their tent so when I was finally ready at 6:30 I had to take it all collapsing their vestibules. I told them I would be back by 8:00am however all I got was a sleepy grunt. I had my eyes set on what looked like a narrow couloir going up to the same ridge as yesterday just a lot further down maybe between the 5th and 6th bumps of MaeHotaka. As I booted up I was able to see more and more of the run. It was not nearly as tight as I had hoped and was actually quite wide. But I wasn't going to turn around just cause it was wide. I made it to the top of the 400 metre vertical couloir by 7:30 and after a quick rest strapped in and made some really fun turns back to camp where again there were cheers from the other campers. That feels so good. One of them had even filmed me the entire way. He showed me the run but it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped it would be. It showed me traversing an awful lot. When I was skiing it though it certainly didn't feel like that. It fealt like I was going really fast. Wierd how that is. Back to camp everybody was emerging from their tents. I was mostly packed and had already eaten so had a nice lazy time talking with them. After breafast Erik borrowed my gear and went off for a run. He had a really good time skiing in the nice soft snow. Our go home time soon came and we were off. I was almost able to ski all the way down to the end of the little valley however had to get back on the trail where it joins up with the other valleys. Sad to have to walk that much further. But I guess it is mid June. Back at the suspension bridge Tom who had left much earlier and I relaxed in the sun waiting for the others. When they arrived we ralaxed some more before I fealt we had relaxed enough and started back to the main trail still far below. I set off first setting a pace and thought everybody was right behind me but soon found myself alone and instead of waiting descided to carry on. I made it to the hut and downed a morning beer as it was just before 12 as the others walked in. We again had another nice long rest before contemplating the 11km march back to Kamikochi. Not fun. I changed back into my skate shoes and hoisted the heavy load on my back really wishing I had my bike for this part. After another short rest at the grassy camp we set out for the last 6 km. I found my pace and set off not wanting to stop at all and soon came into Kamikochi at 3:00 where I enjoyed a great vanilla ice cream. A really nice reward for such a good weekend.I have however learned that skate shoes, distance and a heavy backpack don't go together. My left foot hurts really bad and I'm hobbling everywhere. It was way worth it though. Such a good ski and yet another step up in my climbing abilities.

Backcountry Skiing – Kamikochi – Karasawa Valley

21st May 2005

Wanting to get back into the Karasawa Valley again this spring but not wanting to walk the 11km approach a plan was hatched with my good friend Dan Neutel. We would ride our mountain bikes the 11km in saving our legs for the more important part of the trip which was skiing.Friday - I walked out of work at 3:30 much to the annoyance and or jealousy of my co-workers and raced my car up to Hirayu Onsen arriving with far to much time to catch the 5:10 bus. Dan arrived shortly after and we rode our bikes down to the bus terminal with all our gear on our backs. We were still unsure if they would let us on the bus with our bikes. When the time came the bus driver saw our mountain of gear and grudingly let us take the bikes onto the bus. They couldn't really say anything as there wasn't anybody else there to annoy. We quickly got to Kamikochi where there were a few bus employees waiting to help us off with all our gear. Very nice of them. They did however tell us that we wouldn't be allowed to put the bikes back on the bus when we returned in a few days. But we were there and would worry about that on Sunday. We didn't really have any ideas about carrying all the gear so just strapped it all to our backpacks and went on our way. It was hard on the back but we made our way and arrived at our campsite just over an hour after setting out and just before it got dark with lots of energy. A quick dinner and then we were into bed drifting off to sleep to the rushing of the nearby river. It has been quite a while since I have slept this low in a valley.Saturday - Up early we got packed really quick which is surprising as it always seems to take forever to break camp but we were on the trail in just over an hour. We started up the trail and were soon gaining elevation into the Karasawa. The winter route is closed now with the summer suspension bridge now in place so we crossed over and were soon walking up the side of the hill on more and more snow. As we turned into the valley and the trees opened up I put my skis on and dropped down to the bottom where I was able to skin beside the pile of avy debris. We quickly made it to the Karasawa Hut where we set up camp and had a quick break. We had already gained 600 metres but as the weather wasn't going to hold for Sunday wanted to make it up to the high saddle for a big run. With much lighter packs we set off up the cattle trail towards the hut 700 metres above. At first we kind of leap frogged eachother having to stop and take breaks in what seemed to be shorter and shorter intervals. The trail was difficult to walk up as the climbers coming down had obliterated there up track with much longer down steps. I was zig zagging all over the place trying to find a trail with small footsteps. The elevation ticked by and soon I was nearing the hut. I wanted to check out a skinny line I was going to attempt so made my own track across the steep face. There was a little new snow from earlier in the week and every few steps it would collapse onto the hard layer below. Nothing serious as it was not even 10 cms deep and wasn't moving anywhere. I made my way over and found that my line didn't go all the way to ridge. But it was definitly skiable choking down at the bottom to a couple ski lengths. I made my way over to the hut and exausted threw my bag onto the snow. Dan came up about 10 minutes later with bloody hands after having slid for a bit. One more reason for my leather gloves. But he was fine and ready for the ski. I was worried that we were to late as it was already 12 and the sun had been on the snow for about 5 hours but watching a snowboarder make a few turns saw that the snow was still good. A quick snack and I set off up the ridge towards the summit of what I have always called the middle Hotaka but now know as Karasawadake. I had to stay close to the ridge as I didn't want to miss the entrance to my couloir. I soon found it and also saw that the snow was guarded by vertical walls that with my limited rock skills would be too difficult to get into. A little more looking however and I found an easier entrance. It involved a few rocks holds and a couple vegetable belays and then I was on the snow. Strapping into my skis I made my way down the steepening couloir where near the bottom I went off to the side so I could watch Dan ski down his chosen route. I had the camera so took pictures of him as he made his way down. His skiing ability has risen so much in the last 2 months. After he was in a safe area I made the last few turns coming out onto the top of the main face. It fealt great to ski this line as I have been thinking about it for almost a year now since seeing it with Matt when we climbed Hotaka last July. We both skied over to a ridgline and I found an entrance to another short couloir that we both skied. It was really nice as well. This led us onto the large apron where it would be an uninterupted ski all the way back to camp maybe 500 metres below. I went first and the snow was really good. We could make nice big turns in the soft spring snow. There were loose rocks though and by the time you spotted them it was to late. A few new scratches on the Shuksans. Getting back to camp Dan said he hit a good sized rock. Taking his ski off we found a nice sized core shot. Hopefully he can get it fixed. But that didn't dampen our good spirits. We celebrated the run with a couple cold beer sitting on the patio of the Karasawa Hut in the sun. We were both exausted. A few snacks and general lazing around and finally it was dinner which after the temperatures started to drop and it was time for bed at the late late hour of 7:00 pm.Sunday - As this trip involves a longer approach I had gone light and crammed everything into my day bag. This included the tent. I didn't have any space for my warm down sleeping bag. So I had to suffer in my summer over bag which is really only meant to be used on it's own in the tropics. But I was wearing all my clothes including the inners to my boots and ski pants. It was a cold night and I managed to sleep despite the cold air. The temperature in the tent got down around 2 or 3 in the early morning hours. As promised the clouds moved in and we even got a few rain drops after the sun came up. We were planning on skiing a steep northern face but with a lowering ceiling decided to bail out. After a quick breakfast though I wanted to ski something steep so booted my way up the short couloir near the hut. It's a cool line that's just under 45 degrees and has large rock walls on both sides. I made my way as far as I would be able to ski and had a fun 200 metre run back to camp. Unlike during Golden Week though my only audience was Dan and he didn't clap or cheer like everybody did when a skier ripped through it with lots of speed a few weeks before.Packed up we made out way out. It was a fun ski out although most of it was traversing down the valley walls. We decended down to the river below the trail. Dan chose to hike out on the far bank along the winter trail while I tried to push the skiing on the opposite bank. It quickly turned into a boulder hopping, alder bashing, don't fall into the river adventure but I was able to eek out a few turns skiing the last patch of snow just before the bridge. Attaching skis to bags we made our way back down to our bikes. Another celebatory beer while we rested and debated how to make the ride out easier. Dan brought out quite a few straps from his bag and we rigged up the skis so they were attached to the frame of the bikes. We then clicked the boots into the bindings. This made the load on our backs much better. The ride out was really fun and I was kind of disapointed when it was over as I was having a good time. We finished it up our trip riding across the busy Kappa Bashi in the crowds of tourists. A really good trip made even better when they let us onto the bus with our bikes saving us from 10km of riding back to Hirayu.

Backcountry Skiing – Kamikochi – Karasawa Valley – Shin Hotaka

4th May 2005

Kamikochi - ShinHotaka Solo Ski TraverseDay 1Bailing off of Tateyama due to bad weather which eventually cleared up I wanted to get into the mountains again and not waste my Golden Week vacation. I had just bought "New" ski mountainteering boots off of my friend Sandy and wanted to try them out. Not wanting some pussy ski outing I set my eyes on a pretty ambitious route. A one way dealy starting in Kamikochi and exiting in ShinHotaka with a ski descent down a super couloir I have always wanted to ski. I can see this huge couloir from work and it is an amazing site.Getting up early I packed my bag with the intentions of going light and fast. The approach would involve about 15km of walking. All of which would be in my boots. I packed everything into my day bag leaving the tent and stove at home opting for the lighter less comfortable bivisack and taking only chocolate bars, rice, corn and tuna to eat. I was able to start marching at Kamikochi and as Sandy now has me saying I fealt ToKnar (Totally Knarly) walking through the masses in my boots with skis attached to my bag. It could have been downtown Tokyo there were so many people. But as with all the outdoor tourist spots in Japan the people started to vanish the further I got from the bus station. I made good time for the first 11 km which is a flat walk along a river. Amazing what a little rocker will do on the sole of ski boots. I was even more amazed to discover around km 10 that I was walking in ski mode. Oops. Leaving the wide trail I crossed the main river and ascended the trail into the Karasawa Valley. The pace really slowed down here as I was walking on loose rocks and slushy snow. I finally got frustrated and put my skis on. Such a good feeling and so much more efficient than walking. After gaining a little more elevation the valley chokes into a narrow ravine which was filled with recent avalanche debris. I would think that it probably came down just a few days before in the heavy rain. There was much more evidence of avalanches here than in the Tateyama area. But nothing seemed to be sliding on this beautiful sunny day. I slowly made my way up and over all the avalanche debris finding the best way was to skin directly up the climbers trail. They walk on our skin tracks. I'll skin on their climbing trails. I slowly made my way up to the hut and picked an area to put my small camp. I was exausted. Only 5 hours of hiking but I had travelled well over 15km. There were some beautiful ski lines that would have been easy to get to but I was just to tired to even contemplate them. Every so often there would be clapping and cheering from all the people as somebody ripped down the faces and chutes. I needed nourishment though and as my chocolate bars wern't to appealing opted for the hut made ramen. As I was sitting on the hut's balcony eating my lunch I spotted a familier red jacket and over comes Yutaka Takagi. The ski guide that Nick and I keep running into in the Tateyama area. He was guiding a ski trip that had traversed from Yari to Hotaka. A pretty cool route in the summer and even cooler in the spring with skis. My ramen eaten I said my goodbyes and went back to my bivi. I poured water into my rice to hydrate it and let it be for the next hour. Yummy. Cold rice, tuna and corn. The temterature started to drop and I was happy to be bivi-ing as you can still be outside while sitting snug in your sleeping bag. My dinner of mostly hydrated very cold rice eaten I pulled my hood up and gazed at the stars before falling asleep.Day 2I awoke to hail hitting the hood of my bivisack and was really annoyed to see that it was starting to cloud over. Looking closer though I found that the mass of Hotaka was creating it's own weather. The west side that I would be descending was blue while the east side was a bit cloudy. I packed my gear and with crampons attached started the grunt of a climb up to the hut 800 vertical metres above. The snow was soft down low however after gaining some elevation it turned to ice and I was glad for the extra purchase my crampons allowed. Most of the way up an amazing ski line appeared. It was a tight couloir starting near the summit of Hotaka and emptying out into the Karasawa Bowl. Next year I will ski it. 2 hours after starting I was at the hut and talking to my friend the guide. They were going to ski the chute that appealed to me so much. I wished them luck and watched them scramble up the ladders in crampons towards the summit. A lucky group. I waited around a bit longer wanting the sun to hit my line and soften the snow a bit. At 10 I had waited long enough and got ready to ski my line. Dropping in I found the first hundred or so metres to be pretty icy however the further I descended the softer and better the snow got. The couloir drops over a huge waterfall 800 metres in so I had to bypass this on the summer trail. Parts of it were bare though so after sidslipping in the very steep trees decided that the best option was to attach my skis to my bag and walk down the steep trail. This proved to be just as sketchy as skiing though as the tails of my skis hanging low off my bag kept catching the snow and pushing my forward. Not fun and very slow going. As I had descended this trail in the summer I knew that the trail would spit me out into the couloir on the right. I spotted a very steep entry into this couloir and bushwacked carefully over to it. It would involve 2-3 metres of downclimbing on loose rocks to get onto the very steep snowfilled chute which eventually led to the new couloir. I lowered my poles down (dropped) and then took my backpack off and lowered it as well (dropped). It tumbled once or twice but stopped with a crash against the cliffs on the side of the chute. Now I was commited to this route. Lowering myself in using vegetable belays I made it halfway down. Removing a few of the loose rocks I started to lower myself in but slipped on the loose rocks and fell into the steep cnow filled chute. It really is amazing how the body goes into survival mode when it is faced with something like this. I bounced off the side of the cliffs and came to a stop just above my bag and skis. Nothing to serious and I was laughing pretty good. I attached my skis put my backpack on and sideslipped into the new couloir. Everything was good now. I was able to ski right down the middle and quickly joined up with the summer trail. This is where the couloir ends and it just becomes a river. There seemed to be a continuous snow line down the side and all the tracks followed it so I did as well. It was patchy in places and more than a few times I had to take my skis off and walk across the large rocks to the next snow patch. Only once though did I give up and attached my skis to my bag. They were off a couple minutes later though when after rounding a corner I saw more snow. I eventually made it to the road where I was able to ski along the side on the only snow around. I got the last skiable snow which was at most 20 cms wide at 1500 metres. An amazing 1500 metre vertical. I was pretty happy as it really cut the time I expected to be walking. I put my skis on my bag for the last time and walked the rest of the way out arriving in ShinHotaka 3 hours after starting my descent. A really good ski.

Backcountry Skiing - Hakuba - Feb 2006 - June 2006

2009-05-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

June 17, 2006
May 20, 2006

May 20, 2006

April 29, 2006

April 30, 2006

April 15, 2006

Feb 25, 2006

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Couloir from Tsugaike Ski Hill

17th June 2006

Yup. Even though I've said it the last few times. This past weekend was my LAST trip to Hakuba.I was planning on skiing Tsurugi however the weather forcast didn't look promising. Nick was raving about a snowfield above Tsugaike resort so I thought I'd take him up on his offer of a good ski with beer and bbq after.Turned out that the weather was good and we really lucked out.I woke up nice and early Saturday morning and looking out the window of the room I was sleeping in was really glad to find the sky was clear. I also immediately saw a line that looked really fun. There was quite an hourglass feature to it and it looked like it constricted tight for a little bit. I quickly got dressed and walked out onto the road for a better look and to get a picture to help guide us into it later once we were on top.Back inside I woke Ben up who had just arrived by train from Tokyo an hour earlier. We quickly got ready, picked Sarah up and were soon getting our gear on at the base of Tsugaike Ski Resort.The usual gondola and tram ride later and we were finally up high. It was raging hot though and I was instantly sweating like a pig. We were all walking and after the normal bathroom break started up Norikura at 9:00. The walking was easy and after a short 40 minutes I found myself at the top of Tengupaira. As I was drenched in sweat I took my shirt off and hung it on a tree so it would dry faster. May as well get some sun as it looked like I'd be waiting for a while. I was near the top of Tengupaira before Sarah had even started up from the bottom. Nick arrived a couple minutes after me and we both patiently and unpatiently waited. It was quickly becoming clear that the destination of the day was fading away. This could very well be my last ski trip in Japan so I wanted to ski something fun and also something that I hadn't skied before. A little difficult when hiking up Norikura. We came to the conclusion that we'd have to get going fast if we wanted to ski the line safely.Talking to Sarah when she made her way up to the flats we said we were going for the line. Ben being a real gentleman said he'd stay with Sarah and ski a line on Norikura.After waiting an hour on the flats my muscles were ready to go and I quickly booted up the steep slope to the top of Norikura. I've never climbed that hill so fast. It fealt great. The snow was perfect for walking up. Easy enough to edge in and we wern't sinking in very far for it to be exausting. Once Nick and I were on the top and after a quick water break we started out the now snowfree trail. Going over Norikura is really tedious as Norikura is just a pile of boulders. Going around the lake is by far the most annoying part as the boulders are large and you have to really concentrate on your steps. Even harder in clunky ski-mountaineering boots.But we were again at the snowcovered hut. Back in March it was completly covered in snow with only a chimney sticking out. By mid-June half of it was free of snow while the other half was still covered up to the roof. We kept on going now with the end in sight. We could see Korenge far along the ridge which we had to get pretty close to. Up the scree trail we gained a little elevation before finally getting onto the true ridge overlooking Hakuba. We had to have a break as we had been moving very quickly trying to make up lost time. A pack of M&Ms later and we shouldered our packs just as the clouds moved in. Up until now the weather had been amazing. We hiked the final 30 minutes in cloud trying to visualize where our line started. I had to check the camera numerous times to try and match up features on the ridge to the start of our line. The clouds cleared briefly and we were quickly able to find that we had gone just a little too far. The snowline we were standing at the top of didn't look like it went. We walked down the slope a couple meters to the top of our line and quickly got ready. As it was 1:00pm it had taken us 4 hours reach the top of our line. We must have really moved fast after the flats of Tegupaira.Another quick snack and the last of our water drank we clicked in. I dropped in first and found really good steep snow. A few fast carves and I moved into place just above the hourglass. I shouted up to Nick that it was much wider than we thought and that he should ski right through the constriction and I'd join him after getting some pictures. He did just that and I joined him before we leap frogged eachother down into the clouds below. The run was really fun. Up top it was about 40 degrees and then that dropped down to about 30 for the lower section. The lower section was really long as well and we were able to make some really fun big turns. Making sure not to hit the few rocks in the snow we soon found ourselves on flatter terrain and wondering where the snow would end and we'd have to get around the open river. We met some hikers just near the end that were out picking vegetables and they told us it was safe to get around the open river. We skied the remaining slope to where we found a gaping hole in the snow and strapped our skis onto our backpacks. While Nick was changing out of his ski boots I looked up and saw a few rocks rolling down the hill just above. They wern't moving fast so I only told him to watch out. But they quickly picked up speed and I yelled at him to get out of the way. Now in his running shoes he ran up the snow trying to get out of the way. Only problem was that he was running straight for the rocks. The biggest one just missed taking out his legs by half a meter. Even though the situation was quite serious I couldn't stop laughing at the site of Nick running right for the fast rocks.We quickly shouldered our packs and started walking down the grass slope next to the river. There was only one difficult problem we had to overcome. The slope had been cut into by the river and with the rain the day before the dirt and grass were very slippery. A slide wouldn't have been dangerous but you would easily get wet if you slipped down. I went first and went the wrong way as I ended up holding onto loose rocks, weeds and mud while only the tips of my boots were holding me. I made it down but it wasn't that fun. Something about if you slipped there was nothing you could have grabbed that would hold any weight. But I made it down fine. Nick in his running shoes went up and over but also had trouble in the slick grass and dirt. With that part finished we just had to walk down on the snow next to the river. We crossed to the left side on a snowbridge and then crossed back to the right just above a waterfall. To get around that we plunged into some thick vegetation. Slide alder, Sasa and Vines tried to hold us back but we forced our way through and after a couple minutes were past the waterfall and on the road just beyond.All that was left was a 30 minute road walk back to my car which we had placed the night before.All in all a great day out in the mountains and if that's my last skiing in Japan I can leave this country a happy man.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Yari

20th May 2006

Hakuba Yari is not the highest mountain above Hakuba. Nor is it nearly as steep as the real Yari further south in the North Alps. But the mountain is an impressive sight when viewed from the Hakuba valley. The best thing about the mountain though is the couloir that cuts right down the middle. It's a very cool thing to see. I've wanted to ski it for a long time now but the logistics of knocking it off were too great. Anyway you looked at it the approach for this mountain would be a grunt. But it had to be skied.Nick was the one that took the initiative and picked the location of our next adventure. I added to the trip by saying we should go very light and maybe hike through the night getting to our line as the snow is just warmed by the sun. Dan also jumped in for the trip saying he's willing to go anywhere that I want to go.Day 1Typhoon number rolled into Japan a bit late this year and picked the very Saturday that we were leaving to pass over the North Alps. The best weather in Japan is usually right after a large weather system passes by. This time was no exception. Dan and I got into Hakuba around lunch on Saturday. Just as we arrived the typhoon unleashed it's last bit of moisture. It rained really hard for a good hour. We had to make our decision by 4 when the last Gondola would leave the Tsugaike ski resort. We started shuttling cars at 3 and made it to the resort just as the weather was starting to clear up. As we gained elevation in the gondola the clouds parted and it was instantly bright blue sky. The only problem was the intense wind.We got to the top and started off. Nick and I were skinning however as we neared the first big hill I found that the snow looked pretty good for walking. So after a little slip I traded skinning for walking and shouldered my skis for the rest of the trip. Dan and I soon reached the summit of Norikura just as the sun was setting. Finding the trail through the deep shrubs took some time but we soon found it and continued to the little lake beyond. On the map there is a hut here however all I'd seen up until this trip was a large pole coming out of the snow. I had never been very close and thought it was a signpost. But now with the snow melted a bit we found that it was the chimney from a hut that was just starting to emerge from the snow. Amazing how deep it gets here.The sun set at the time it ws supposed to and we traded sunglasses for headlamps. The wind also picked up as we got higher on the ridge. It was very intense in places and would nearly knock us over. The snow had mostly melted off the ridgeline and we were lucky in most places to have an obvious trail to follow. In a few places I was glad to have my stiff ski mountaineering boots on the hard snow because they bite very well. Nick was walking in only running shoes and even then they didn't have very much tread. A fall along the ridge wouldn't have been pretty. Even worse because it was night.As we passed the summit of Korenge where we skied the Y-Couloir just before Golden Week the wind seemed to increase in velocity. I think it was because we were now really exposed to the Sea of Japan far below. I suggested finding a place to camp because we had a major mountain to get over coming up very soon and chances are it would be steep and very icy. It was shot down though with an unspoken thought that we might find a mountain hut to camp behind. Some of us hadn't had a good look at the map. We trucked along the mostly flat ridge for a short while before Shiroume loomed up ahead of us. We could tell it was white and very steep. But we were on a ridge and couln't see any place to camp out of the very strong wind. At a trail junction at 2700 metres though some rocks along the trail blocked the wind a bit and we were able to finally get some rest for the night. We had planned on making it to at least the many huts just beyond Shiroume however fighting the wind for 6 hours had exausted us.I was bivying so dug out a grave for myself in the snow. I used my iceaxe to cut branches from the coniferous shrubs. I lined the bottom of my grave with the shrubs and this kept me a little further from the snow. Nick and Dan were sleeping in Dan's tent.The night was already cold and the wind made it that much more. But because we were out of the wind the temperature although just below freezing was a little bit bearable for me. I had gone light though with just my summer sleeping bag, 3/4 length thermarest and an extra pair of dry longjohns. Right away my feet were cold so after a quick pee in the middle of the night I changed my setup a little bit. I managed to stuff my lower legs inside my backpack which helped keep my feet warm. With my down jacket inside my sleeping bag as an extra blanket I managed to stay a little bit warm most of the night. In other words I got a bit of sleep.Dan wasn't as lucky though but if he hadn't been lazy he could have had a better night. But he was exausted from fighting the wind and didn't want to bother trying to better his situation. Nick somehow with the lightest bag by far had his winter sleeping bag along. Maybe Dan should have shared a bit of his tent weight with Nick.Day 2I awoke to a clear morning just before the sun came up and quickly got my gear on. The problem with a bivi sack is that once you get out of it you are exposed to the elements. It was still very cold out. Unless I wanted to strip right down in the sub-zero temperatures I'd have to wear all my clothes till I reached the next hut where I could change out of the wind. I quickly packed my bag and because the snow was frozen put my crampons on. I didn't bother eating or drinking and this really affected my enjoyment level as I summited the highest peak in the Hakuba area. Shiroume is at 2932meters. I was exausted by the time I reached it and only snapped a quick picture of the summit marker before quickly making my way to the hut below. I found an open door to a still closed hut and went in. I drank my water and ate a bit of my sandwich. As I regained my strength I was also able to change out of my sleeping clothes and get ready for the warmth of the day. Nick and Dan showed up about an hour after I had arrived and we all relaxed in the empty hut for a bit. It was nice to be out of the wind. We still had quite a distance to go though so shouldered our bags got a group shot and went on our way. We had to drop quite a ways and then like all ridge traverses gain it all back a couple of times. It was really annoying but at least we were able to bypass the 3rd of 4 big mountains we had to get around. I do kind of wish I had made the trip to the summit though as looking from the valley I can't say I've stood on the summit of all the peaks above which is kind of sad. But can't cry over spilt milk. At 9:30 in the morning we were all on the summit of Hakuba Yari. We found that the snow was just getting good so quickly got ready for the ski. It's a shame we couldn't have stayed up higher for longer but then we had been up high traversing mountains since late in the afternoon the day before.I won janken and got to drop in first. The line was great up top and I made some really fun tracks in the perfect corn snow. I got to my safe area on the far side of the bowl just above the crux of the route. Dan and Nick then joined me and went further down the route. We would now enter the crux of the route. The line on Hakuba Yari is interesting. It starts out wide but constricts right down to just a few metres wide for about 50 metres vertical. As it was spring the skiable snow was quite a bit narrower and we had to make some fun jump turns through this section. I had a tough time keeping the smile on my face from getting too big. It was really fun. After the constriction the line opens up again however we couldn't go very fast because there was lots of rocks in the snow. We were also all very tired and just safety skied the rest of the face. The line didn't dissapoint. We had so far skied 1000meters vertical of very good falline skiing. But we still had quite a ways to go. We regrouped on the lower apron and discussed our exit. The line empties into a tight area below treeline and on the map there is a waterfall. We could see many a ski tour party coming into the bowl from a ridge to the north however we didn't park our car where they came from. Nick made a quick phone call to get some information which he didn't listen to. His information told us to exit out the way people were entering our bowl. For some reason we decided to hike up a ridge to the south. I looked on the map just before we started bootpacking up and found that if we gained the ridge above we could ski down the next valley. The map didn't show any obsticles that we'd have to get around. We made our way up to the ridge in the summer like temperatures and had a good rest. I again looked at the map and we decided on that information to drop into this bowl. There wern't any ski tracks so this should have been an instant warning to us. We skied very fun snow for 600 more vertical and then saw that we were almost at the bottom. But we wouldn't be able to exit that easy. The valley got very steep and dropped out of sight. We could here the noise of a waterfall and there wasn't a way around it as the valley walls were now cliffs. We thought we might be lucky though because just as we reached the decision that we couldn't exit this route there was a great looking route to the north east up a mellow snow slope. Maybe this would take us back to the original valley. We were all very exausted and the thought of hiking all the way back up what we had just come down was out of the question. At least we didn't try getting around the unmarked waterfall.We very slowly made our way up the slope and were very lucky to find that after a little roll in the slope it went for quite a ways up. It looked like at the top that we'd be standing high above the floor of our original valley. The only problem now would be finding a skiable line down to the bottom. But in that we were also very lucky and without even having to look very hard found a very skiable route to the very bottom of the valley. We wouldn't even have to get around the original waterfall as we had now bipassed it. It had only taken us quite a bit more effort to do so.Another quick rest and a triple check of the map to make sure we knew where we were and I set in first. A few cracks to get around but other than that it was easy.I was nearly to the bottom though when I heard very scared yelling. Nick was screaming for Dan to get out of the way. A very large ice block was flying down the slope heading right for Dan. He just jumped out of the way of the block. I was nearly at the bottom of the slope and found that after nearly taking out Dan the iceblock was now coming straight for me. I quickly traversed to the other side of the slope and watched as the block bounced to the very bottom and into the avy debris. Very scary. The block was about 1 meter around and was moving very fast. If it had hit Dan like it almost did he would have been very lucky to escape with just a few broken bones.With that little scare out of the way we skied the rest of the way to the end of our valley. We were now faced with just 1 more little adventure. A river crossing.Normally when we exit this valley the river is covered in snow. But with the late season that we were skiing the river was now very open and was much larger with the snow melt. Dan and Nick barefooted it in there ski boots while I just walked across not bothering to change. I was going to get wet anyways while they had dry shoes to change into. The river was about knee deep, flowing fast and for Dan and Nick with bare skin exposed very cold. It was really fun.With the river crossed that was the last of the adventure that Hakuba Yari could throw our way. We just had to hike the final portion of road which took an hour and we'd be back at the car.What an amazing trip. We experienced almost everything we could on this trip. Sub-zero temps, strong wind, narrow couloir skiing, exaustion, corn snow, route finding problems and river crossing just to name a few things that were interesting. I'm happy to have knocked that line off.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Run above Happo-One

30th April 2006

Having skied the Y-Couloir the day before under a clear sky we set our eyes on another steep line past Karamatsu. I wanted to get into the long saught after double couloir far above Happo. We had a bit smaller group this time though with just Jer, Dan, Nick and myself. The morning dawned with high clouds. We geared up and dropped my car at the exit. While driving to the Happo-One lifts a few rain drops started coming down and we thought this would be it. But Nick said let's just go up and see what happens. As luck would have it the weather kind of cleared by the time we had skinned to the top of the first big bump. Not a clear sky but bits of blue here and there. Most importantly of all, no rain.We were moving pretty slowly though because of our big day before so when we reached the top of the south bowl I thought that maybe we would miss our chance on the double couloir I have so very much wanted. But we would at least get to ski a big open line and maybe gain some confidence back from the sorry state of snow we skied the day before.It worked and we found reasonable snow. Not perfect corn but not sludge. We all skied down to the waterfall for the always entertaining and horrifying ski-out through the canyon. Definitly not somewhere to sit down and have a picnic. As they have also plowed this road we had a bit of a walk back to the car but at least this time we were ready for it and the others were able to pack running shoes into their bags. I walked out in my AT boots. Another good day in the mountains.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Y-Couloir from Tsugaike Ski Hill

29th April 2006

Around the start of this year's ski season Nick and I were resort skiing at Happo-One and while riding a chair he pointed to the north showing me a cool looking massive couloir. He said let's ski it and I said ok. The months passed by, my foot healed and we knocked off a load of really cool lines around Hakuba. But what we had dubbed the Y-Couloir because of it's shape remained unskied. I think it remained unskied because we both thought that the safest way to ski the line would be to camp overnight and hit the couloir early in the morning. We would do this because it is south facing and gets sun most of the day. Camping would involve a lot more planning so it always stayed on the backburner waiting for some free time.Maybe we forgot about the camping or maybe we got too lazy in our safety but we decided to knock off the Y-Couloir on Saturday April 29.At first the trip would just be Dan, Nick and I but when Nick was renting crampons from Evergreen Dave, James and John signed on for the trip. They are all strong and experienced backcountry skiers with Dave being a level 2 Avy technician. I certainly didn't have a problem with them coming along as it would let me see how they go about their backcountry skiing.We got as early a start as possible getting the second gondola to the very top of the mountain. We started skinning at 9:00am. The sky was blue and the air was really hot. James and I were out front and on the final climb to the summit of Norikura we raced my best time of 70minutes back in Spring Break. We beat it with 62 and 63 (me) minute times to the summit. Very nice. We sat down and waited for the rest of the group. They soon followed up with Dan in the back trying to find his rhythm on my skinny skins. He wasn't able to climb at the angle that the rest of us were ascending at. But he held on just a bit behind at the top of each bump along the ridge. We finally reached our highpoint which turned out to be 2769 metre Korengedake at 12:00. We had been skinning for a very good 3 hours and had gained about 1000 metres. So far my biggest elevation gain of the season and also the highest I had been this year. Very nice. From the summit all we had to do to see into the Y-Couloir was look over the edge. From there the run fell 900metres to the valley bottom below at a good angle. At it's steepest maybe 45 degrees.We relaxed on the summit for a bit before finally getting on our way. I have always wanted to ski the skiers right arm of the Y while others wanted the skiers left arm. No problems there. We would just meet halfway down. Dave dropped in first and for 1 or 2 turns it looked good however the snow was really soft and with the angle it started sliding a bit. He nearly got taken out with his sluff as it passed him by and picked up even more speed. Looks like we were a bit too late. But it wasn't very dangerous if you paid attention to what was happening around you. I couldn't really see Dan's, Nick's and John's run though unless I stood right on the slope edge which made me a bit uneasy as it felt like a cornice. After they were out of site on their way down James and I skied along the ridge trying to find the entrance to our arm of the couloir. Good thing I had taken a very zoomed in picture that morning or we may have dropped into 1 of many couloirs that cliffed out. We found the correct line and even better found good snow. James dropped in first and ripped it like he was skiing groomers. Big train tracks right down the guts to the corner where he pulled over to let me catch up. I didn't carve my way down the run but instead did sliding turns and had a good time. We knew that at the corner the couloir got quite a bit steeper. James again went first so that I could take pictures and again he skied it like a pro. At the bottom though his sluff nearly took him out as it gained a ton of speed on the steeper slope. Nick was at the intersection trying to take pictures of us and had to quickly get out of the way as the sluff roared out of our line. When it hit the other slide path it excellerated even faster on the slick ice layer. My turns down the rest of our section was fun but again I skied it defensivly in the sometimes difficult snow. When our arm of the line joined the rest of the Y I found that all the nice snow we had seen from above was gone and replaced with difficult avy debris. It was soft but very difficult to ski. We all struggled down to the bottom of the couloir where finally we got back on good snow and skied over to a safe area. I was exausted.We still had a load of skiing out to do though so after a good long break got underway on the lower angled valley bottom. We did it Chinease downhill style until James wanted to jump off of something big. He had spotted a large cornice. He easily got a good 7 or 8 metre drop out of it and landed it clean. Pretty impressive. We skied the rest of the valley out hitting the plowed road with still a lot of valley to go. They just plowed this road but don't let cars drive up it. Dave called his wife though and she somehow got around the old man blocking the road at the bottom and after a km or so of walking we got picked up which was really nice.So the run. As I said above we never skied it earlier because we correctly assumed that you'd have to get there really early to get good snow. We didn't get there early and had crap snow. But we skied it and had a great time.

Backcountry Skiing – Karamatsu – Couloir above Happo-One

15th April 2006

After the failure of last weekend not getting to the summit of Yakedake I had to summit something big to redeem myself. So it was back to Hakuba for a line off of Karamatsu.Nick was going to ski with me and Sarah, Will and Andy were going to accompany us for a bit before dropping off the north side of the ridge to ski Happo-zawa.We soon got underway a bit behind scedule but were lucky in that they didn't open the gondola at Happo-One until 8:00am. We were planning on riding up to the top at 7:30 so even though we were 40 minutes late it didn't matter because we boarded the gondola at 8:10 just 10 minutes after they opened it up. But in the future certain people and they know who they are are just going to have to start getting ready in the evening.The weather in Hakuba that morning kind of looked promising. While it was cloudy right above the town we could see pockets of really nice sunshine hitting the peaks above. Once we got to the top of the resort however my moral dropped as we were socked right in with some very poor visability. So instead of heading right away for our run Nick and I stuck around and helped the other 3 into their line. It just so happened that by the time we were at the top of the Happo-zawa route we also popped out of the clouds to brilliant sunshine. This re-motivated me and after telling Will that his line started right there in the trees hurried up my pace to get to the summit and run before the snow either got too sloppy to ski or the bad weather that was forcast for the afternoon moved in.After skinning up the remaining ridgline Nick and I found ourselves near the top and traded skinning for botting. The snow was soft enough to not need crampons this time and we booted up to the summit with only a few dozen plunges up to our thighs in the snow. While I was hiking to the summit I was listening to a bit of rock-fall and snow sliding off the big face past Karamatsu. I had been talking to a Japanese skier that was just ahead that was going to ski the face but each time we heard snow and rock falling we looked at eachother and shook our heads. It was funny as well because I had talked to this fellow back in March when I was in a blizzard up above Tsugaike ski hill. On the summit of Karamatsu we talked a bit about our lines and then he left to ski his line and I went back down the ridge to where Nick was waiting to ski our line. I was very happy to ski off the highest point on the ridge which is something that I really like to do. The ski down the ridge wasn't anything special and was really just sidslipping because the south side had been quite wind swept of snow but hell at least I skied off the summit.Back at the top of the line we would ski Nick got ready and I moved into position as I was going to drop in first. The line is a bit narrow and from the top you couldn't see the bottom as it made a couple turns down into the thick fog far below.When Nick was finally ready to spot me and grab a couple pictures I dropped in from the side and found rock hard ice for the first couple metres. This was quite a surprise and I nearly slipped right out but the snow quickly turned soft and spring-like and I made a couple fun turns into a safe area to watch Nick come down. He skied the line directly from the top of the couloir and after passing me went to a safe area as well. We pretty much skied the entire couloir like this leap frogging eachother and getting into safe zones. The snow was pretty good the length of the couloir. Near the bottom of the couloir propper we were back into the thick fog and had to stay close or we would have been lost. It was really thick. The snow here got quite a bit more difficult as pretty much everything had slid earlier in the week. At least the debris was soft enough to traverse across and we found a few spots that were skiable.The fog didn't last forever though and we popped out on the lower slopes for the fun wide open 30 degree slopes. We cruised down these to the bottom and a quick snack. While finally eating (I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast at 6:30 and had only drank 500ml of water) at around 1:30pm we were able to watch a large guided group of about 10 descend one of the worst possible routes of the day. The entire thing had slid earlier in the week and the bottom was all avy debris. Sure it was quite steep and under better conditions would be quite fun but there were certainly better routes than theirs.With the hardest part of the ski complete we could finally relax and enjoy the ski out which is also quite fun. It got very warm on the lower section and I had to strip right down to just my longjohns. A lot cooler this way. I finally got Nick convinced about not taking off the skis until the last scrap of snow has been skied and we had a great time walking across dirt and rocky avy debris with the skis still on. I love spring skiing.A great day out in the mountains and I knocked another line off that I have wanted for a while.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba - Above Tsugaike Ski Hill

29th March 2006

March 29 - Backcoutry skiing above TsugaikeThe snow started to fall the night before and the weather was overcast with strong wind. Still we didn't want to sit around so got out for a little tour above the resort. Sean and Nick were out there with me and our original plan was to cut into some low angle north face runs to see what was happening out there with all the new snow and wind. Plans change though when you have 2 type A people on a trip with conflicting ideas about where to enter the north face runs and where our north face runs were. Turns out Nick and I were talking about different north face runs but that doesn't matter because we made a good decision and ended up skiing an amazing south face line. The run wasn't very steep but the powder was deep and the trees were open. It also helped that Nick had his new camera out and it has multiple frame ability which is good for action shots. We all took our turn in front of the camera and had a great time.When we got to the bottom we decided that going back up into the blizzard didn't sound like much fun so instead we did a couple laps on the south faces before heading over to the north faces.Again we had great snow although the coverage down low wasn't as good and we occasionally hit the crust below. Nothing that wouldn't be covered up in the days of storm still to come. A fun short day in the mountains.March 30 - Happo-One Resort skiingNick had an interview in Nagano city so he was only going to ski a half day. I had a free ticket from SJ and so with early loading at Happo we went there to see how much snow they had gotten up high.We got one of the first gondola's at 8 and got to the top for first tracks down the quad. It was really fun and I only touched bottom a couple times. The hounds were out though and we had to move fast. With just 1 run under our belts we moved over to skyline and were able to get 1st tracks down there where we had to wait a couple minutes for them to open the lift. A few more laps there and then the resort was pretty much tracked out. Normally we'd hit the trees for the rest of the day for untracked turns however at Happo this year it seems like Japanese people are all into tree skiing. We actually had competition for turns. This isn't very fun as the mountain gets tracked out quickly. We were always having to run to get to each chair and as Happo is very poorly laid out this usually means having to side step up steep hills to the next chair. All the while doing this very quickly because some J-snowboarder thinks he is king shit and the powder in the trees is free for the taking.The clock wore down and it was just me left as Sean had left with Nick do to sore legs. I wasn't much better off with this being my first hard resort ski in 3 months due to my foot being broken. So I went in for a break and to eat my lunch. I too succumbed to my complaining legs with the thought in my mind like the day before that with more snow, tomorrow will be epic. I may as well save myself for then.

Backcountry Ski Hill – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura North Faces – Above Tsugaike Ski Hill

27th March 2006

March 27 - Hakuba Norikura North FaceEverytime that I have skinned into norikura people asked me if I am going to ski the north faces. I always say no I'm going to ski blah blah blah over there. But curiosity got to me and with Nick around I had a partner to check out a new area.We took the upper gondola up and when we got out of the station a lone telemarker took off skinning fast. Nick said to me joking that that's the kind of person I'd be racing if I chose to enter the SkiMountaineering race in mid April. I laughed at him and we started on our way. The telemarker was off ahead breaking trail straight up the mountain. I scoffed at him and started to put my own track in cutting switchbacks into the hill. Much easier than going straight up. I soon started gaining ground on the telemarker as he was stopping more often to catch his breath from going straight up the first hill. At the top there is a stretch of flat ground that goes for quite a ways before you get to the final hill. I had caught up to the telemarker here and we both started a non-verbal race to the summit. I wanted to show him that switchbacks are faster and he just wanted to show me how big his unit is. Again as we hit the final hill he started straight up and I made some big switchbacks. While I was covering a much further distance than he was I was able to stay at the same elevation if not just a little bit ahead. We soon came over the last bit of hill and were on the huge flat summit. I'll say it was a tie because in the end he went off somewhere else in what I hope was shame for not winning to a smelly gaijin.Once on top I noticed that while there was a clear blue sky the wind was moving fast enough to drop the temperature considerably. I got most of my clothing on and huddled down to wait for Nick who up until now I had forgotten was even out with me. He turned up a few minutes later and we chilled out behind our large rock trying not to be blown over or lose an gear in the strong gusts.After we had lost the sweaty chill we continued on our way across the large summit of Norikura. I finally got to see the lake that I have seen on the maps but always wondered where it was. In winter though it is just a large white flat area. When we got to the wind scoured north summit we immediatly saw a really cool looking ridge coming out from the massive cornices.It would have been dangerous to both go over and look for the entrance to the ridge so I remained on the summit and directed Nick into the line using my poles as directional markers. It was amazing to see how large the cornices are as he looked tiny up against the huge overhangs. I got him into the line and then went over to join him being sure to stay well back from the edge. The line looked really fun starting on a mellow ridge and then dropping steeply into the chute below. But from there we couldn't see so much and it looked like it choked into a narrow section that we couldn't really see. We abandoned that idea but looking back to where I was standing previously saw another cool looking line. Back to the north summit we went and got everything ready for our descent.We edged over to the top of the slope and found an amazing looking open and steep powder field all for us. There was nobody around and not a track in site. I guess I can't be too surprised as it was Monday. I got to go first and dropping in found very dry and again fast snow. I made both big and small turns before getting into some trees where I stopped and got the camera out so I could capture Nick coming down. He ripped it up as well and the smile was big on his face. Giving him my camera I skied the remaining section while he took pictures of me for once. The snow was so good. We regrouped in the trees far below and had our lunches. It was nice being away from the helicopters and crowds.As we had dropped into a different drainage we would have to skin back out again. Nick started breaking trail as I had broken trail all the way to the summit before. He soon brought us out onto a ridge where he saw another fun looking run. We skinned for another few minutes and were soon at the top of it. Nick skied first this time and found even deeper and drier snow than the last run. Absolutly amazing.At the bottom we again had to put our skins on but this would be the last time.Our original plan was to again ski out to Norikura ski hill and we stuck to it. When we got to the high point of the traverse out we deskinned and got ready for the rest of the descent which was still a long ways out. The ridgine as before only offered a few turns here and there however when we got to the final bump there was a nice long south face again waiting for us. It was now late in the day though and we feared that we may have missed the best of the corn. But the snow was still pretty good if just a little mushy. We skied out to the road walked across the bridge and put our skis back on to traverse back to the Tsugaike ski hill.An amazing day out in the mountains with great turns. In total we were out skiing for 7 hours and we must have gained about 1000 metres vertical throughout the day. Great Great Great.March 28 - Rain so went to Matsumoto

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Karamatsu – Couloir above Happo-One

25th March 2006

March 25 - Couloir on Karamatsu1 month before I had tried to get into this area with a large group of people. We were turned back because of a sketchy looking ridge near the end of the valley.I really wanted to ski off of Karamatsu and so pestered Nick enough to take Saturday off of work as that would be the best day of the weekend. Nick and Sean were also going to be in Hakuba for the week on their Spring Vacations.So with the plan of skiing a big line in our minds we got an early start the next day.Getting to the top of Happo-One ski resort there were just a couple people ahead of us on the ridgline. The race was on. I didn't think that almost all the backcountry skiers and riders would be going to the same place but that was the case. There was maybe 20 people that wanted a big line. Nobody was going to settle for low angle powder. We were able to stay out front for most of the ridge climb however soon dropped a bit when we switched from skis to crampons. This was partly my fault because I was having a bit of trouble with my crampons not staying on. But I finally got them dialed in and we made it to our high point. The view from this high was amazing. We could see Tsurugi, Tateyama and Yakushi which are on the other side of Kurobe Dam. It was really nice. Had there not been people a couple other parties wanting to get first tracks I would have liked to sit a for bit a look at the mountains but...We walked down the short slope to the start of our line a couple minutes before a group of 5. As we had gotten there first they let us go first. You'd think that would be assumed but in Japan there arn't any common courtesy rules like that. We geared up quick and after a quick janken Nick dropped over the lip into the couloir. It was pretty steep up top. Well over 45 degrees. I could tell he was having a good time as he was going as fast as he could in the dry and very fast snow. He disapeared around the corner at the bottom and the party watching us said he was at the bottom so it was now my turn.I dropped in where Nick did and found very fast and dry snow. It was really amazing. I ripped it the best that I could and had a great time. This was easily one of the best lines that I have ever skied in my life.When I reached Nick at the bottom of the couloir we both had huge smiles on our faces.We still had a load of vertical to get through so after a quick break to look at our turns we skied the rest of the valley before it gets flat. The snow was pretty good here and we were able to arc some big high speed turns. At the bottom of the valley we ditched a load of clothes as the sun was making things hot. Looking up at our lines we also saw a load of other great tracks down many of the couloirs. People were putting in some really nice turns. This is definitly an area that I want to put more tracks in.The ski out was the same as last time however we avoided the death trap of the waterfall this time. The other main hazard on this route was getting safely over all of the avy debris that stacks up in the narrow ravine. Not a place to get the bbq out for hotdogs. All in all one of my best days in the backcountry. Skiing a steep line like that in pristine conditions was enough to make happy for life.March 26 - Did 1 run as the conditions were not very good.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura above Tsugaike Ski Hill

22nd March 2006

March 22 - SunshineI was again going to ski with Minako for her last day however after 1 run I couldn't bare to spend another day in the resort especially with the clear weather.In the parking lot I had met Tatsuo and introduced him to Minako. He was going off to ski the North Faces of Norikura that he called his secret area. I was quickly jealous. In the gondola I told Minako that he is the dude in the Landmade DVD and she got really excited about that yelling at me for not telling her earlier that that's who he was.But after 1 run I ditched Minako and went back to the car to gear up for backcountry. As I was getting a little bit of a late start I shelled out the 750yen to ride the upper gondola. From the top station I saw that there were just a few ski tourers ahead. I had a chance to make my own skin track up the entire mountain. Very exciting and good exercise. I was able to skin the entire mountain from the top gondola putting in nice switchbacks in 70 minutes without stopping. I had gained over 600 metres in just a bit over an hour. That put all my mid week tours in Takayama to shame for sure. As I had made such good time to the summit I had been able beat all of the heli-skiers that had been dropped off a bit before. That meant a large, relativly safe and untracked powder face for me to ski. I jumped at that chance right away and just 10 minutes after reaching the summit was clicked in and ready to ski.The turns were amazing and I was so happy to have my Volkl Explosives. They might be a lot heavier than the K2 Shuksans but the descent is so much more fun. As I still had lots of time left in the day I chose to traverse out to Norikura ski hill along a nice ridge. This was lots of fun and I was able to get many more fun turns on the way down. The final slope is open and south facing which made for great corn turns. Now at the resort I walked across the bridge dividing Norikura and Tsugaike ski resorts before getting back to my car. March 23 - It snowed heavily all night and by morning there was about 20-30cms of very wet snow. On the gondola ride up all of the south faces had slid to the bottom in many places going right across the roads that beginners use. I got to the top of the gondola clicked in a skied back to the car. Not even a day.March 24 - Mark from Toyama had called me up the night before wanting to get out into the backcountry. It would be nice to have some company. We were going to ski something on Norikura. You'd think I'd be getting a bit bored of this area but there are so many runs to do.As I had taken the gondola last time the thought of having to skin up to the top station was only a thought and we paid for the ride. Just as we walked into the gondola station a Japanese guy recognized me from some backcountry trip last year. He was a BlueCliff guide that I have seen a few times in the Tateyama and Karasawa areas. Small world. Or maybe I stand out.We started up the hill and soon made it to the flats where the heli drop is. I had a wait a couple minutes for Mark but he soon arrived and we started up to the top. I made good time and had my sandwhich at the top while Mark snowshoed up the hill. From there we walked over to the south face runs. We debated the merrits of digging a pit as Mark had just finished his Recreational Avalanche course. In the end we just talked about the conditions and looked around to see what was happening naturally. Somehow I was the guiny pig to test the slope and found some very fun snow. We skied the run all the way to the bottom of the face. It was a great ski. And at the bottom Mark asked when lunch would be. I had been caught up in Matt land and had forgotten that he had had nothing to eat. So he chowed down while I took in the beauty that is the North Japanese Alps. Another really good day out in the backcountry.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Hakuba Norikura – Above Tsugaike Ski Hill

18th March 2006

March 18 - Hakuba Norikura South Face with NickStarted my spring vacation by doing a great backcountry trip with Nick.The weather report was for sun turning to rain later in the afternoon so we got out early. Our plan was to skin up Hakuba Norikura above Tsugaike ski hill.We made pretty good time to start with however by the time we reached the top gondola that we didn't ride there was some maniac making the most horrible skin track in the world ahead.While skinning this straight up the slope track I was able to skin right beside our friend Tatsuyo the Hakuba big mountain skier who was snowshoeing. We had a good conversation about the many lines we wanted to ski in the upcoming spring season. At the top of the first slope I waited a coule minutes for Nick to catch up before again continuing on.Tsugaike ski hill offers heli-skiing above the resort and they advertise it as skiing in this uncharted wilderness when in reality it's skiing a flat run with hundreds of people. We were lucky enough to be skinning right next to all this chaos and were constantly being buzzed by helicopters. Once dropped off the clients can either ski right back to the resort or make the treck to the very top of Hakuba Norikura. Most ski back however a few adventerous souls make a boot pack up the final slope. With the line of people booting up it looks a lot like historical Klondike Goldrush pictures from back in the day. So it was with the tourists that we made our way to the top. Nick didn't want to skin up the near vertical skin track so booted up while I made my way up the steep track.At the top we again rested for a couple before leaving the masses and heading over to the south side of the large summit area. We were finally alone and standing on top of a large open south face. A few photos and then we traversed into our line for the descent. The snow wasn't powder and wasn't isothermic crap. The skiing was very much just controlled sliding. No edge hold so you couldn't carve. It was lots of fun though and started out my holiday great. March 19 - High winds - Rest dayMarch 20 - High winds and snowing above the resortI needed to get out again so skinned up above Tsugaike resort. I wanted to meet up with our friend Katsu the kayaker and his large group however as soon as I reached the top gondola that I again didn't take the wind hit. I retreated behind a hut to put more clothing on before attempting to make it a bit higher. I had to get my 300 metre vertical to make it a day. I didn't have to go much further though to get that. I ended up stopping in the last group of trees I could see. The wind was really strong. A guy on snowshoes with spatulas on his back passed me there saying he was going to the summit. Crazy nut. I skied fun low angle powder back to the resort.March 21 - Cloudy - Skied groomers for 5 hours with Minako. I only have 2 pairs of skis mounted right now. Both are big fat skis with one setup being backcountry and the other setup being resort. I took the resort fat skis and tested them out as best I could on the groomers. It was fun if just a little sketchy at times.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Runs above Happo-One

5th March 2006

The forcasted cloud turned into sun and not wanting to let it go to waste Dave, Jer and I went for a little tour above Happo-one. The plan was to lap up a short south facing bowl when the temperatures rose and softened the spring snow. That's what the plan was at least.The weather however didn't cooperate at all. Once we got to the top of the resort we realized that it was really cold and very windy up top and probably wasn't going to warm up. Just off of the top chair there is a really nice north facing bowl that drops all the way to the valley bottom over a 1000metres below. The bowl was extremly wind loaded and a snowboarder had tried to ride it with a very dangerous result. Right at the roll on the top a fracture released. We didn't see the slide happen but I can guess that it was frightening to watch and horribly scary to be in. I didn't hear anything on the news so I assume the rider made it out safe with a lesson learned.This was Jer's first BC tour and was using Nick's bindings and skins. We set off up the first hill and right away Jer was loving the feeling of earning your turns. We quickly made it to the top of the bowl we wanted to ski. The wind was blowing really hard and it was very cold. In some gusts the best thing to do was just lean into it and try not to get blown over. It was that strong. We didn't linger long on the ridge and jankened for 1st tracks. Dave won and I got 3rd.His run brought us to the reality that there was a crust under the snow. He had a bit of trouble with keeping his speed down. Jer had the same problem. I took it easy and had a fun time getting some good turns in on the interesting snow. At the bottom we traversed over to the side of the bowl for some lunch before skinning back up a ridge to the resort.All in all it was a fun run however the wind took a lot out of us.I really want to get into this bowl when the snow is softer so that I can just cruise down without a care in the world on soft soft spring snow.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Runs above Happo-One

25th February 2006

On my backcountry ski tour the weekend before I had seen a beautiful face above the Happo-One ski resort. It was 2600 metres tall and had some really cool looking couloirs. I told Nick about it and he seemed really interested so we made plans to get into that area at some point.That some point came up quickly. While sitting around at the lodge Friday night other people also became interested and by early Saturday morning we had 6 people. Nick, Bruno, Hugh, Matt, Chris and myself.We were up kind of early at 6 and were riding up the Happo chairs by 8:30. The sun was out and it was very clear. When we finally reached the top of the resort we knew from the weather that the day would be a really fun.The ridge we would traverse climbs slowly from the top of Happo resort and snakes it's way to the back of the east/west valley. This makes a great ski touring area as on the left are nice warm south faces and on the right cold north faces.The skinning began from the top of the resort at 9:00am at around 1900 metres. We got under way and pretty much stuck together. I was out front and tried to set a good pace as I didn't want to be out all day getting grouchy with having to stop and talk for hours on end. We made or way up the slope until we got to a pretty icy hill that was too steep to skin. So skis off we kicked steps with our ski boots. The 2 snowboarders Matt and Chris were wearing snowshoes. Matt easily made it up the slope however Chris slipped near the top and slid to the bottom ripping his hand open. He finally made it to the top of the slop and we all regrouped in some trees below another icy slope. I decided to boot right up the ridge with Matt and Chris while the other skiers found it easier to boot up a different route. I had my ice-axe with me so it was very easy but had I not had the tool I would have gone with the others. But we all regrouped again on the summit and got on our way again. We were nearing the end of the valley when at the top of a 2500 metre bump we saw the remaining section of ridge. It was not very narrow but it was extremly icy and a fall either way would have been very hazardous. In softer snow we would have easily skied or booted up the ridge. But we made the easy descision to ski a different route and return another time with proper gear for our intended line. The view from our high point was amazing. While we couldn't see very far West because there were very large mountains in the way we could see mountains right on the Japan Sea to the North, many mountains in the East and and all the way to Fuji-san in the South right on the Pacific. A quick lunch and we geared up for our decsent. We would ski a short portion of our accent route before dropping into a drainage on the North. The south faces were getting soft and we had great turns before arriving at the top of our run. Nick dropped in first and found blown in powder. It was quite a surprise over the shear ice that we thought we would be skiing. After everybody else was down a ways I dropped in and found the top to be kind of easy to ski however my foot was definitly holding me back. The snow for me got much more difficult the lower we went as it kept grabbing my tips which made me really have to fight to stay up. Fighting the snow wasn't very good as it put a lot of strain on my foot. But I muscled my way down always being the last in group with everybody watching me ski. It was very embarrassing as I knew they were all judging me. I havn't been the worst skier in a group for a long time and I really dislike slowing people down which is why I always push myself so hard on the accent to be one of the fastest. Once the slope leveled off I found that if I made slow and tiny old-school powder turns I found that I could actually ski with some control but soon the slope ended at the bottom of the valley where we had a quick break. The view from the bottom was amazing. Looking up the valley the peaks are so rugged. It was really amazing.With yet a long ways to go we pushed off down the valley until it quickly got very steep and we found an open waterfall. That wasn't good. Nick slowly sidestepped around it and found that if we were absolutly sure of ourselves we could get around the waterfall without too much trouble. A slide however would have resulted in an almost certain death. I don't often get myself into too many situations like this where if I fall I will probably die. On spring snow the traverse over the hole would have been easy however there was about 15cms of powder overtop of sheer ice. So it was very easy to loose an edge. But the 4 skiers made it across without any problems. Chris and Matt on snowboards decided to hike up a bit and traverse around the waterfall on the actual route we should have taken. It only took them about 15 minutes to traverse around so maybe we should have all traversed around. But it was interesting having to get around the big hole.With that finished we easily skied out the remaining parts of the valley getting back to Nick's car.The entire route went from 2500m to 800m for a total descent of 1700metres. Pretty impressive. I have only decsended 2 times in the backcountry that far. The other trip ws during Golden Week 2005 when I skied from Hotaka hut at 3000 metres down the super couloir to near ShinHotaka at 1300 metres. Both trips go into my books as really fun backcountry adventures.

Backcountry Skiing – Hakuba – Run above Tsugaike Ski Hill

18th February 2006

Getting back into the saddle has been enjoyable so far. I've done quite a few early morning tours and even snuck out of school for a couple hours one warm afternoon. But all of them are tiny with less than an an hour laps. I decided to up that a bit with my weekend out in Hakuba.I just bought a new topo map for the Hakuba valley and saw a really nice ridge that started near the bottom of Tsugaike and climbed a long ways up. It would suit my needs perfectly as I didn't want a big descent that would be difficult with my sore foot. This route would involve a good elevation gain and then I could have a short descent before arriving back at the top of Tsugaike resort where I could sideslip back down to the bottom of the resort on groomed runs.I got a good mid-morning start and after riding 1 chair up the mountain started skinning up the ridge. I made some good time and sweated it up in the sun. It was a good route and in places the ridge was wide enough to make big traverses however in a few places it was narrow and steep and I had to traverse out onto the south faces in kind of sketchy snow. A little worrisome because I was on my own but nothing ever moved. As I gained elevation I was able to see further and further into the North Alps which hold so many good lines. I had to stop numerous times to take pictures but that was ok as it let me catch my breath. As I was traversing along the top of a large south face I was able to see all our north facing lines that we ski when it snows big. Many of the lines looked really good from this angle and it was really fun recaling all the lines and cliffs we have done.I was soon coming up to the last big hill and looking across was level with the top of the resort. Before I knew it I was on top of my 1900 metre bump in the ridge looking at all the amazing lines. One that really struck me was the north facing couloirs coming off of a peak just west of Happo-One. They were really nice and I'm going to ski them in a few weeks.As it had taken me about 2 hours to get to the top of my route I sat for a while taking it all in and eating my lunch. Once my sweat cooled me down enough I got everything back into my bag and got ready to finish up the route. I was going to traverse along the ridge and tick off another bump however traversing with skins on sketched me out on the icy ridge and so decided to just descend the south face to the cat-track that would take me back to the resort. It was kind of icy but I bet that if I had waited about an hour it would have softened up enough to make some nice spring turns. I'll just have to save that for another day.When I got back to the resort I immediatly saw my friends and so did a run with them through the park. The "run" for me was pretty much just a side-slip as I didn't want to hurt my foot. Everybody threw some good tricks though and I was impressed. But that was it for me and I sideslipped quickly to the bottom of the resort where I caught a bus back to Nick's lodge.A great day out in the hills. I gained somewhere over 700 metres in 2 hours and saw some really good terrain that I want to hit next week or the week after. Very fun.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama - Nov 2004 - June 2006

2009-05-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

June 24, 2006
June 24, 2006

June 24, 2006

June 8, 2006

November 25, 2005

April 29, 2005

July 23, 2005

Backcountry Skiing – Tateyama area – Tsurugi Skiing

24th June 2006

My time in Japan is winding down and it looks like every weekend an activity has been slotted in. As the snow is getting more and more difficult to ski I decided to pick the June 24/25 weekend as my last ski weekend of the 2005/2006 season. It would also be my last ski trip in Japan for a long long time. I had to go out with a bang so picked a line that would really challenge me physically.The last big grunt of a trip that I did was Hakuba Yari. A big trip like that always leaves a person feeling like they have really completed something. The little trips that I do are also fun but a trip where at the end you are physically and mentally drained you know that it was a really good experience.Day ISo I set a big route for the last ski weekend. We would ski a big couloir on Tsurugidake. The elevation we had to gain for the day would be quite considerable but the terrain would be new and exciting. Dan and Jeremy were up for the challenge so we met early enough at Tateyama Train Station. We planned the timing correctly and were on the snow at 9:30. I told Dan and Jer that I'd like to have our tents set up in Tsurugizawa by 11:00 and be on our way to ski our line. We went our ways as I tried to skin up the Raicho face while they were walking. I made pretty good time to the top although it really drained me because I was sometimes fighting the snow trying to keep my skis from sliding out on me while traversing. It only took 2 or 3 times of having to pick myself off the snow before I said screw it and attached my skis to my backpack and made my way over to the exposed summer trail. I made up lots of time here and was quickly at the top hut. I didn't waste any time getting ready and in only a few minutes was making fun turns down into the bowl below to Tsurugizawa.I found a nice place to put my tent and started digging a platform out of the snow. It was difficult digging but after a little effort I had a platform big enough. Every few minutes I would look up to top of the bowl to see if Dan and Jer were on there way down. But they never showed. 11:00am passed and I had my tent set up and was trying to rehydrate myself as I hadn't drank very much water up until now. Sometime after 11:30 I saw Dan and Jer finally walking up the ridge. This kind of upset me as they were wasting time trying to get a few extra meters of vertical. They finally decided to ski down but stopped a few turns in to take pictures which really had me fuming. When they skied over to where I had camp set up they asked if I was upset to which they already knew the answer. I hassled them enough and set a new time to leave of 12:30. We never could have gotten ready for 11:00am but we could have been ready to go with our camps all set up for when we returned by 12:00.They quickly got ready and we were finally off on our run. We had to ski all the way down to the end of the valley where we would start climbing up the broad couloir. We skied about 500 meters vertical to the bottom of the run. The turns going down the broad valley were pretty good and it was fun looking up all the couloirs that we passed by. Tsurugi is a large and very steep mountain. The ridges that spill off the mountain are very steep and hold dozens if not hundreds of small sub couloirs that feed into the larger couloirs.The snow turned shitty just before we got to the base of our line but it didn't matter because we didn't have to go any lower.Looking up the couloir we saw snow right to the rigdeline way above. We instantly decided to ski that line even though there would probably be many other lines once we gained a little elevation in the large couloir.I shouldered my now very light bag with skis attached and started making my way up the couloir. I set a turn around time of 4:00pm which would give us 3 hours to get up to the top.We quickly gained vertical and were in awe as more and more terrain opened up. A few weeks to a month earlier the dozens upon dozens of sub couloirs would have been skiable. Now they were a mess of discontinuous snow, lines with massive cracks running right across and all with with huge moats that would swallow you up if you slipped off the side. You could easily spend a week in this one large couloir and not ski all the lines coming off the 2 ridges that protected the main couloir.With such amazing views we were able to climb quickly because our minds were not focased on the never ending line of snow to the top.I set a rest area below some large cliffs in the middle and sat down to wait for Dan and Jer. They were just a few minutes behind. We all snacked and talked about the terrain. The main peak of Tsurugi had now shown itself and it too held quite a few little mini couloirs that a month ago would have been very skiable if not just a little steep.Where we rested was the transition in the run from mellow to steep as immediatly after starting out again the slope quickly got steeper. I kicked steps up to the next rock on the side of the run only slipping once. But that one slip sent the skis on my backpack into the back of my head. It hurt quite a bit so once at the next little rest area I got my axe and helmet out for the rest of the climb. For the first time I found that the helmet also protects my head from my own equipment. Dan and Jer changed into their ski boots here because it would be easier to walk in my steps with a sturdy platform on their feet. I made my way straight up the couloir trying to kick steps for Dan and Jer who were coming up behind. Sometimes my boot went in to my ankle and sometimes I was just standing on my toes as the snow switched from slush to ice. The top of the couloir never seemed to end and the pitch only steepened. At it's steepest it was over 40 degrees and near the top the moats along the sides got wider and very deep. A few times they joined with large cracks that jutted into the couloir creating some very dangerous hazards. I looked into a few of the moats and they easily went for 5 meters in places. Falling into one of them would have been almost as dangerous as falling into a crevesse. But we couldn't turn around so close to the top of the run.A few sweaty minutes later and I was kicking in my last steps before getting to the col. I had hoped from here that we'd easily be able to climb up to the sub peaks on both sides of the run however they were quite steep. Also the col wasn't flat at all but instead dropped over into a another couloir on the other side. We couldn't tell if this couloir went or not but I'd guess that it didn't as it dropped right to the valley floor. The mountains to the north were really nice to look at as it was a new sight that I havn't yet seen.Our couloir topped out at 2850 meters which is pretty cool as the summit of Tsurugi is just below 3000 meters. So we wern't that far below the top even though it sat about 500 meters and along a very difficult ridge away from us.We all took in the view for a while but knew that we'd have to get going so we buckled up our boots and clicked into our bindings. Dan went first through the steep section and skied it well. He stopped about halfway down the first section and then got ready to take pictures of Jer. Jer skied it as he skis everything. Fast, efficient and like it's a ski resort which is why he forgot about all the big cracks. So even though Dan yelled at him to avoid a very large one he still almost skied right into it yelling out that he didn't even know it was there. In true Jer fashoin of course I wonder where he had kept his eyes on the steep bootpack up.I came down last and had a fun time. The snow and pitch was pretty good and combined with the scenery made for a great ski.We leapfrogged eachother down the entire couloir taking our time lower down to rest legs and avoid the few rocks that had fallen off the cliffs above. Soon the run was over and we were at the bottom of our valley. We had skied and climbed 850 meters vertical. We had a good rest at the bottom while entertaining the thought of the 500 meter climb we had to get back to our tents. After a few minutes talking about our line I heard a crash above and looking up and saw a huge boulder rolling down the mellow valley. We moved all our gear to the edge of the run hopefully out of the way and watched as it quickly picked up speed on a steeper section of snow. It eventually stopped but left us with the need to be careful and keep our eyes open. The boulder was easily as big as a car or truck.The next little bit of fun came when we had to fill up our waterbottles. Even though a little creek came down right near where we stopped getting around the cracks and moats to the water was a little interesting and involved some fun scrambling on the greasy slabs.With full waterbottles and full stomachs I put my skins on and clicked into my skis for the 500 meter vertical climb back to camp. I left at 4:20 and said I'd be back at camp by 5:30. It was a difficult climb after such a long day but the grade was gentle enough that I could skin straight up the slope. After numerous short breaks I skinned into camp right at 5:30. The climb had turned out to be pretty easy and I quite enjoyed the challenge of the long day.The total vert climbed for the day was 1800 meters with 1800 meters of skiing. Not bad for an 8 hour day. And not bad at all for summer skiing in late June.After dinner Dan's feet were cold so he and Jer went into the lodge. As i've said numerous times I don't enjoy doing this but I also don't really enjoy sitting outside by myself when my friends are inside talking. So after a bit of sitting in the dark by myself I walked over to the lodge and went in to join them. They were sitting around a Kero heater warming their feet and talking to 4 or 5 Japanese men. It turns out that one of the men had climbed Everest in 1983. I've never met anybody that has climbed any of the 8000 meter peaks so that was pretty cool.Day III had a bad nights sleep on my old MontBell sleeping pad. It really doesn't do very much for protecting my body from the snow. But I managed to get my standard 8-10 hours of sleep while in the mountains.The morning came and with it clouds so we wern't able to enjoy the warm morning sun which would have been very nice. But we emerged from the tents instead to high clouds. At least we could see Tsurugi and the very top of the line we had skied the day before.We packed up camp and were on our way by 7:30. Gaining the saddle at the top of the bowl was a little difficult with the exercise we had had the day before but 30 minutes of grunting and groaning later and we were on top. A quick break and we shouldered our bags for the last bit of climbing to the top of our line.We would ski the same line as we skied 2 weeks earlier. It was just a few meters shorter and a little bit narrower which in my books is just fine.We geared up and leapfrogged down the couloir taking the standard pictures here and there of things that we thought would look good on film. At the bottom we skied over to the rope tow and rode it to the top. I was coming up last and when I finally got to the top in pain from the little plastic rod I had to use heard shouting and swearing coming from Jer. Turns out that he had lost one of his new hiking boots somewhere on the last run. He thought that he would come back the following week to find it but Dan convinced him to go back and get it and even joined him for the grunt back up the run.They had a good rest before starting and then skied away while I watched from a bench and had a nap. They had to pretty much walk up the entire run that we had just skied which even though I'm not going to write very much about here was very exausting on them. I wouldn't have wanted to be in Jer's place at all. Dan found the boot in a shallow moat about 3/4 of the way up the run and I could hear Jer yelling in joy across the valley from where I was sitting on my bench. They had had to gain about 500 meters vertical to get the boot. This wasn't an easy little side trip.They skied back down the run putting some more tracks on the snow and were very soon coming up the ropetow one last time.They rested at the top and then repacked their bags and we set off to bus station.As it was only 12:30 when we got back to the bus station Dan and I wanted to try and ski out as far as the snow would let us. I've always wanted to do this and as this was our last chance we fealt that we had better do it. Jer had had enough which I can't say I blame him what with the little boot incedent and the huge climb we did the day before. We loaded all our overnight gear into his backpack and then set off with day bags up the hill right next to the bus station at 1:00pm.We had to gain a fair bit of elevation and once on the top of the first bump it looked like we were almost level with the top of the Raicho face. Dan and I had never skied in this area before so it was interesting seeing everything from a different angle. We had a quick rest as the clouds moved in and wondered how we would complete the traverse out if we couldn't see the route in front of us. We were lucky though in that we had really scouted the route the day before on the bus ride up and that the clouds always seemed to open up just when we needed them to. The traverse went fine for a bit until we came to what looked like a knife edge ridge. I didn't remember seeing that from the bus. We skied up to it and found that it wasn't nearly as steep as it looked from afar however we found that if we traversed high around the mountain we should be able to bypass all the bumps on the ridge. This worked out and we finally found ourselves with bushes in front of us. We knew we'd have to do some bushwacking here but we had to do it in the right place to join up with the next patch of snow. We tried our hardest to spot the next patch and climbed a few of the large rocks around before I finally spotted the snow. We shouldered our bags and forced our way through the thick bush to the snow patch. I had my best skiing of the trip here as the snow was pretty soft and there wasn't any ice bulges to grab at the ski edges. We kept skiing down and wherever possible traversed left trying to find an entrance to the next snow field. I got a little close a few times to the alder patches on the sides and paid for it when my ski went under a branch that was fixed in the snow. My boot easily popped out of the binding and that is the first time I've released from my touring bindings. At least I know they release.We had to walk up a few sections to find a way around sasa fields but once we entered the coniferous forest lower down it was an easy traverse to the hotel where we'd have to board the bus.The traverse was really fun and at the same time very exausting. Dan and I were both spent from such a hard weekend. Once we got on the bus it was really hard for me to keep the little amount of food that was in my stomach down. Sometimes when I exaust myself so much I feel like I'm going to be sick. It's not a good feeling but it is kind of a feeling of accomplishment for me. What a good way to end the season. We skied two routes that we wanted and I think that now I've skied a line on just about all the mountains that I wanted. Now I'll just have to come back in the future and clean up a few of the scraps I've left over.A great season and a great trip in the mountains.Counting up my days on the journals. I skied 52 days of either 3 hours or more at a resort or 300 meters or more vertical in the backcountry. If you count my shorter days in the backcountry around Takayama it brings my total to 65. But I won't count those. 52 ski days isn't bad at all considering that I broke my foot and wasn't skiing for about 6 weeks.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

8th June 2006

After skiing everywhere except Tateyama this past spring Dan, Jer and I headed into this very familier place in early June. The plan was to ski the S-Couloir that I solo-skied around the same time last year.Day 1We finally got onto the snow at 9:30 in the morning and quickly skied down to the the camp area. Surprisingly there were only 2 other tents and they wern't there for skiing.Sadly as soon as we got to the camp all we had to do was look up at the main peak of Tateyama to see that this spring has been both warm and wet. The ridglines were snow free and the S-Couloir was no longer skiable. The main line off of Tateyama wasn't even skiable off the summit anymore. Strange because we just got through a really big snow year.But just because there wasn't much snow in that area didn't mean that everything looked bad. I spotted a really nice skinny run near the bikini line that really looked fun.We quickly set up our camp and after a little food set off up the Raicho face. I was skinning after a long absense. It felt great to have the skis on my feet instead of my back. I was able to skin up to the base of the final steep section which was pretty good. I would have had to walk anyways because the ridge was snow free. I made it to the lodge in 65 minutes. Not sure how long it usually takes us but it fealt pretty good. Dan and Jer showed up a few minutes later and we all chilled. A quick snack and we walked over to the entrance to the Tsurugizawa bowl. There was a lot more snow here and it looked really nice. So instead of just skiing back to camp we decided to get a run in on this face. We hiked for about 20 minutes longer before getting to the end of the ridge and after some more resting got ready for our first run.I had skied this run in zero visibility late last July. It was pretty good then. It being nearly 2 months earlier now the snow was really fun. I went first and made some really fun high speed turns to the flats below. Jer and Dan joined me and also had pretty good runs.We had to hike back up to the saddle but that only took about 20 minutes. We again rejoined the ridge and quickly made it to the top of our second run. I walked to the entrance and could see that the run went all the way and was indeed pretty skinny. Enough room to turn for sure with a little bit of hazard from cracks and very deep moats. I again went first and made some fun jump turns down to the crux where I could take pictures of Dan and Jer. They both skied it really well and we leap frogged eachother down the run getting a tonne of pictures. At the bottom Dan fealt like he needed some more vertical so he went off to hike for another run while Jer and I fealt the need for relaxation. We spent the rest of the day chilling around our camp waiting for the sun to set.I convinced Dan and Jer that an onsen before dinner was better and we set off for a good bath. It fealt really nice. We must have spent an hour in there and as usual I don't enjoy hanging out in the lodges after. I skied back to get ready for dinner while Dan and Jer sat inside drying out their gear. There must have been some miscommunication though because they were in the lodge for well over an hour after I left.For me the mountains are an escape from Japan. In Canada if you get wet clothing you have to suffer through it. That is why I have bought good gear. I don't have to suffer through drying out wet clothing. Hanging out in a lodge that you havn't paid for isn't what I like to do on a trip. I'll admit I have gone into a few huts to get out of the weather but I certainly don't feel comfortable doing it.Anyways Jer and Dan eventually came back to camp and we ate a great dinner while watching an amazing sunset. The sky turned bright red and I thought "Red sky at night, sailor's delight" might come through for us...Day 2 Around the same time as my feet started to freeze it also started raining. It got heavier and heavier as the night went on with the heaviest rain being just around sunrise which in this country happens way to early.The line we were going to ski was a run I've always wanted to get into. We would have had to ski under some large cornices so with the heavy rain that idea was quickly scrapped. We stayed in our tents till 8 when the rain stopped and when we emerged the tops of the mountains were covered in clouds. We had the idea that we'd pack up and move all our gear to the bus station where if we fealt like it we'd go for another run around there. A good idea except in the back of our heads we all probably wanted to get out.We left camp at 10 taking the rope tow up the first and longest slope. I was able to keep my skis on for almost the entire trip to Murodo station. Like all trips in the spring around Tateyama once you get to Murodo it's like you've just skied into Shinjuku station. There are so many people and they all look like they just came out from the first mornings meeting. Always entertaining.No surprise when we were all at the station at 11:00am we quickly packed it in and headed inside.A fun relaxed weekend in the mountains. 2 runs skied and I slept for 12 hours Saturday night. Even though we didn't ski anything Sunday I still didn't get home till mid afternoon.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

26th November 2005

After such a great 1st weekend skiing in the Tateyama area last week I had to have 1 more go of it before they foolishly close the road till the warmer temperatures of spring. Saturday - Nick wasn't able to join me however Dan very enthusiastically took his place. We met in Kamioka at the still dark hour of 6am and quickly made our way to Tateyama station. Geared up and on a bus as soon as possible we were on the snow hiking to our camp by 10am. The hotels were almost all closed as it is the end of the season and tenters were so bold as to camp right outside the bus station. Dan and I trudged a bit further than that though and ended up behind the large hotel overlooking some rather large cliffs. We decided to get our tent up right away and quickly dug into the massive snow drift already more than 3 metres tall. As this was Dan's first winter trip and he hasn't used a beacon yet we had to do some warmup drills before getting fully underway. But we got a short steep run in right before that dropping into an area I hadn't yet been. We had followed Tatsuo's tracks as he was again camped right next to us. They led us into a nice and steep short line that went between some cliffs. Good start to the day and I'll have to remember that line for next year. We made our way past the Raicho campsite crossed the river and quickly stamped out an area to practice our self rescue. I don't do this nearly enough and I had a good time playing around and looking for the hidden beacon. Really something that everybody should do more than a couple times a season. Close to an hour later and with frozen hands we both agreed that if anything happened I'd either die and Dan would steal my gear off of my frozen body or he'd rescue me and demand repayment of said rescue with new gear.But with Dan hopefully able to rescue me we set up Raicho in hopes for a good powder run down the standard route. I was a little weary about getting onto unskied areas as just a couple days before a 51 year old Japanese fellow was killed in an avalanche close to the Bus station. I didn't know too many details about the slide but didn't want a repeat of this tragic accident.As Dan doesn't have touring skis he was climbing Raicho on snowshoes. There was a well beaten path leading straight up the slope that he quickly got on. I on the other hand need to switchback in places and ended up cutting my own trail for most of the climb. People had been skinning up the steep track however I can't do that and so had to set about breaking my own trail. This is alright though and I was able to keep Dan in my sight most of the way. When I could use the skin track I would catch up quite a bit however on 2 steep switchbacks my skis slid out from me and I ended up in the snow unhappy and cold. I was making good progress though as on the next ridgline over I could see Tatsuo breaking trail straight up and I he wasn't making any ground on me. As we gained elevation the clouds would clear everyonce in a while and I could look down towards the campsite and see a line of BC skiers making their way up the slope. Not that there is anything wrong with it but I could also see them using my new and easier skin track. I would do the same thing had the skin track been in there but I wish that the previous skinners hadn't been so lazy and had put a better route in rather than following the snowshoers straight up the slope.I caught up to Dan near the top when he either stopped to wait for me or was just to tired to go on and we had a descision to make. We were on a narrow ridgline with either rocks above to go through or a steep slope to skin across. We were within about 20 or 30 metres vertical of the top hut. I didn't feel comfortable skinning around the rocks and wouldn't be able posthole. A fall in these rocks would not be good. Dan wouldn't be able to traverse the steep slope. Visibility was down to 10 metres or so and didn't look like it would improve so I called it and we quickly got ready for our ski down. Dan went first and made good tracks through the deep powder however he wished he had wax on his skis and or was using his new fatskis. I followed him down and we picked our way through the few tracks on the face finding fresh lines here and there until we were at the bottom. A really good run with about 600 or 700 metres of vert skied including the little run before.Back at the campsite we got our skins and shoes back on and made our way back to our camp. The first bit of slope always seperates the men from the boys. This is the same slope as the ski hill and although I always dread skinning up it it isn't that difficult and it's fun passing young people that are nearly having heart attacks. When I got to the top Dan was about 3/4 up. He had not brought enough food and was crashing hard. I couldn't help him as I didn't have any left on me. He knows the area so I set off towards camp on my own. What seemed like forever of up and down traversing on this hellish ridgline and I was back at camp.I quickly dug a hole next to the tent to put our feet and stove into and made some ramen and hot chocolate for Dan who would need food. He didn't show however and I started to get worried thinking that he had crashed and passed out somewhere or was delerious and wandering through the poison gas area. I was just about to set off looking for him when he showed up an hour after I left him. He had gone to the bus station to call Risa and have some food. His apology of 2 tall cans of beer was more than enough though. I got dinner going and with a half empty Hot Chocolate bottle filled it with JD making for a good toxic mixture.As there wasn't much going on we got into bed at my usual backcountry bedtime of 7:30.Sunday - The pressure dropped drastically around 4:00am signaling the arrival of a monster storm. We were on the lee side of a big building however the wind was still rattling the tent a bit and was blowing around quite a bit of snow. So much that the back wall of the tent up against Dan was almost completly filled with snow pushing Dan over about 15cms in his little tent. Without the snow the tent is only 100cm wide so with the decreased space from the extra snow it was getting a little stuffy. Dan who went to bed wearing all of his clothing including ski pants and jacket was able to easily get out of bed at 6:00am before the sun came up to shovel us out. I remained in the warmth of my bag a little longer than that but soon joined him in the blizzard outside. What to do was what we were asking ourselves. I walked around to the front of the buildingto relieve myself and was nearly blown over by the strong wind and had I been without goggles would have been blinded by the tiny snowflakes. We unamanously made the easy descision to bail out however I wanted a warm breakfast so we spent a bit of time digging a snow shelter into the drift behind the tent. While I tried to get my stove going Dan packed everything up. I gave up trying to light my stove as my lighter was empty and and my matches kept going out in the strong wind. It didn't help that the stove was constantly being covered in snow. I too packed up and we retreated to the bus station. It's kind of nice being so close to civilzation in this sort of situation. Crossing the plain back to the bus station was like being on a glacier in white out conditions. It would have been really easy to get turned around had I not known where I was going. When we got to the bus station we found nearly all the campers inside having bailed out themselves. We got into line hoping to get the first bus. That turned into a long wait as the road was too dangerous to drive on. We ended up waiting for 4 hours before it was clear enough and when we could go it was in a convoy of 7 full buses behind 2 giant snowplows. We finally got to Tateyama Station at 3:00pm. 6 hours after first stepping into Murodo Station.This trip was a really good experience and a fun time. It's too bad that it will be some months before I'm able to easily get back into this area.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

19th November 2005

Nearly 1 month after I thought I'd get my first turns of the season on Norikura I finally got to ski in the Tateyama area on the November 19/20 weekend.Nick came out from Kyoto Friday night sleeping at my place and we woke nice and early to a really cold apartment Saturday morning. Up and away I was happy to see that it was snowing lightly in Takayama. It was even sticking to the trees and road as we went over the pass above Nagareha ski hill. We arrived at the station at 7:30 and found it to be really busy. They were better organized than last year though and had the road clear of snow just a few minutes later. The terminal was packed with backcountry skiers and boarders. As there is construction on the top tram terminal we were fortunate to be able to take a bus straight to Morodo station saving both time and energy. I've said it before but I really hate having to take the little uphill train, trolly, tram thingy. We finally made it up to the station at 10. We were going to meet a guy that had contacted us about BC skiing. His name was Chris and he was coming up from the Nagano side. He wouldn't be up till 11:30 though. We thought we had lots of time so got ready and stepped outside. It was snowing lightly. We skinned over to the hotel easily enough only to find that it was still open. There were lots of campers around that had done the same thing. We had camped behind this hotel the year before. It saves having to descend all the way to Raicho-zawa camp. But that was what we were faced with now. In the spring it is easy to just ski down this valley getting to the tent area in about 5 or 10 minutes. Early winter is quite a bit different as we found out. One of the campers that also thought of putting his tent behind the lodge was the Landmade Big Mountain skier Tatsuo Hayashi out of Hakuba. We always run into him in this area. Nick and I set off with our big bags with Tatsuo just behind us. We soon found ourselves at the bottom faced with an open creek that meandered back and forth across the narrow valley. After a few sketchy snow bridges and good conversations with Tatsuo later we were getting close to the camp. However we found ourselves on the wrong side of the creek with nowhere to go. In front of us was a steep bank we couldn't go up with the creek right up against it. I tried traversing the bottom of it however the snow collapsed on me and I faceplanted with my big backpack. I couldn't move with the weight of my bag on top of me and my feet attached to the skis beneath me so Tatsuo had to unclick my bindings for me. A long process that was made even worse because I thought I might either punch through the snow to the water below or roll into the creek right next to me. But it all worked out and I had my skis back on and we were across. We only had one more crossing and we would be at camp. This crossing was easy enough however we had to go through a bit of wet snow and water which really messes up the base of your skis when the water freezes. Our bases were all balled up with snow and once we were at camp I had to set about scraping it off with my ice-axe and shovel blade. Getting to camp had taken over an hour and we were now late for meeting Chris who we tried calling numerous times with no luck. But we were at camp and it would take us about an hour to get back to the bus station. Faced with that dilema we started digging out our camp hoping Chris would find his own way to the camp area which he did after waiting for 30 minutes. He skied and shuffled the along the summer route which would have been much quicker than our creek hopping route. With our camps set up and a few hours left in the day we set out for a quick run. We were going to gain a ridge for a short run back to camp. It took a while skinning up as the face was steep and I had to break the trail but we were soon on the ridge watching a group of 5 ptarmigans walk around on the snow. A quick rest and a stability pit dug by Nick and we were off on our first run. As I broke trail all the way in I got first tracks. We went down a different way than we came up though and as I skied down realized that this wasn't exactly a good idea. Halfway down the slope was a cliff band. I stopped off to the side of it and radioed up to Nick telling him this and to tell Chris to come down to me which he did shortly. We then radioed Nick however he never turned up and we were both just starting to think he had went down another way when he finally came down after double ejecting from his new touring bindings. Strange. He stopped just above me and released a nice blocky slab which quickly broke into sluff. But it was a scary second or two watching everying around me break and slide away. We all met up at the bottom after that little scare and traversed to the creek to get a turn or two more. This was our second mistake of the run as we were too far down the valley and would have to walk back up the creek. It seemed easier at first until once again we were faced with a very steep cut slope with water right up against it. Nick wanted to climb up the hill to the flat terrace above however the water was only 10-15cms deep at it's deepest. As my boots are much more waterproof than regular ski boots I went first. I took off my skis on a large drift that went down to the water and immediatly fell through up to my armpits. Kind of like falling through a crevesse I guess. Climbing out and looking down we could see the undercut bank that I had fallen into. I safely got across the creek with no wet feet and then Nick and Chris threw their skis across to me and crossed themselves. No problems at all. We were soon back at camp thinking about all the mistakes we had made today and hoping that would be the last of our bad luck.The temperature quickly dropped as the light turned to dark and we set about melting snow for dinner and trying to stomach the whisky Nick had brought along. After dinner and while getting ready for bed one of the Japanese fellows right next to us gave us lots of very delicious sake that they were trying to get rid of. We didn't have a problem helping them out at all. I finally got into bed at 9:30 with the temperature outside the tent being -7Sunday - It got pretty cold in the early morning hours with the inside of the tent being -7. It would be much colder outside. But both Nick and I were warm in our bags. Nick had just bought a -25 down bag and was very toasty. While I was using my old down bag along with my overbag. With some extra layers on I was toasty. But we had to get up as there was fresh snow to be skied. We were able to cook our breakfast of Ramen while staying in our sleeping bags but soon we had to get out. It had warmed up a bit but was still well below zero. We packed up most of our gear and then finally set off for some runs at 8:30. We were going to ski a nice chute on the side of the Raicho face that didn't have any tracks in it. Saddly though a lone telemarker was putting in a skin track right up the narrow chute. The guy was kind of silly as there was a perfect skin track in the next chute over that would have left our run untracked. But that is life and he wanted to check out the run as he skinned up which wasn't exactly a bad thing either. Skins off at the top we got ready and Nick dropped in first. The snow was really dry. I went second and had a great run. Very fun. Chris only made it up about half way so he dropped in 3rd from a different spot and we all had big smiles at the bottom and were ready for another run.Nick wanted a steep chute however I fealt that getting into it would be very difficult. So in usual Matt form I voted on my line and forced us into doing that. It did give us something to bicker about most of the way up as everytime we stopped to catch our breath we could look over and see the nice looking line. I broke trail most of the way up however to save the slope we had to get onto a ridge where the snow was just over top of shrubs and sasa. Each step the snow would collapse making trail breaking difficult. But I lasted a ways on this before letting Nick take over for the final 4 or 5 switchbacks. As we were climbing up for our 2nd run we also saw that a group of 5 were getting into the steep run that Nick wanted to ski. They would have beaten us in there anyways and it turned out that getting to the top of the run wasn't very difficult for them at all. But we had our run to think about which was a nice wide powder field going at a good angle right to the valley bottom. All geared up Nick beat me on the Janken for first tracks but I beat Chris so got to go second which was nice. The second run's snow wasn't as dry as the first but it was a great run none the less.After that run our bodies had had enough and we went back to camp to pack up and head out. Just as we got back the sky opened and all of a sudden we could see the entire Tateyama peak. There were tracks all over it but most of them would have been put in while the clouds were thick. We were a little jealous of people that were up there but it would have been a gamble and we chose visibility over peak bagging. I've stood on the summit of Tateyama 4 times now (3 of them with skis) and Nick twice. It would have been a great run though.Packs on we had to make the slog back up the hill to the bus station. It wasn't as bad as we made it out to be and we were on the top of the steepest part in 15 minutes. From there it was just an annoying up, down, left and right traverse back. We said goodbye to Chris had got onto the first bus we could. I had to sit on the front stair though as they had let just 1 extra person on. But it was a nice if not a bit uncomfortable front row seat for the 90 minute ride.We all had a good time out and it was great to get the first turns of the season in on such soft and dry snow.

Backcountry Skiing – Tateyama – Tsurugi Area

23rd July 2005

Last week while hiking past Tsurugidake I found many of the couloirs to still be filled with continous snow. Could I actually ski in July?I decided to find out and set into motion a plan of mid-summer skiing in the North Alps of Japan. I would do a 2 day trip going super light. No bivi sack. Just a light sleeping bag and stove. Why I decided to not bring my bivi sack is a mystery to me. It only weighs about 1 kg. I was carrying my steel crampons. Those alone weigh 1-2kg. But off I went with only a light sleeping bag for my nights sleep. The weather report late Friday night for Toyama was sun. Early Saturday morning in Toyama it was cloud to sun. Getting up to Murodo at 8:00am I found everything to be wet. Looking at my keitei forcast I found that the weather was now cloud to rain. I was screwed. I had spent more than 4000yen getting up into the mountains on the promise of fine weather only to find that once up there it had changed. I didn't want to ski my couloir in bad weather. What if under zero visability I skied into an open crevasse. Not safe. So I unpacked my bag putting everything I didn't need into a locker. I was going to go for a few safer runs in the area of Tsurugi but not on Tsurugi. If the weather cleared I could still camp. So with a much lighter pack with skis attached I made my way up the hill to the saddle. I climbed on snow for most of the way before finding the trail to the saddle and it's hut. A quick water break and I was on my way to a little summit nearby. I knew from the previous week that there was a snow line that went right off the ridge all the way to the camping area in Tsurugizawa. A good long break hoping for the weather to clear found me just waiting longer. So I got ready and decided to ski the line close to the rocks on the side hoping hoping for a little definition on the slope. Visibility was very bad but it was really nice to be back on the skis. The slope was steep and soon I was out of the clouds skiing down to the flats below. A fun run. A quick rest and I booted up to a different area for another run. Climbing up I saw a nice skinny finger of snow. I climbed into it and once at the top got ready for run number 2. Skis back on I made some fun turns on the skinny line. The snow was nice and smooth. Out onto the broad slope the snow changed and I was again fighting for turns. It was skiing though. I just had to keep that in my mind. I skied out to the campsite where I had a nice long break sitting on a large rock. The weather would open up a bit and then close but Tsurugi always remained in the clouds. I hiked back up to the hut above me and after a nice rest there saw a really nice short steep line nearby. I hiked out to it and at the top got ready again and was on the snow. It was really steep. More than 45 degrees and ended suddenly on a scree slope. Very nice. Too bad it was short. Back at the bottom and skis back on my backpack I went back to the hut but not before getting stuck behind a large group of about 20 older ladies. They were all amazed that I had skis on my back and wondered if I was skiing. Seems like a stupid question but I guess it is late July. Back at the hut and another rest it was getting into the afternoon so I thought I had best get back to the bus station. I had to hike down the slope for a bit before my snow line started. This line twisted and turned all the way down to Raichozawa where I had a really good break and watched the many people. On a tiny little snow patch nearby there were about 10 skiers race training. They were decked out in the best gear even wearing downhill suits. Odd thing was they couldn't ski worth crap. They were falling down and snowplowing through the course set up. I had to chuckle at that one. Skis again on my back I made my way back to the bus station where my new keitei forcast called for cloud. Although it didn't rain I wouldn't have been able to ski my line. I was happy to have made the a good decision about leaving my overnight gear at Murodo and skiing safe lines. Sad about making the previous bad decision about leaving my bivisack at home. Oh well. A good day out and the snow left me thinking that it is indeed summer and skiing is now finished. I'll just have to wait to ski Tsurugi until next summer.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

7th June 2005

With my school immersed in Mid-Term Exams I found myself with 4 days of work free work. Looking at the weather however I was only promised 1 day of good condition. That 1 day was Tuesday so I took a vacation day bought some food and went to bed very early Monday night3:30 - My alarm goes off however I'm deeply asleep dreaming of steep lines and powder days3:40 - My alarm goes off and I actually wake up and jump out of bed. A quick shower and I'm off killing what I hope to be the 4th and last cockroach that was looking through my pile of gear next to the door. The nice thing about traveling early in the morning is that roads are deserted except for a few lunatic truck drivers. They are usually nice and pull over to let you pass although some arn't and you are forced to drive at an insanely low speed waiting for a straight section of road which in Japan can be kilometres upon kilometres away. But I made it to Tateyama station just before 6. I thought the first tram was at 6:40 but turns out that is only for busy times. The first wasn't till 7:00 so I passed the time watching the few people that were out vacationing on this early weekday morning. No-doubt they were curiously watching me as well. 7:00 came around and I boarded the tram with just a few people. Getting to the top 10 minutes later I was informed that the first bus wouldn't be till 7:40. I was not happy. I'll have to plan this better next time.I was finally on the snow at 8:30 skinning towards my objective. I was going to attempt my dream line. This is a hairy line that I spotted while skiing with Sandy and Nick over Golden Week 1 month before. We had many discussions about whether or not it was in fact skiable. From the camp area it looks very steep and constricts down in a very narrow section before making an S shaped curve to the exit. I traversed all the way around the bowl trying not to loose any elevation and was soon at the bottom of my line. My skis came off, crampons, helmet and ice-axe came out and I started front pointing up the slope. From the bottom of the couloir I couldn't see very far because of the S-curve. I wouldn't know if the line was skiable until I was actually faced with the crux. I quickly made it through the S-curve and was next faced with the crux of the couloir which was the skinny. I was excited to find that it was very skiable and at it's narrowest was about 2-3 metres wide. More than enough to get through. I front pointed up gaining elevation quickly. After the skinny section I was then faced with the steepest part. An off fall line section that was close to 50 degrees. This was the most interesting part of the ascent as it's the steepest snow I have ever climbed. The snow was firm though and I practically ran up it with the aide of my crampons, ice-axe and adrenaline that was flowing. I was soon past the difficulties with the rest of the couloir relaxing to an easy 40 degrees. I arrived on the ridge at 10:30 and had to have a break to let my heart slow down and body dry off as I was sweating like a pig. I scrambled up to the highest bump for the nice view. Nothing new however as I've been in this area so many times now. A quick break and I had to start my descent. I didn't want the snow to become too soft. Clicking in I made some fun turns down the first easy section. The 2nd half of the couloir was the good part and it didn't dissapoint. The steep off-falline section was really fun with nice corn and then I was into the tight 2-3 metre section. As the walls are very steep the sun doesn't get onto this line for more than an hour or 2 a day. The fresh snow from the weekend was still very soft and I witnessed my first high speed wet snow slide. I can't really say it was high speed though. Just fast. Usually the wet sluffs and slides that I see are very slow moving however with the angle of this couloir they sped up quickly. I just moved off to the side to let it run it's course before following it down. It wasn't really dangerous as it was just surface sluff but it was definitly interesting. I had to make tight turns which was lots of fun. Soon the tight section was passed though and I was making the last few turns through the S-curve before being spit out onto the open face below. An amazing run and a step up in my ascending/descending backcountry skiing experience. The day wasn't finished though and after a nice long break I traversed all the way back across the bowl. I was going to ski off a small subpeak that was somewhere in the range of 2700-2800 metres tall. on route I noticed at the bottom of the run there was a really narrow line. It looked to be maybe 50 cm's wide, steep and about 30 metres long. I would have to ski it. The bump I was now aiming for would let me open it up with big turns as the last run only let me make small turns. After another long break on the top I once again clicked into my skis and skied the face. It was really nice and pretty steep. I found the entrance to my little line only to find that I had been tricked and it was a bit wider than it had appeared from below. Maybe 2 metres wide. Wanting to see if I could get my 185cm skis around on the 200cm wide line I attempted 2 or 3 turns before letting it go and lining it to the end. Really fun. On a weekend I would have taken about 10 people out on the exit but as this was a weekday there were only 2 hikers and they didn't even notice. As I had planned this last run to give me an easy exit I pointed my skis across the slope and easily traversed back to the station. An end to a great day out having bagged a line that was bugging me to be skied.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

4th June 2005

Pursuing the endless season I set my eyes on Tateyama once again. Along for the ride were Dan, Bill and Chris. Dan would be skiing with me and Bill and Chris would be hiking.SaturdayWe left early Saturday and surprisingly arrived at an empty Tateyama station. Maybe the Japanese knew something we didn't. I was expecting thunder and lightening for Saturday night but it was still early Saturday morning. We got up to the top to high gray skies with the ceiling being just below 3000 metres. We quickly made it to the campsite and set it all up. Dan bought a new tent so we were both in that. It was a very nice Mont Bell 4 season tent. Just as we set up camp it started to rain so we made our way over to the onsen for an early beer. The weather was interesting with very heavy hail, rain and thunder and lightning. An hour of bull shitting later and it quickly cleared up to patchy clouds. We got geared up and started our way up the Raicho-zawa face. Dan and I were going to ski the Bikini line while Bill and Chris were going to make it up to the 2800 metre sub-peak on the ridge. About 30 minutes into the skin the weather moved in with very evil looking clouds coming in off the ocean. As Bill and Chris were hiking if the weather turned bad they would have to walk back taking a long time. They bailed back to camp with Dan and I continuing on. Further up the face a few rain drops fell. I contemplated turning back as well but after shouting across to Dan descided to keep going to the top. I was kind of worried being on the ridge with my skis attached to my back and the lightning we had heard before and would come again in the future. But I kept going and we made it to the top in a very fast hour. The weather had completly moved in though and while it wasn't raining visability was very bad. We rested inside the top hut for a while before desciding to go. We made out way up the ridge and over to the start of our line. Nick, Sandy and I had skied this run 1 month before during Golden Week. It hadn't changed very much at all other than being a bit skinnier. We quickly made our way down making nice small turns. It was fun as Dan was just a few turns behind me the entire way as the visability was so poor. He had no idea the run was so skinny as we couldn't see anything. Nice and steep. Making our way back to camp we found Chris and Bill moping around. They had started building a wall and at first didn't find it fun at all but soon realized that the only other option was sitting on the wet snow. Soon we had a really nice cooking area complete with a nice bench for all of us to sit. While we were building up our camp Dan had gone for another run into the same area as Nick and I always ski. He had taken my skis along. For the descent though he forgot to lock down the heals and had a good tumble at the top. Would have been funny to see. It was soon dinner time and after the first pot of water was cooked it started to lightly drizzle so with onsen stuff and all our food we again made our way to the shelter of the hut. A nice covered dinner and then it was time for the onsen. A great way to end the day. We went to bed to the sound of rain which in the early evening hours sounded pretty heavy.SundayThe temperatures dropped in the night and soon we all had cold feet. 4:30 came around and I had had enough so I got up as it was already light out anyways. We could see the mountains although the tops were still covered in cloud. After a good breakfast though the clouds suddenly vanished and the temperatures quickly rose. We packed everything up and at 7 started the walk/skin out. We were going to leave our heavy bags at the top of the plateau to retrieve on our way back after our summit attempt. The snow down low was still soft from the rain the day before however the higher we went the harder it got. Very good for skinning. We quickly made it to the base of the ridge and after a quick rest started up. I was a ways back after having to fiddle with my skis for a bit but that gave me something to work for. About 2/3 of the way up I saw Dan quickly making his way back down. He had forgotten his poles at the hut. Sucks for him. Bill and Chris were still ahead though and we would wait for him at the top. Bill and Chris made it up in a very speedy 45 minutes. Could have been 40 but they were taking pictures just below the hut. I made it in 50 and Dan summited in a very quick 80 minutes after having hiked most of it twice. The weather was amazing. We were above the clouds and the sky was an amazing blue. After many many summit pictures we descided to get going. I was going to ski the same face Nick and I had skied back in April while Dan was going to ski the chute Nick, Sandy and I had skied in Golden Week. Both would be good runs. The chute would be fun for steep tight turns while my face would be good for steep fast wide open turns. I went first and had a blast. It was amazing. The corn had softened just right. I was able to get second tracks down the face in the new hail that had fallen the night before. Looking up at my line was really nice seeing the big turns that I had made coming down. At the bottom I traversed out and was so pumped up that I took my skis off and booted up a different steep chute getting about 200 extra metres. It was really nice making some fast turns back to our bags. I could see Dan's line now as well. Very nice. Even as we were leaving on the bus his were the only fresh tracks in it. Bill and Chris quickly made there way down and we could here them having fun sliding on a few plastic bags. We made our way back to the station and our trip was over. A great 2 days in the mountains even if 1 of them was a little wet.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

29th April 2005

Tateyama Golden Week Backcountry SkiingDay 1The day finally arrived and we (Sandy, Nick and Myself) departed to Tateyama for our Golden Week Vacation. Driving out to the station we were hit with heavy rain coming from Typoon number 3. Although it didn't making landfall number 3 still pushed some rain into our area. We stopped at a combini to buy some last minute stuff which included garbage bags and more liqueur. We managed to cram all the food into our bags and hoisting them on our shoulders walked to the station. After a few photo ops with Chinease Tourists we made it inside the station to find it virtually deserted. The weather was keeping a lot of people away but we were too fired up to notice. Getting up to Murodo Station we were greated with a cold, damp and packed building. While changing into his longjohns Nick was spanked by a female Chinease Tourist who was far to excited to watch him change. After shivering for a bit inside the building we made the descision to get moving and made our way outside. Sandy and Nick were both sporting garbage bag jackets to fend off the rain. Sandy had tried to make a poncho however it quickly became a half shirt it the strong wind. We made our way to camp in the thick clouds with visibility of only a couple metres. If we hadn't known the way it would have been very easy to get turned around and very lost. We found the campsite and picked a spot to dig in. Nick and I were both surprised that our wall from the weekend before had been reduced to an unnoticable bump. It was raining really hard but we had to dig a wall to protect the tents. We dug a monster wall out of the easily carvable snow and set up the tents as quickly as possible. Sandy and I were in the small 2 man tent and Nick was in the larger "4" man tent. We were all pretty wet although Nick seemed to be the wettest. It didn't help that his tent was already soaked right through. We all crammed into his tent and as there was really nothing to do popped the lid on the JD, Sandy's homemade liquer and played some drinking games. Sandy and Nick didn't fare to well and pretty much polished the bottles off themselves. There was another gaijin in the tent area so in a brief lull in the rain we invited him over opened up the Umechu and pretty much finished that off as well. The 4th person in the tent was an American named Brandon and was going to climb Tsurugi the next day. Sandy tried to teach us a card game however we wern't interested at all and in what seemed to be the end of the storm emerged from the tent to find that our monster wall had been reduced to tatters. Our beautiful blocks looked like an old shirt filled with holes. We quickly found that in the spring a simple wall would not do. We would have to build a fortress. So once again we set out to build walls. This time making them huge with bases of 2 metres. We were pretty much ready for anything now. We cooked an early dinner and quickly got into bed to a clearing sky. Day 2With Typoon number 3 past we awoke to a bright blue sky and really nice frozen snow. We tried to gear up quickly however wet gear slowed us down. As usual our good friend the big mountain skier left camp about half an hour before us. That is the 3rd time we have seen him in this area. Rubbing elbows with the stars.We set out to ski a 2872 metre peak that Nick and I had spotted the week before. It had a cool line off the summit. I was able to skin directly up the steep icy snow which in winter would have had me floundering. I set a good pace for myself and arrived near the hut in the saddle in just over an hour. Knocking 30 minutes off of the previous weeks time. Nick and Sandy arrived shortly after and attaching skis to bags we set off. I again set a good pace and made it to the snow covered bump first passing a group of snowboarders who were heading to the same line as we were. Not wanting to get 2nd tracks I found an easy way up to the 2872 metre summit. There were 2 entries onto the face. The first involved dropping onto a 50 degree face. The 2nd although not as steep was a line which was skiable off of the summit. I like skiing off of summits so chose the 2nd line. As I was ready to go I jumped in and found execellent snow. The line was steep and the snow fast. It fealt great. Sandy jumped in on the steeper line next and skied it pretty good seeing as it was his first time skiing steep spring snow. Nick ripped it as usual. We still wanted more so made another couple turns to the bottom of the bowl getting cheers from some other skiers who had been watching. Not wanting the day to end we skinned back to the saddle for a rest before attaching skis to backpacks for the slog to the summit. It wasn't icy like the week before however that made it seem worse as there wasn't anything to concentrate on. It was now a muddy grunt of a climb. I was determined to get some excersise out of it though and pushed myself making it to the top faster than the week before. Nick arrived a few mintutes later with Sandy coming up 3rd crashing a bit from our previous exlpoits. While resting up we watched a few people ski our line from last week. Although the powder was nice last week the corn looked so nice on this face. We talked about different lines we wanted to ski with a Slovanian Guide who was leading a Japanese group. He was telling us of an amazing line off of the summit of Tsurugi which never gets skied. I wouldn't mind hiring a guide next year for that line. Fully rested we made our way into our chute. We were going to ski the chute facing the Murodo Bus station. A good 40-45 degree chute descending to the plain below. Nick went first and ripped it all the way to the bottom. I went second and had a really good run. Sandy also ripped it the bottom. We were all really pumped up about the cool line. Now on the open face we all made GS turns in the very soft snow over to the different line I wanted to hit. I had scouted it on the skin up and it was basically a short cliff band that had a been filled in with snow. My run was fun doing jump turns inbetween to cliffs. Sandy straighlined a cool very steep chute and Nick jumped off of the cornice. A great way to end the ski day.We skied back to camp and as it was only 2ish dried everything out in the afternoon sun and continued to build our walls. After dinner we wandered over to the onsen. A great way to finish up an amazing day. Day 3Nick and Sandy spotted a cool line that looked like a Bikini top. It was a narrow chute that would drop us right back at camp.We set out much earlier up the face towards Tsurugi. I was very dehydrated so that kept me back with the other two but we still made it up to the hut in good time. The weather was hazy with clouds coming in so at the top I got a weather report which didn't look good. 70 percent chance of rain. We were going to do some laps in the bowl below Tsurugi however we wanted to get back to camp to secure some stuff if the rain hit early. We made the right descision though as the chute was in perfect form. We all skied it great with Nick cutting a line right between the boobs of the bikini. Back at camp we secured the tents and after a short break started skinning up the same run we have done each time we come to this area. With darkening clouds rolling in we started our run. It was amazing with high speed turns down the steep open face. Of the 3 times Nick and I have skied this face this was by far the best. Each time we have also started from a little higher up. Back at camp we opened up our celebratory stashed in the snow beers and drank happily for the 2 great runs.We knew the rain was coming so we went to work fortifying our wall even more. The wind was coming from the opposite direction as before so we had to build up the walls higher and thicker. Around 3 the rain started and we retreated to the tents. Nick went to the onsen to buy more liqueur while Sandy the lazy guy that he is went to sleep. I was just bored. The rain didn't really seem to be stopping so we had to cook in Nick's tent. This was a first for me and I was amazed how hot it got in there. We were going to have an onsen after dinner however the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier. So we called it an early night and went to bed. Day 4The rain just got heavier and heavier all night. Sandy and I were lucky in that we stayed very dry though. Outside the rain was carving deep crevasses in the snow where it poured off the fly. Of all the nights I have spent in the backcountry this was by far the worst rain I have experienced. It was very demoralising. With the sun rising or in our case black turning to grey I got another weather report. It told of more rain in the day. We made the descision to bail on our trip. Sandy and I cleaned up our tent and as it was still dry invited Nick over for a feast of our extra food. We ate an amazing amount of food but still had a ton left. The rain soon let up and we saddly packed up all our gear. We all skied over to the rope tow for the ride out of the bowl. When we got the top of the rope tow the sun came out and the peaks started to emerge. If we went back to camp we could have dried out all our gear but skiing would have been to dangerous. We would have had to wait another day. So we continued on back to the bus station. An end to a pretty good ski trip cut short due to weather.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

23rd April 2005

Day 1After skiing in the Tateyama area last November with Nick we saw the potential of the area and made plans to get back there when it re-opened in April.April 23 rolled around and we made it up to Tateyama station pulling into one of the last remaining parking spots. We geared up and went into the station only to find it packed with tourists. We got a number and unlike November where we were waiting due to weather we were now waiting because of crowds. But an hour later we were boarding the train to the bus station above where we quickly got on a bus. The snow slowly got deeper and deeper until just before Murodo Station we passed one wall which was nearly 20 metres tall.We got ready and then skied down to the camp in really difficult flat light and amazingly fresh powder. I havn't skied a real run with a huge backpack in a long time though. It proved to still be really difficult. Wanting to get some vert we ditched the bags and started skinning up the face which leads towards towards Tsurugidake. A switchback up the skin track I had to pull over as my pinky toe was digging into it's neighbor and was hurting pretty good. Nick got ahead of me and gave me drive to catch up to him. I pretty much broke my own trail up the steep hill as my skins don't like the smooth skin tracks. The snow was really good for skinning though and I was able to climb fairly steeply. The clouds would break every so often and we could catch glimpses of some skiers dropping into a roudy line. Later we found out that it was a guided trip and was being led by the nice guide we had met in November. We soon caught up with a large group skinning up and they had decided to bypass a large ice bulge by booting straight up. We chose to follow. It was fairly straightforward at first however soon we had to cross the ice bulge. They had kicked steps in however the ice was really hard and they were only able to kick steps enough for toes to hold. So we had a nervous boot to the ridge line where we were stopped in a traffic jam as the leader couldn't tell where to go in the thick clouds. While stopped we spotted a Ptarmigan just a few metres away standing on the ridge. Probably waiting for us to go so it could continue on it's way. The weather cleared for a moment and we went on our way up to the hut which stood above 2800 metres. The wind was really blowing and it was cold so we wolfed down our lunch before gearing up for the descent. Our plan was to leave before the large group but just as we were starting to walk to our run they seemed to get in front of us. We managed to skirt them however we all got stopped pretty quick as it was a total white out. It cleared after a few minutes however and we were able to see a rock a ways down the run. We skied as quickly as we could to the rock before again having to stop and wait for the weather to clear a bit. We soon dropped below the clouds however and had a pretty good powdery run back to camp. A good 500-600 metres of vertical. We found a good place to set up camp and as it was still early decided to make the mother of all snow walls. It eventually turned out to be a fortress with walls taller than the tent but it gave us something to do. Setting up the tent Nick secured a corner with his probe pushing it's 3 metres into the snow without touching the ground. Judging by the water/bathroom hut it appeared that there was about 4 metres of snow as our feet were the same height as the roof. There was some discussion after setting up camp about trying the same line we skied in November. It looked really nice. So we set out around 3:30. I set the main skin track and as I was aiming for a high group of bushed tried to make it as steep as possible. Like the earlier run the snow was really good for skinning and we quickly made it to the bush area. This was where Nick and I had decided to starting booting up last year. Nick took over on the skin track and put in 2 more nice steep switchbacks before we decided it was too steep and started booting up. I was ready first so set off up the slope. The snow was really good for hiking and I was able to make really good steps all the way to the top of the chute. We doubled what we were able to ski in November. As I had done most of the work getting up Nick gave me first racks so as soon as the weather cleared enough I set off. The snow was really nice and I made some fun although very defensive turns until I had to stop because I was sinking into the crust. Nick came down after and with his fatter skis was able to go all the way to the bottom. We met back at camp and after organising everything started dinner. Nothing tastes better than spagetti and meat sauce after a hard day in the mountains. Nick had brought a ham along and it tasted really good. That and the JD I had brought put a little fire in our full bellies. As the sun went down the already cool temperature dropped with it so we retired to the "4" man tent at the early hour of 7. Turns out the "4" man tent only fits 2.Day 2During the night the clouds cleared away and the temperature dropped sharply. I was pretty toasty and sleeping soundly however Nick wasn't as comfortable. I've been there many times before. We both didn't think it would get that cold in late April. The inside of the tent went below -5. Going out for a very early morning pee break we both saw that amazing mountain we were going to attempt once the sun rose. There were quite a few ski lines off the long ridge however one stood out from all the rest. It was an amazing line coming directly off the summit. I could even spot it in the evening glow from the moon.Once the sun came up I was happily out of the tent making noise. I found a great way to heat up the ski boots. I filled my water bottles with boiling water and then stuck them in my boots. A few minutes of this and they were toasty. We had a really slow morning and I jokingly said let's try and be out by 8:30. Turned out that we left camp at that time. Just before we left 2 skiers skinned away. 1 of them said to us in english "Do you remember me?" It was one of the big-mountain guys that was skiing in November. We were in with the hardcores. They were going for the same line as us however instead of hiking all the way around and up the ridge like we were going to do they skinned directly up the steep bowl. We left camp and soon broke off from the skin track and cut right across the slope. In hindsite it probably wasn't the best route but things were pretty solid and nothing was coming down. I was able to lay in a nice steep skin track and we gained elevation on our way towards the saddle. Cutting across a steep slope I started sliding on an ice bulge. For me getting across was easy. I just locked down my heals and traversed across. Nick had to take his skis off and boot up. Not the easiest thing to do. On the other side of the ice bulge I continued up to the hut in the saddle soon joining with the hundred or so people walking/skinning up from the bus station. Nick came up a few minutes later and we had a break before contemplating the steep ridge walk ahead. We met a couple Japanese people who regualarly vacation in Canada. They said that they go Heli-skiing 1 or 2 times a year. I can only imagine how much that would cost. Funny thing about the really outdoorsy people in Japan is that almost all of them are filthy rich while most really outdoorsy people in western countries have fairly menial jobs with flexible scedules.But after securing our skis to our bags we started up the icy trail. In the summer I had made a bet with Dan on our 7 day traverse that I could get down this section of trail in 15 minutes. It took me 20 but it was a really fun run down a steep, busy, loose and dusty trail. Now it was icy and solid and instead of being a walk in the park was almost a full scramble with hands needed some of the times. I found it easier than the icy walk the day before as the ice was a little softer and easier to step up but care was needed as a slip would send you for a rake into pointy rocks. We were almost the only ones going up without crampons and Nick said a few times he wish he hadn't left his in the car. I didn't mind so much. But going up we both started contemplainting different routes down. We didn't know how we would be able to get onto our chosen route. There was a nice chute descending down from the main hut at the summit that looked very appealing. We would just have to bypass a few small ice bulges. We slowly made it to the top in the same hour as it says on the map which was pretty good. And after a nice snack in the sun complete with the name that peak game I wondered off to find our route down the mountain. Looking over a cliff I spotted our line and was nearly ecstatic. It was an amazing steep view down the 700 metres to our camp. There were only a few tracks in it as well. I quickly got Nick over to look and we saw the entrance which only involed a little side slipping on some ice. I went first and bypassed the main section following the other tracks. The main face looked icy and I was going to check it out for Nick from the bottom. My route was just as steep and icy though and Nick could hear my edges trying to gain purchase the entire way down. It was a good descent though down to the top of the bowl. I radioed to Nick to start and got my camera ready. He made it look good although I could hear his edges scraping pretty loudly. The powder started just below me and Nick went first letting it really fly. He yelled back to me on the radio to giver and I did. I really tried to get some fun GS style turns on the Shuksans. What an amazing feeling to be skiing nice powder at the very end of April. We finished up the line and made our way back to camp. An amazing run and I think my best ever big mountain line. Back at camp we repacked out bags before skiing over to the rope tow for the short drag to the top of the hill. This rope tow is only open from late April to late June and other than hauling tenters up the hill with there large bags doesn't really seem worth while as a ski hill. But as we were tenters and had very large bags we took full advantage of it. At the top I was able to release my heel and skin without skins all the way back to the bus station. I love my bindings so much. The temperature had regained it's spring time hold and it was amazingly hot. I had to again resort to skinning in shorts. A good feeling.What an amazing trip. So much fun. We skied 3 nice lines and had some good late season powder.I can't wait for Golden Week when Nick, Sandy and I are going into this area for 6 days. Will be an amazing experience.

Backcountry Skiing - Tateyama

27th November 2004

I had been into the Tateyama area 2 times before but they had been in August with Dan for the start of our week long hike and then September by myself to climb Tsurugidake. I have always been amazed at the mountains and wanted to come back in the Spring to ski some of the steep lines.Nick Kowal from Kyoto wanted get some early skiing in however and soon a plan was being hatched to get some early season turns before the Tateyama Alpine route closed at the end of November.Watching web cams and the weather Nick and I planned on the last weekend in November. We would take the bus up from Tateyama Station and camp up high and look for skiable snow Saturday and Sunday. I have always been an optimistic person and was expecting a good time but I didn't think there would be much snow. I thought we would really have to look for it. Nick drove out from Kyoto friday night and arrived at my place just after midnight and we left what seems like minutes later early Saturday morning. I was really surprised when we got there to see many skiers and snowboarders. Many of the skiers were also sporting really big skis. We quickly geared up and with huge over night bags bordering on insanely heavy we hobbled into the station. To our surprise everybody was sitting around going nowhere. The top was closed as they were experiencing extreme winds and heavy snow. Daytrippers were going home and overnighters like us were settling in for a long rest. We passed the time talking to a group of Japanese skiers who were on a guided trip. The guide lived in Hakuba and spoke pretty good english. The skiers were all on huge skis like B3's, Apache Chiefs and Pocket Rockets. They said there was about a metre base and with the new snow it would be pretty good up there. If they let us up that is. I think the huge skis where a bit over kill though.Finally after nearly 5 hours of waiting we were able to board the tram followed by the bus and arrived in the alpine sometime after 2:00 PM. Not really wanting to camp down in the true camping area we followed many overnighters behind a huge hut and dug in out of the wind. Where we camped there was probably 10 tents. We quickly set up and set out for 1 run. Skinning up we aimed for a nice gully just below the cloudline. It was a great run in about 10 cm's of nice dry powder.We got back to our tents just as it was getting dark and settled in for dinner. As it was too cold to just stand around outside we got in the tent. For the first 6 or 7 hours it was quite pleasent in the tent and we had to open up the door to the vestibule to get some fresh air however the temps dropped as the night went on and in the morning is was quite a bit colder. In the tent it was just below zero. Sunday Nov 28 - Up early we couldn't see more than 10 metres but we got up and had breakfast. A white ptarmigan passed just near the limit of our vision probably looking for scraps from campers like us. Slowly the clouds parted revealing blue sky here and there however the clouds never did rise above the 2700-2800 metre level. We packed up and took our bags back to the bus station and then set out to find some fresh tracks. We aimed for the tent area hoping to find some lower skiing below the clouds. Skiing along a narrow ridge we spotted a nice short line dropping into a bowl. We deskinned and I got first tracks. It was beautiful snow. Very light over a really nice and soft base. I was even more surprised at how well my skis cut it up. I'm really happy with them. Nick came down after me loving it just as much as I was. Nick also spotted a white weazel running between the rocks. Not even 5 minutes after we had went down this line 2 or 3 people had already followed us. We skated out of the bowl and were placed at the top of our second line which was about twice as long as the first. Nick got first tracks for this one while I took pictures from the top. I was just getting ready to ski it and a Japanese fellow who had followed us down the last run jumped in front of me and poached my line. Not very good backcountry ethics at all. But all I had to do was traverse over 10 metres or so and I got a great line down to where Nick was standing. We got ready for our 3rd run and skinned towards an interesting gully. It was about 40-45 degrees and we had to boot pack up most of it. But for the parts that I was leading the booting was easy on firm snow. It wasn't that way for Nick. About half way up we decided it was far enough and shoveled out a platform for a rest before skiing down. I had been packing 2 tall cans of beer so we finished off 1 of them had a snack and then got ready to ski the line. Nick went first and had a great run while I took pictures from above. He waited at the bottom and then it was my turn. In the centre of the gully the snow was probably 10-20cm's deep. It was so nice.Our 4th run was a nice untracked bowl above the tent area which consisted of the same beautiful powder.Realizing that even though it would be cool to stay another day we had to get back to the bus station for the ride out.What a trip.Great skiing in the early season. We are already making plans to come back in early April when the route opens up again to ski some of the more roudy lines we couldn't see.

Backcountry Skiing - Gifu - April 2004 - June 2006

2009-05-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

June 22, 2006 (Photo by Dan Neutel)
June 22, 2006 (Photo by Dan Neutel)
April 22, 2006 (Photo by Dan Neutel)
April 16, 2005

June 3, 2006

June 3, 2006 (Photo by Dan Neutel)

June 3, 2006

Backcountry Skiing – Shin Hotaka area

3rd June 2006

Bill and Robin are back in Japan visiting for 2 weeks so we set Friday June 2 as a big night where we would all get together and have a good time. We had a really good time and by Saturday I was really hungover. But the weather was amazing so I couldn't let it go to waste. At least the plan for this weekend wasn't very crazy and any activity I had planned for Saturday wouldn't be very difficult.I have always wanted to ski in the valley below ShinHotaka. I've been hiking up this valley quite a few times before. Maybe 7 or 8 times. 5 of those trips have been bids to get the summit of Kasa. I've only summited 2 times.But surprisingly at no time have I been able to get my skis on the snow. I did ride my bike into this valley last August in the hope of getting some turns however due to some loose rocks I messed up my hips and got a little bruised up. I never even got to touch the snow I was hiking in to ski.So with a track record like that I had to get into this valley to ski something steep. One line really perked me up when thinking about this valley. It was a nice narrow couloir starting right near the summit of a 2600 metre bump along the ridge to Kasa.Dan jumped at the chance to get into this valley and so we started hiking up after 3:00pm Saturday afternoon. The plan was to get to the end of the valley and camp waking early the next morning to hike to the top and ski back. Easy enough.We made good time and were only slowed down by the huge amount of avy debris just before our camping area. This has to be the most avy debris I've ever seen. In a couple places it was easily stacked up more than 40 metres deep. With the amount of uprooted trees on the snow it looks like an entire forest had been taken out. Nature really is amazing. One thing that I noticed while walking in my hiking boots was how my left foot was flexing. My left foot was broken back in January. I thought it had fully healed however since then I havn't really walked very far in a boot that flexes. All my trips have been me wearing my ski-mountaineering boots which keeps my foot from bending. Anyways with each step the left side of my foot was forced to bend and soon it began to ache. I really hope this doesn't affect any future trips.We got to the end of the valley and found a nice camp far enough away from the raging river so as not to keep me awake all night. We quickly set up camp and them walked further up the road to get a view of the couloir.From a vantage a bit further up the valley we were able to see that the couloir looked clean and would be a good ski. All we had to do was get to the top of it which should be easy enough by hiking up the wide bowl and then traversing the ridge. Only 1100 metres of elevation to gain and no real problems of up and downs along the ridge.Returning to camp we collected a load of dry wood and then while I cooked dinner Dan made a nice fire. I love having campfires. Makes a night in the mountains that much more enjoyable.We hit the sack around 8:00pm. I was in my bivi so got to watch the stars for a while on this very clear night.Day 2 - We slept late and I didn't get out of my bivi until 5:30. The temperature didn't drop very much in the night and I was pretty warm as long as I kept my head inside. I think it only got down to about 4 or 5.We quickly got ready and were hiking up mountain by 6:30. We didn't make very good time though and the minutes ticked by much faster than the elevation. Maybe I was still feeling the effects of Friday nights bender. I guess I'm getting older because my body just isn't recovering from big nights out as fast as it used to. We soon gained the saddle and I was surprised at how easy getting up to this point had been. Exactly 2 years earlier when I first hiked Kasa I had been scared to hike up these very slopes. Amazing how I've come to accept a little bit of risk. The snow at the top of this bowl couldn't have been steeper than 35 degress. We had a quick rest at the saddle looking off to mountains like Kurobe and Yari before making the final push to the summit just 200 metres above. The ridge started out steep but we slogged along and after many little 5-10 second breaks we found ourselves on the highest point. It was 10am and it had taken us 3.5 hours. Not at all my fastest at gaining 1100metres. We had a little break and drank the last bit of our water before clicking into our skis. We had to ski about a hundred metres down the ridge to the start of our line.Rounding a corner though I was saddened to see that the line was guarded by a huge cornice. The cornice had also cracked and looked to be waiting for any excuse to drop into the couloir. It was very scary looking. We could have lowered ourselves in on the skiers left side however I wasn't feeling very good about that so we again shoulderned our skis and trucked on down the ridge to the alternate couloir. A little shrub hopping to get at some snow and away from the heavily corniced and very narrow ridgline and I was able to put my skis on and ski over to the entrance of this 2nd couloir.Again I remembered back 2 years when I traversed this ridge on foot. I had to climb a slope above this couloir and was really scared I might go on a ride of death down it. Funny now that I was about to ski it.We both quickly got ready again and Dan dropped in first. After he got to a safe area a ways down I joined him and found some nice snow. We leap frogged eachother down the couloir. While not nearly as steep or narrow as the first couloir this one was much more photogenic. Looking up the run to get action shots the background was really cool with huge pointed towers above. The snow lower down got a little dirty with a few rocks but not nearly as bad as Hakuba Yari 2 weeks before.A few breaks here and there and soon we were back down to camp. A good line skied and finally I can say I've skied in this valley.We quickly walked back to camp to pack up and were soon ready to hike out. We arrived at my car at 2:00pm.A good trip in the mountains even if I didn't get to ski the line I wanted.

Backcountry Skiing – Norikura from Gifu

15th May 2006

As with the other 2 May 15ths I've lived in Japan I've always tried to ski Norikura. I go on May 15 because that is the first day the road is open. Skiing Norikura isn't exactly a risk taking adventure. The hike up is straight forward and there isn't much to say about the decsent. I like getting out there though because it's something different and it's nice to ski in a more relaxed environment every once in a while.As Norikura is such an easy outing I volunteered to take Minako out for her first backcountry experience.I'm a stickler for leaving far earlier than I have too because you never know what might happen. Well on this trip all those early starts finally paid off. We were fueling up at McDonalds because we were so early and as I started the car it predictivly stalled and wouldn't start again. I say predictivly because earlier in the week I had to get a mechanic drive out to where I was stalled on the road to help me out. Why we took my car this early Monday morning I'll never understand but anyways it was 6:50, my car wasn't moving anywhere, we had to go skiing and the sky was blue. We pushed the car to the other side of the road where it's sits at this moment. I then ran back to my apartment and drove Minako's car down. We were back on the road just after 7:00am in a different car. And because I like to leave early we still made the bus that left promptly at 8:00am from Hoonoki ski resort.We quickly shouldered our bags and set off up the very icy road. The snow hadn't softened at all and we had to be very careful not to slip right off the road. I guess it got quite cold during the night. When we rounded the corner we found that the road hadn't been plowed and we'd either have to traverse a steep and very icy section of snow or drop down a ways to the flats. We chose the latter for safety sake and got ready for a quick little ride. Minako took her snowboard off her bag put it down and we both watched as it went shooting down the mountain. I guess that's how the day was going to be. We didn't however see it come out after it vanished over a role. I walked to the edge of the slope and saw bushes on either side of the little run but I couldn't see the snowboard. We both started down the slope and went into the bushes to see if I could see her board. About 5 or 10 minutes of looking and Minako found it on the side of the run in some shrubs. Very lucky that we didn't have to spend the day looking. So with 2 inncedents behind us we set up the mountain. We were both taking our time. Myself because I'm going through the stages of a pretty bad cold and wasn't my usual run up the mountain self. Minako going slow because it was her first time at this elevation and this long of a hike. But we soon found ourselves on the summit just over 2 hours from the bus station. A bit longer than I thought it would take but we did have to find her snowboard and we also had to gain a lot more elevation because we dropped down pretty low. We vedged out on the summit taking in all the views for an hour and then decided it was time to go. I skied from almost the summit while Minako walked back down the trail to the start of the main run. Just as we were getting to the start of the main run a backcountry skier came up the ridge and he looked familier. It was my Kyoto Sensei (Vice Principle). Funny meeting him up here but then I guess not really because he as crazy about backcountry skiing as I am. Just not into the big and steep lines.We both skied our lines and had a great time. The snow was very interesting. The top layer was a frozen breakable crust with just air below. The snow below that was very carvable spring snow. Great for going fast and laying down some fun tracks. Minako was so happy with her run that she said she wanted another even though her legs were jelly. So we shouldered our bags once more and I made some nice footsteps up the steep slope where there is an observatory. We took our time again and were both happy to finally reach the top of this little bump. We then had to get around the old building which turned out to be quite difficult when I got caught up in some ropes that were strung up to block people from going where we were going. Very soon we were at the top of our last run. Minako would take the obvious way down trying to avoid the big lake in the snow at the bottom and I would ski a fun little variation to the line that I skied last year.Minako went first and had a great run and when she got to the bus station at the bottom I got into the top of my run. It started out quite narrow for a bit before shooting me out onto a very steep face with rocks below. The snow was great again and I was able to carry a bit of spead around all the rocks that threatened to take me down. It was really fun and my best run of the day. We met up at the bus station and shared some of the free sake they were giving away to celebrate the coming of the tourist season.A really fun day.

Backcountry Skiing - Yakedake

22nd April 2006

Winter came back for a bit on April 21st and in places around the North Alps dropped upwards of 30cms. As it had rained the day before the avy levels was immediatly raised to high.The weather report showed sun with warm temperature for Saturday though so with hopes that the warm weather would bond the new snow to the rain crust a large party of us headed out to summit Yakedake and get a couple turns.Along for the trip was Wes, Will, Andy and Nick all from Nagano and Jer, Dan and I from Hida. The original plan was to meet Jer and Dan at Hirayu however Jer got lost in his own backyard and completly missed Kamitakara village. He had to backtrack quite a ways so we didn't meet up with the Nagano crew till well after 8. Good job Jeremy and thanks for making me freeze for over an hour in my car.But with all that behind we were ready to start skinning at 8:45. Just a wee bit later than when we wanted to get out.Right away we found deep snow and this really slowed us down. But I pushed on out front breaking trail in 30 cms of sludge with Nick on my heals telling me how bored he was. We got up to the near the top of the first hill and waited for everybody else. We soon found out that Dan had slipped on the first little patch of ice and the trekkers he was using had somehow ejected from his bindings. He had slid down the slope and stopped hard on a tree. This however bent the bar of the trekker. Once again Yakedake was threatening us with gear problems. But Dan the strong man that he is decided to boot up the first hill. As the Trekkers are Nick's we got Nick to straighten them out (bash on a tree) and then Dan was back to skinning again.I started out first again and tried to make a nice trail for the people behind trying to avoid as many of the bumps as possible and putting in nice switchbacks for Dan who was using my skinny skins.We regrouped again at the base of the large bowl however I was very anxious to get to the summit so set out again before everybody again breaking trail to the ridgline still a ways above. I soon tired after 3 hours of steadily breaking trail in all the new snow so let Dan take over and also try his hand at route finding. Once on the ridge proper the wind started to howl and all the rocks were covered in a thick layer of rhyme. The ridge was cold and we still had a bit of mountain to climb and as Nick and Dan wern't budging right yet I set out again to break the last bit of trail. This last section was very easy though as the snow was quite windblasted and most of it was very easy to skin on. Soon I was just below the summit with just a little section of snow to go. I took my skis off for a narrow section and put in an easy 10-15 steps before skinning the last few metres to the summit of Yakedake. I reached the top at 12:45 which for the smart people reading this is 4 hours after setting out. Not so bad with all the new snow. Just 1 hour extra compaired to the year before on spring snow. Nick and Dan showed up shortly and after a quick snack and rehydration session we discussed our options. The weather looking North was clear however to the south where we had climbed up was quite foggy and we couldn't see if the rest of the party was still coming up. Dan and Nick really wanted to ski the crater and as I've already skied the 3 obvious lines decided to stay up top in case the others showed up. If they didn't show we would have to descend the ridge to look for them. Dan and Nick skied around the crater rim for a few metres before getting to their line. Nick dropped in after the fog cleared out and found some pretty good snow. Dan followed and tried his hardest to ski it however on the short sticks he looked like he was struggling a bit. Around this time Jer, Andy and Will showed up on the summit. I guess they had taken an extended lunch in the fog down below. Wes had turned back and would be waiting on the flats below the large bowl. So with everybody up top we all dropped into the bowl. I skied the main couloir first and found nice buttery smooth powder. I would have loved to have hiked up for another lap but I had an enkai to to get to and as we were already way behind scedule couldn't get another run. Andy jumped off of a nice sized cornice into Nick and Dan's first run and got some good high speed turns. Jer and Will both skied the same line as myself. Dan and Nick were already up to the ridgeline for lap number 2 by this time. Dan skied the steepest run in the crater and again looked to be struggling on the smaller skis. Nick skied a really cool line with an airy jump turn right above a large cliff. He then straightlined to the bottom. Pretty cool. I really wanted to the get the straightline right next to Nick's run however we had to get going so traversed over to the vents and the top of the large bowl. I went first and made some fun and large turns in the heavy mush. Had to be careful not to carve very much or you would very easily catch an edge as Jer found out when he bit it pretty big.We all regrouped at the bottom of the bowl and skied the rest of the mountain back to the cars.A very good day in the mountains and really good exercise. We were on the mountain for 7 hours which was much longer than I thought we would be. I just made it to my enkai at 6pm.Spring came the next day with the Cherry Blossoms blooming in town. However winter returned on Tuesday with heavy snowfall in the morning. Spring in the North Alps is very strange so far.

Backcountry Skiing - Yakedake

9th April 2006

Back into the Gifu mountains it was for me on this weekend. I picked Dan up in the morning and after a quick drive through the Abo tunnel we were parked at the onsen where we would start.Skis on I started out and easily followed the track of 3 backcountry skiers ahead of me. Dan came up behind and right away the problems that he would face started to happen.Dan was using some very poorly designed snowshoes that he borrowed from his school. These snowshoes combined with an icy layer under 15cms of fresh snow made walking for him very difficult. Going straight up the hill was difficult as the snow would compact under the shoe and then slide away as soon as he put any weight on it. Side-hilling was also a problem as the snowshoes are so poorly designed that his foot would slid right out of the shoe as soon as he tried to go across a hill.Now a normal person would have said fuck it about 20-30 minutes into the walk. Dan however isn't normal. After this little trip he is now one of the most stubborn people I have ever met. As I thought he was very close to turning around early on in the trip I didn't want to get very far ahead of him for fear of waiting at a certain point and him never arriving. So I stuck around trying to always be in site and wondering when he would finally pack it in.Well he didn't pack it in. Dan stuck it out even though his snow-shoe would pop off every hundred metres or so. After about 3 hours we made it to the base of the large bowl and there saw about 10 more ski tourers ahead. I also saw a large natural avalanche that had released in a wind loaded area. After my close call the week before I felt that the best way to get to the summit would be to follow the ridge. The decision was also helped in that there was a very nice skin track already going in that direction.So after a quick break we started up the ridge. Dan however started to crash and by the time we got past all the most difficult parts of the entire climb he put his bag down and refused to go any further. I was really surprised he made it as far as he did. We were at least in the alpine and we had a couple views as the peaks moved in and out of the clouds. I went up a bit further than Dan however I too was getting tired. While I hadn't broken a sweat all morning I was exausted from the stop and go that we did. I'd sprint up ahead a hundred metres or so and then stop and wait for 5-10 minutes. Doing this for 4 hours got me pretty tired. When I look back on it now I could have easily grunted it to the summit on my own in about 30 minutes of easy touring however at the time it never occured to me. Maybe if the sky had been bright blue I would have abandoned Dan long before. Or maybe if I had never been to the summit before. But anyways we made it to about 2200 metres.From my high point I quickly got my skins off and skied good snow back down to Dan. I quickly got him to get ready as well and within a couple minutes we were skiing really nice powder back down to the base of the big bowl. I was able to make about 7 or 8 large high speed turns which was really nice. We rested for a couple minutes more and than started back to the car.The snow quickly turned to mush though and in places wasn't very fun. Just getting one turn in you might go through all the different types of snow. The shaded parts of the run were powder while in the sun it was sludge over top of ice. Dan soon found a large snow covered rock and wondered if he could jump off of it. He proved that he could however I missed him on the camera the first time. Try number 2 we found that the camera didn't have any more space and try number 3 which was the last as I refused to wait any longer for him was perfect. This totally raised his morale and he was psyced about the trip. While he thought it was a success I didn't quite agree as we didn't make the summit. But to each his own. We skied the last portion of slope dodging the many pinwheels that were released on each turn and were soon back at the car.The problem snowshoes had extended an easy day out in the backcountry. Last year we had made it to the summit in 3 hours. This time we didn't even get to the summit but spent 4.5 hours trying. Oh well. We'll just have to try again. But when...

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - Takayama Runs

15th March 2006

The forcasted all day of snow yesterday never materialized so I pretty much sat at my desk looking outside waiting for the dump to come.It didn't and it was one of the most boring days I've had at work in a while.I was not going to let that happen again so today walked out of the office at 10:00. I was skinning up the mountains by 10:40 after a leisurly gear-up. On Monday I chose a drainage that took me up to a high bump on the ridge however it was the wrong bump and was fully treed. I wanted to get the bald bump that I found last week so skinned directly into into ending up in a narrow and steep drainage right below my intended bump. The temperature had dropped enough during the night to make the firm snow below the 10cms of fresh powder slippery and my edges slipped out a few times. I had a lot of trouble skinning up the steep slope so took my skis off and booted up. I soon gained easier ground and quickly made it to the summit of my bald bump. It had taken me just under an hour form the car and I had gained 300 metres. It was very clear so I lounged on the summit for 30 minutes taking in the views which were just as amazing as when I was there last week.But I couldn't spend the entire day on this little bump as my chair was empty at work and I had to get back to fill it. Even if I wasn't doing anything productive.The ski down was fun and I found enough spaces in the trees to get some fun turns in. It was mainly dust on crust skiing which is kind of fun and very safe in terms of avalanche conditions.When I got back to my car I took everything off and then washed up with cold snow. I didn't want to smell like forest and dirty socks all afternoon at my desk.When I was just about to drive off 3 carloads of elderly people were dropped off. The cars quickly drove away leaving them there to walk back to town. Probably 4 or 5km. I think it was some sort of culling program or maybe a new Japanese reality show where old people have to find there way back to the nursing homes. Either way it was funny to see.A good day out in the mountains and as it was 300 metres of vertical in my books that counts as a day.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Summit above Hirayu Onsen

11th March 2006

I have tried to ski up to the 2500 metre peak above Hirayu Onsen a couple times. The ridge is a straight forward traverse with a few up and downs. However with all the ease of this ridge I have been turned back each of the 2 times I've tried skiing in this area.I thought it fitting that I try it a 3rd time in March of 2006.Dan and Jeremy wanted to get out into the mountains as well so we all met at Hirayu Ski Hill. Dan was using my Secura Fixes and Jer was using some snowshoes that Dan yoinked from work.From the top of the ski hill there was already a ski tourer going up the first hill. He was breaking trail in about 10cms of new snow over top of very rain soaked snow. So he was sinking in about 15-20cms. This rain soaked snow turned out to be my nemisis.From the top of the first hill you gain the ridge and we were making good time when as usual the bindings Dan was using collapsed. I really hate using these bindings but they had worked fine for Chris in Tateyama way back in November. This time one of the screws sheared off. Dan could try and keep going however they would just torque out again so he turned back 30 minutes into the tour.With the wet snow below some pretty dry snow my problems soon started as well. With each step my skins would break through the dry snow and rub along the very wet snow completly saturating them. With wet skins the dry snow would stick to them. This got worse and worse as the snow globbed up on the bottom of my skins. It fealt like I was carrying the entire mountain up with me.Defeated again. And we had only been out for an hour so far.So after a quick snack we got ready for the descent. I didn't want to just ski back along the ridge to the top of the ski hill so we descided to drop into the large bowl that the old Abo Pass road goes through.Right away we could tell that the snow was getting baked by the sun. I cut the slope and a little wet snow slid down. So I made a quick turn and somehow my skis crossed up and I went down on the steep slope. More snow started sliding around me and soon I was riding down the slope at the back of a load of snow. First I was sliding head first and then I flipped around to get my feet downhill. When I did this I saw just beside me my pole floating so I grabbed it and fought to get my edges in. This stopped me just in time. I was just on the edge of a 2-3 metre drop into a large stress fracture. That wouldn't have been nice to drop into. Jer yelled down to me if I was ok and if I had all my gear. I quickly realized I was missing my sunglasses and looking around saw them on top of all my debris inside the crevesse. A few kickturns and I was able to get around to the bottom lip of the crevesse and grab my sunglases. I got to a safe area and then Jer came down. He skied it a lot better than I did however he also fell when his skis dug in deep and he stopped dead. The snow was really heavy. But it was interesting and learning from past mistakes is important.We got to the bottom of the bowl and started to traverse across it to the road. We soon got there and came out in a very interesting place. There were 2 signs where we came out. One telling us how far from Matsumoto and Kamikochi and the other telling us how far we were from Takayama and Toyama. Very funny to see that you are out in the middle of nowhere on a snowed in road, 45km from home on skis. We had a good laugh about that one and then started the slow ski down the road. We finally got to a mellow slope above the town of Hirayu and had some really fun turns down consolidated snow to the village. I was able to ski almost all the way back to the bus station. Very nice. We got about a 700 or 800 metre run which was pretty good considering we only skinned for an hour.An interesting and little bit freightening day out in the mountains.When I got back to Takayama I immediatly went to Kong and bought Glob stopper wax from BlackDiamond.

On March 13 I went out to try the new wax and skinned up a nice hill in Takayama. The glob stopper worked really well and even made the skins slide through the snow far better than they ever have. I was really happy about that. The ski was really fun and I got some very fun turns in the dust on crust that I found. Very fun and 300metres vert so maybe this counts as a day.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Runs around Takayama

9th March 2006

So I've been going out around Takayama a lot lately. Not really getting a lot done but going out for about an hour or more at a time. There are quite a few more than the few tours that I'm writing about below as I have gotten out 2 or 3 times a week since I started doing this on Feb 8 Friday

March 3 - I was up early as I had to be at work for my last day of class. They have recently plowed the road partway up to Matsukura castle so this makes the decent a little interesting as the trees are quite tight down low. The rains of earlier in the week have also cleared parts of the trail of any snow making more route finding necessary. But I skinned up to the top in 30 minutes. I had planned on doing 2 runs however the south facing slopes have been baked right clean along the ridgline. Only 1 run for me today. And as there was 15cms of new snow from Wednesday night it made for fun skiing. I have learned that my through the crotch zippers on both my lohnjohns and ski pants work really well when you get hit with the urge of the MBM.

March 7 - Minako has been wondering where I go early in the morning on my little tours so I said I'd take her along. As I don't have class now I took the afternoon off. But as taking the afternoon off doesn't start till 12 I snuck out at 10:30 and we were soon on our way up to the castle. She enjoyed walking through the forest and fealt like a pro with the backpack that I leant her. At the top we had a quick snack before getting ready. When I told her what way we'd be going down she almost wanted to go back down the trail however a little prodding and I got her through the difficult top tight section. But she still had problems and ended up sideslipping the entire way.But the smile was always on her face and when we were done we went to get my shaken done and by helping me with that she saved me 600 dollars. NICE!

March 8 - I drove around a little Tuesday afternoon looking for some more places to go skiing and found a nice area on the same ridge as the castle. This is also the same ridge that I skin up when I start at Harayama ski hill. I was just approaching it from a different aspect.As it wasn't until 4 when I started skinning I didn't want to go very far as it was a new area and the last thing I need is to get lost in the forest in fading daylight. But I skinned up a very steep face getting to the top of my little hill in 20 minutes. I really had hoped it would take longer and I didn't want to go much further because I'd have to drop off my bump and then regain ground in a different drainage to gain the highest point around. Not really something to do at 4:30 in the afternoon. So I deskinned and had one of the best runs I've had in all these little Takayama BC adventures. It was good and steep in open forest. The snow was soft but not so soft as to be sluffing and it was just fun being outside.

March 9 - I was a bit hungover from drinking the night before with Minako so at the start of my work day (sitting at my desk surfing the net) the thought of going into the mountains wasn't at the front of my mind. But after sitting around doing jack shit for 3 hours I got up and walked out of the office.I drove back to the same area as the day before but this time took a different route. Instead of gaining the first bump I went up the creek bed going into the back of the little valley. The snow was really nice and didn't look lke the rotton snow I've been doing these little tours on for so long. I guess the elevation is a little higher or maybe the sun doesn't get into this area as much. But it was a lot more fun. I got to the end of the little valley and from there went up the steep ridge. Each bump I gained I saw a higher one just a little further along. But soon I was standing on the top of the highest bump on the ridge. I had gained about 300 metres in just under an hour. Very nice. Somebody had even gone through the trouble of shaving the top of my bump of any trees so that I actually had a bit of a view. I could see all the mountains of hida. And even as far north as Tsurugi next to Toyama.The descent was just as fun as the ascent and I made some fun turns in the still very white slushy snow getting back to work with nobody the wiser. Unless that is they could smell the dirty sock and forest odurs that my body was emitting.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Run around Takayama

10th February 2006

After sitting on my ass for just over a month due to my broken foot I finally got frustrated and made a dawn patrol out into the hills around my house.Earlier in the week I had gone to the doctor for yet another X-Ray and visit and was told that if I were a professional athlete I would have already been training. I'm no professional athlete but prior to breaking my foot I was a bit athletic. So I took this as a window to get some exercise.I was up Friday morning at 5:00am and according to my new weather station that sits next to my bed it was -12 outside and 2 inside. Just a bit cold. But I got out and was on my way. I made it to the top of Matsukura castle as the sky was turning light and snapped some great pictures of the North Alps. Not wanting to go home right yet I chose to decsend off the backside of the hill. But as my foot hurts when going downhill it just turned into a back and forth traverse. Down at the bottom and the skins back on I was happily skinning back to the top of the hill where I was able to ski back down to my car. A really fun time and I made it to work on time. As going up didn't hurt so much I think I'm going to try and get some early morning touring in 2-3 times a week with sometime else a bit bigger on the weekend. Good fun and nice to be back on the snow.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Runs around Takayama

20th December 2005

Part I - December has been an unusually snowy month for Japan and we have been getting heavy snowfall since the beginning of the month. It has almost snowed everyday since the beginning of the season. Very good for the hills but not so good for me mid-week if I want to get exercise. I used to scoff at snow and would ride my bike in the worst of conditions. But I'm feeling lazy this year so have been using the car. Needing to get exercise I looked out my window and saw the Matsukura Castle hill looking back. I usually ride my bike up and down this hill in the off-season but I have yet to take my skis up.But now with such early snow I can easily do this. And even get some turns in on the way back down. I have so far done it 3 times. Dec 14, 16 and this morning Dec 20. The first 2 times were just ski up thr road and trail and then back down the same route because there wasn't quite enough snow. But the 3rd time this morning I got up nice and early at 5:30 and was putting on my boots at 6:30. There was lots of new snow after a freak cold weather system moved through Sunday and Monday. This covered everything nicely. I had to break trail the entire way because not very many people if any will be going up to the castle during the winter months. I was sinking in to near my boottop but slowly I made my way to the castle walls only having to walk 2 short sections where the trail is too steep and narrow. I was even able to find a weekness in the wall and ski right onto the top platform. It took me 40 minutes and I arrived just 10 minutes after the sun had come over Norikura. It was a beautiful morning and I cursed myself for not bringing my camera. Another reason for skiing during the week other than getting exercise is to try and get my turn around times down. I had my skins off, boots done up and clicked into bindings in just 5 minutes. I pretty happy with that.I jumped off the lowest point in the wall and quickly got to my run. There is a nice drainage coming right off the summit with not so much brush. It took a few turns to get used to the skinny skis in powder again but I got it again and was able to make some fun turns down to the road below. I cut another corner lower down in the bush for some more fun turns but soon I was back at the car. Music blaring from my car stereo in the peacful wilderness so close to my home I got my boots off and drove home in my inners. I was back in my apartment by 7:30 getting ready for work where Part II begins...

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Shin Hotaka area

27th August 2005

If you look back on last weeks journal you will find that I spotted a snow filled couloir in a very brief clear weather moment. As always once I get something like this into my head I have to follow through with it.So I woke up really early Saturday morning and with bike and skis already in the car headed out to ShinHotaka. I made it up there in record time as there were no cars on the road. The clear/sunny weather forcasted was falling as rain going into Hirayu however this soon stopped and was replaced with pea-soup fog. Very nice. I got my skis on the bike and my backpack on my back and pushed off onto the road at 6:30 in the morning. I was able to ride up most of the road however in the steepest sections I had to get off and push. In a few places I nearly brought up the greasy 3 egg, cheese and ham sandwich I had eaten in the car. Even though I had to walk in a few places riding is so much faster than walking and I find it saves my legs for the important part of the trail walking. As the weather was so poor I took my time on the ride. When I arrived at the end of the road the clouds were still thick so I took my time getting the skis and boots on my bag. My plan was to get to the bottom of the snow and then relax till it cleared up. My skis and boots on my back I started up the trail and very shortly found the part where I would have to leave the trail and head up the deep creek bed. The creek was difficult though. I couldn't walk on the banks as down low they were brushy. So I had to walk just next to the water which wasn't so bad as there wasn't much there. But the rocks were very loose and sharp. This creek doesn't flow very fast or frequently as the rocks had not been worn down at all. My first accident was minor although painful. A loose rock I had my weight on slid forward jamming my shin into a large pointy boulder. A few curses were shouted and lifting up my pant leg I found some dangling skin and a bit of blood. Ouch. But what can you do about that. Pantleg down or out of sight out of mind and I kept going. As I gained elevation the creek got steeper however the bank high above looked to be less brushy. So I started to hike out of the creek. Stepping up onto a boulder and with my full weight on it started to roll. This boulder along with another that wanted to move as well knocked me to the ground and then rolled across my ankles. That wasn't all though. While being pushed to the ground I was turned in such a way that a tendon near my groin somehow got pulled or stretched out a little more than it is used to. And as I had skis and boots which are already awkard on my back I was forced into a painfull position. The rocks scraped up my ankles and lower legs pretty good however it was the tendon stretching that was the worst. I couldn't lift my right leg or put any weight on it. After a few minutes trying to stop it from shaking and getting my bag straightened out I managed to get myself to the top of the bank and onto a big flat rock. I opened my bag up, found my happy pills and downed a load of them. I relaxed for a bit contemplating my options and letting them pills do their job. I could bushwalk to the right into new ground and find the trail a couple hundred metres across the open slope or go back down the loose creek bed a couple hundred metres to the where I left the trail originally. As I didn't know how far I'd have to travel across the slope to the trail I chose to go back the way I had came. I got my ski poles out for extra support and put my rock helmet on in case I took another spill. The pain pills helped out and I was able to very slowly hobble down the creekbed. I planned every move and tried to stick to the middle of the creek as the rocks here were the most stable although in places a little slippery. While I didn't feel any pain I knew that I wouldn't be able to recover if I slipped as my leg fealt very weak. So I went very slowly also hoping not to pass any of the people I had passed before on the bike. Kind of embarassing. I made it back to the bike as the weather was clearing up a bit. A few rays of sun were getting through the clouds however my ski line was still heavily in the clouds. Skis off my bag and back on the bike I started out what would now be the fun part of my trip. And it didn't dissapoint. I made really good time down the trail trying to take out as many people as I could. I really enjoy riding and it seems a lot more fun when it's included in a trip like this. I'm going to have to try and get the bike out on more BC skiing trips in the future. I was back at the car near 11am making a pretty good day out in the mountains.So looking back on this trip.-I was wearing my skate shoes to hike. But riding a bike in hiking or ski boots seems very strange. I don't think I'd like to carry hiking boots just for a short approach. While my legs would have been alright in both accidents had I been wearing my ski mountaineering boots the tendon stretching which was the most painful would have still happened. And walking in my ski boots is a little awkard as well as they are stiff and I'm wearing down the sole at a good rate. My skate shoes do have really good grip however no protection or support. I'm not sure what would have been better. Mom will say don't go but then I'd be angry or drunk in my apartment and I can't have that. -The damage. Walking up stairs is fine and I can even take then 2 at a time although my legs do feel weak. Walking on flat ground is difficult and slow. I can't get my normal big stride out of my right leg. It goes forward from the waste but not back from the waste. And because I'm limping around my left leg has started to hurt as well in certain joint areas.An interesting trip out and I'm happy I don't have anything big planned for more than a couple weeks.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - Norikura

6th August 2005

While driving out to our South Alps traverse last week Dan and I were diverted onto a side road because of water damage. The side road took us way up into the mountains around Norikura Ski Hill where we were able to see in the evening light that there was still snow up near the summit. We both joked about skiing it and then agreed that would be silly. But in the back of my mind it wasn't silly and the thought of skiing in August grew and grew. So after our traverse of the South Alps the weekend came up and I had no real plans for the Saturday. The weather was bad for Saturday afternoon but I could be up and down well before the afternoon thundershowers. So I was into bed early Friday night with skiing on my mind.4:20 my alarm went off and I was out the door really quick. As usual it either takes 30 minutes or 1 hour to get to Hoonoki Ski Hill. It all depends on if you are following a White or Yellow Plate car. On this morning I was following a White Plate so it only took 30 minutes and I was very early for the 6am bus I was going to catch. But that just means I can put my boots on at a relaxed pace. Boarding the bus I was the only person with skis and I was surrounded by tourists looking at me aukwardly. Skiing in August!!?? Going up the road we came into brilliant sunshine and I suddenly remembered my sunglasses were still sitting in the car. @&%#!!!!Soon we were at the top bus terminal and again I was the only person with skis. Maybe this was a bad idea. It looked like the spotty clouds were clearing up so I went into the Omiyage store and bought the cheapest sunglasses at 2000 yen doubleing the money I wanted to spend on this trip. I put them on happy to be saving my eyes but sad to have had to pay the money. But I shouldered my light pack with skis attached and made my way to the snowfield. Coming around the corner I saw the snow and also saw a few people already setting up short race courses. Making my way over to the top I found snow very similar to what I skied in the Tateyama area a few weeks before. Suncups and ice bulges. Skis on and boots tightend I made very defensive turns to the bottom where I saw a lone Telemarker labourously scraping the snow to make it smooth. I went over to where he was and started to help him. The patch we were making smooth was maybe 100 metres long with about an angle of 25 degrees. After an hour of hiking up and aggressivly sideslipping down we had a reletivly smooth slope that we could ski down. After hiking up a few more times and skiing down I was exausted and it was only 8:30 in the morning. The Telemarker was sleeping on a rock and I liked that idea so also found a good place to rest and closed my eyes. When I opened them 30 minutes later I saw many more people hiking up from the road lower down. I guess the Nagano side is open. Buses upon buses were stopping and letting skiers out. Most of them were racers although a few were carrying skinny bump skis and shovels. A few were making a jump while the rest of the bumpers were digging out a mogal run. A few telemarkers also came up and joined in on the little run we had already smoothed out. One of the Telemarkers recognized me from last year when I skied Norikura for the first time. Small world I guess. Or I just really stand out. All the new poeple on the snow made it more interesting to watch and I again hiked up a few more times and had a good time skiing back down to the bottom. Getting a little bored of that I soon hiked up to the very top of the snowfield. At the top I found very loose volcanic rock so I hiked up onto it a bit. Strapped into my skis and then slid down the loose rock onto the snow. Fun. Maybe. It didn't damage my skis at all. A few more runs on our smoothed out area and it was nearing 12:00. I said my goodbyes and hiked out to the road below. A fun day in August on the snow and I think I will be back in September to get some more turns.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - Norikura

28th May 2005

I missed out on the May 15th opening of the Norikura Skyline road because of bad weather which consisted of heavy snowfall up high and even heavier rain down low. As I was nursing a cold I didn't want to do an overnight trip on this weekend but still wanted to go skiing. Norikura with it's easy access was the ticket.Saturday morning I was up early and caught the 8am bus from Hoonoki Ski Hill and was on my way under bright blue skys to the top bus terminal at 2700 metres. The highest road in Japan. Getting off the bus with the tourists and other backcountry skiers we pretty much all dispersed with our own agendas. I quickly made my way up the trail towards the summit. I could see that nobody was on top yet and in the new snow there were no tracks ahead of me. I pressed on to the summit and even with my hacking and flemming made it up there in 70 minutes well ahead of the crowds. It was nice being alone on this very popular summit in the bright sunshine. For the first time I could see my town of Takayama just below and to the west. It is usually too hazy by the time I reach most summits. As usual I played name the peak but that is getting to be a little boring because it's always the same peaks. A quick snack, a few pictures and it was time to get ready for the descent as the snow was turning from ice to nicely formed corn. I was going to descend from just below the summit down a nice chute. Not as steep or narrow as other runs this spring but it looked to be a good run. It wasn't nice though. It was great. The corn was so smooth and I was making first tracks down the fresh snow that fell earlier in the week. The run choked down and at it's steepest was somewhere around 40 degrees but that was just for a short pitch. I was soon making high speed turns at the bottom before having to stop at the road coming up from the Nagano side. A road sign nearby told me the elevation was 2600 metres. As the summit is 3026 metres and I started skiing just below the summit I had a good 400 metres vertical. A great run. I had to have another. Getting ready at a pullout there were tons of other people coming up the road from the Nagano side. I was no longer alone. Amongst the people was the SDF (Special Defense Forces) setting up a race course and huge tents. Backcountry skiing in Japan is such an odd event sometimes. I was running out of water so had to fill my bottle with snow. Not the quickest way to melt water but it works a bit. I started up the hill for run number 2 and was able to skin about halfway before the slope became too steep. There was an amazing bootpack going up the steep part from the dozens upon dozens of people now gaining the summit so I quickly made my way back to the summit ridge. A relaxing lunch and I started down run number 2 on the main part of the snowfield. For some reason everybody had descended right down the middle leaving lots of fresh slush on the sides. So to the sides I went skiing right up against the cliff walls. The snow was really fast however I quickly found that the new snow was covering some nice pointy rocks. There was a good scrape and I knew there would be some damage. But I didn't concern myself with it as there was still a run to complete. I came up against some rocks and saw there was a good straighline. All I would have to do is step across a big boulder in my skis and then line it out. Lots of fun and I carried my speed out onto the bottom where I joined up with the flat part from the 1st run. Another good run but with a bit less vertical. I put my skins back on and made my way back to the ridgline where I was going to get my 3rd and last run. I was going to ski the steep face that looks onto the bus terminal. I had skied a run near this the year before and got in trouble but I really had to get something steep and figured I could pull the gaijin card if there was any trouble. I walked out onto the ridge but kept out of sight of the main road boulder hopping in my ski boots with skis attached to my backpack. A difficult task as many of the boulders were fairly big. I made my way to this small subpeak and saw my line. Really nice and steep. A quick rest and I was strapped in and ready to go. I could see that there was lots of new snow on this run and as it was very steep wanted to cut the slope to make sure it was safe. With speed I cut across and all the new snow slid down the plus 45 degree slope coming to a stop on the boulders below. It wasn't a fast slide but if you were caught it would overpower you as the snow was really heavy. I didn't cut the last little bit and made my turns right along the side. It was so nice and steep. I made some really fast turns down the face and was really pumped up about that run at the bottom. There were some people watching and I heard yelling while I had been cutting the slope so I thought I was busted again. Turns out they were just tourists yabbering on about something. I made it away and left my tracks on the face. That was a great way to finish my day. A good 1000 metres vertical which in my books is a good backcountry ski trip.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - Yakedake

16th April 2005

363 days earlier Matt, Erik and I climbed and skied Yakedake straddling the Gifu Nagano border. Nearly 1 year later Dan Neutel and I did the exact same thing.We met nice and early in Hirayu and after paying the toll for the Abo Pass tunnel I told Dan I didn't know if the road would be open as when Bill and I drove the highway during the week the gate appeared to be closed. We might have to walk up 10 long switchbacks gaining 400 extra metres. Luck was with us though and the gate was open with the road plowed all the way to the trailhead. We quickly geared up and were under way. Matt and I had tried and failed to skin up the first part the year before but this time I booted up the first steep section making my trip much easier and less frustrating. At the top of the first bench I put my skis on and happily went on my way. Skinning is so much easier than walking. Especially in the soft snow we found at the lower elevation. We made really good time and were quickly at the bottom of the huge bowl. The snow in the bottom of the bowl was difficult and Dan got held back postholing up to his waste in places. I remember getting a little frustrated on this section the year before however the new skis and bindings really helped and I was able to quickly make it up the steep sections. We made it to the saddle in a very quick 3 hours. We went back to the same rock and had our lunch. Every few minutes the sun would emerge from the patchy clouds and we would roast while once back in the shade we would freeze. After a quick snack we decided to ski off the summit so booted up the steep icy slope to the top. It was really fun and steep getting up this and I really enjoyed it. After the summit shots at 2455 metres I made firsts tracks down the chute. It was the chute Erik had skied the year before. The snow hadn't softened at all though and it was pretty sketch skiing down. But it was lots of fun. I was so pumped up at the bottom that I quickly booted up for another run. Dan stepped up as well and made nice turns down the chute. He wasn't planning on it at first but knew he would regret it if he pussed out. He too felt another run was in order so booted up. By now the sun was completly out and as I sat on the ridge waiting for him I was warmed by the sun instead of chilled by the wind. He skied the same chute again while I opted for the steeper more direct face that I had skied last year. It was lots of fun and a little softer than the previous run. We had outstayed our turn around time and after our 2 runs quickly packed up and booted up out of the depression we had been skiing into. There were now 5 or 6 people on and near the summit. The top of the bowl was still in good form so we skied it nicely. I had spotted a nice chute on the way up so couldn't leave it without ski tracks. There was no top entry so I had to climb up from the bottom and make a platform to put my skis on. My first time doing that. The snow was much softer than our other runs and I was able to really let it out and had some great big turns down into the large bowl. All that was left now was the ski out of around 800 metres. It was really fun and we found the snow to be pretty good. It was soft but we didn't sink in to much. We were back at the car by 12:00. A really good 6 hour day and we were sporting perma-grins. I felt great. All the bike riding and small ski tours have paid off.I can't wait to get out again.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Runs around a closed Hirayu Ski Hill

9th April 2005

Last weekend I skied out to the toll booth after coming off of a failed summit attempt on Peak 2500. The run although really icy was lots of fun. I had skied it at around 9:30 in the morning so I assumed that the next weekend if I started at 10 I would get great corn snow. What I didn't factor in was the summer like temperatures.Dan agreed to join me for a few laps and we started up the hill in the blazing hot sun. Dan just walking and myself skinning. We made it to the top of the run in no time at all and had a great steep run. The snow was already turning to mush though. It was lots of fun and we stayed on the top mostly but it was a lot softer than I thought it would be. At the start of our second run we both shed numerous layers. I was just skiing in shorts while Dan somehow managed to ski with a few more layers. We did the same run again and had some more good fun. The vertical of the runs was just over 200 metres. Our 3rd run we decided to go up a little further to ski a more north facing line. We had to go up one more switchback and at the top of our 3rd line decided to just push on for the top of the ski hill at 1800 metres. We were soon on the top relaxing and wishing we had brought more water and a camera. The view was pretty good. Our 3rd and last run down the mountain was to late in the day and the snow had turned pretty sloppy. We had a good time but the skiing was not that fun. We emerged from the trees on the main highway and had to walk through a 400 metre tunnel to get back to the cars. At the toll booth we were both told that walking on the highway was not allowed. Why they put a sidewalk in there then is beyond me. It seems like I can't really do anything ski related in this country withouth getting told something is dangerous. But the scolding couldn't take away the fact that we had a great day out in the mountains.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Run above Hirayu Ski Hill

2nd April 2005

Dawn Patrol:The weather for Saturday was supposed to be good so an idea of skinning to the 2500 metre subpeak of Norikura was hatched. The weather report on Friday night however told of rain Saturday afternoon. It could have been that I was baked and slightly drunk but an idea came to my mind in the form of 2 words: Dawn Patrol. 3:00 AM: Some cheesy song wakes me up via keitei. Far to early but I jumped out of bed and made my breakfast. I had been smart the night before and already packed my bag and as I slept in my longjohns all I needed to do was eat and go. Arriving in the Hirayu parking lot just after 4:00 I was greeted with a clear sky and a temperature of minus 5. The moon was out and it was bright enough to skin up the ski hill without the aid of my headlamp. My plan was to make it to the top of the ski hill for sunrise as I didn't want to be skinning into the trees in the dark. I arrived at the top of the ski hill just as the sun came up at 5:30. A quick rest and I was onto the ridge. I'm not sure why I chose this area to go skiing. It's not that good as it is an up and down ridge. The first little knoll is too steep to skin up so I took my skis off and quickly boot packed up. It was pretty easy as the snow was crusty. Down the other side I started the gradual climb to the next little bump. There was a slight skin track to follow under the fresh snow and it seemed to be going up the ridge in the best places so I tried to stay with it as best I could. I quickly passed the spot where Matt and I had turned around and remembered back to that trip in early January. There hadn't been a real snow base but instead there was just about 30-40 cm's of snow over top of the thick sasa. Every once in a while the sasa would collapse making travel difficult and exausting. But this trip I was skinning on a good base of snow. It was relativly easy as the snow was crusty and I was only breaking into it a bit. The only problem with crusty snow is the descent though. And while I had slight summit fever the thought of skiing down the nightmarish snow was in the back of my mind taunting me to turn around. I made it what I thought would be the crux of the trip 2 and a half hours into the trip and found it to be pretty easy. The "Crux" is a narrow corniced section of ridge. The windward side was wind blasted so hard I barely left edge marks. The lee side is an open face filled with frozen avy debris that funnels into a narrow chute. I was able to scratch my way across the windward side pretty easily and safely on the other side continued on my journey to the top now getting somewhat close. Even though I was getting close the summit it still lay 300 metres above me and I was quickly tiring after already having climbed 900 metres vertical. Coming over a little rise I had to descend a few metres. I didn't bother locking my heals but just leaned way back. Sliding to the bottom my skis dug into a drift and I face planted. I had to click out of my bindings and after brushing the snow off my body descided to have a really early lunch break. I was really tired though and the thought of eating made me really queasy. But I forced myself to eat one of my sandwichs and a snickers bar. I was at the end of my strength. I had completed most of the flat part of the traverse and the summit was much more up now instead of up and across. I had given it my best and the faceplant had taken the last bit of summit fever from my body. I had to have strength left for the sketchy up and down descent. For my first spring backcountry trip I did pretty good. 900 metres vertical gained over 3 hours. I wouldn't have been able to skin up to the summit and it would have involved around 2 hours of bootpacking. Not fun. So I de-skinned and prepaired for the descent. The ridge is not technical at all and is pretty safe and mellow but the skiing was not good. Almost survival skiing without the threat of sliding to my death. Only the threat of yard-saleing in an open meadow. The crust was breakable and really tried to take me down but I safely made it back to the top of the ski hill by doing speady back and forth traverses. I was hoping that the snow of the ski hill would have softened however it was still rock hard making it very fast. Near the bottom I ducked into the newly discovered Toll Booth run. It to was rock hard but fun. The snow was smooth and icy however I made some very nice noisy jump turns down to the Toll Booth and then walked back up to my car. The ski descent was nothing special except for the toll booth run which was lots of fun. It was a good first spring ski tour and I had lots of fun. My first dawn patrol was over without any real difficulties. The next issue was what to do with the rest of my day as it was only 9:30

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu

6th January 2005

We didn't really ski at this shitty little resort but instead skinned up into the open fields above. Before you can get to the village of Hirayu Onsen you have to go over a nice high 1400 metre pass. The pass is actually over 1700 metres however a tunnel goes through lower down. A gentle summer road leads to the pass. We followed this up to what looked like a nice steep run. Crossing a creek Matt again torqed the bindings so I went on ahead to break a trail up the slope. Getting into the open I found the snow to be really crusty. It was really easy to skin up but would have been a nightmare to ski down. Looking at my watch I found that the slope was facing south. So we headed off to find some north facing runs. On the other side of the valley we saw some nice open north facing runs. We were able to skin up a nice logging road to the top and then after a quick lunch skied down an open face. There wasn't so much snow but it was fun anyways. Good powder in places. We ended up on the highway and had to hike a few hundred metres back to the car. A fun short day in the backcountry.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu – Above Hirayu

5th January 2005

They had just opened the main lift at Hirayu so Matt and I headed up with all our backcountry gear to try and find some open powder above the resort on the ridge. I have been on this ridge a few times before but both where hiking adventures. You don't realize the ups and downs as much until you have to ski up and down them. We trecked up into the backcountry. It was difficult skinning as the sasa that was nearly covered would collapse under you in places. So every once in a while you would punch through to the bottom. An interesting and exausting experience. Matt was using my touring adapters on his downhill skis and was having trouble as they would always get torqued in tricky areas. He would have to take them off unscrew, twist back to a normal angle and then tighten them back up again. We made it to the top of a nice glade and decided to call it as the bindings were causeing to much trouble. After a quick cold lunch we were off. We got some good turns. The powder was nice and the trees were open with only a little sasa poking through. It was a real pain getting back on the skin track however. We had to gain some elevation but it would have taken forever to get ready to skin and then have to deskin at the top. So we sidestepped up. Really good exercise. A few more good turns in an open bowl above the main lift and then it was down the 1 run they have open. Would have been nice to duck into the trees but they still need some more snow. Also couldn't go down the main run under the lift as when we got on the lift in the morning they instructed us not to ski on the closed run. Really sad as after our onsen we saw a lone snowboard track coming down it. Would have been nice to see 2 ski tracks coming down.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - Norikura

May 15, 2004

All week the weather looked bad for the weekend. I was really exited to ski Mount Norikura as the Skyline Road was opening on May 15. I had originally wanted to overnight it however the weather report Friay night called for heavy heavy rain Sunday so I cancelled that part and just did it as a day trip with the option of hiking out to Hirayu Onsen if I had the energy.I woke up early Saturday morning and geared up for a solo trip. (Matt was in Tokyo and Erik didn't want to come all the way up as weather was sketchy) Riding my bike through town in Mid-May wearing my longjohns and knee high ski socks with skis and boots attached to the bag was an odd fealing as I knew I was getting many more looks than I normally get. It was really warm and I was regretting wearing the longjohns. I caught the 8:20 bus and with people gauking at me took my seat. I got off the bus to transfer at Honoki Ski Resort and saw a few other skiers. So I wasn't the only person with turns in mind. Boarded the next bus and was at the top by 10:00. It was far cooler up high and I was now happy to be wearing the extra clothes. Already at 2700 metres the summit was only a short 300 more above me. The Norikura Skyline Pike is the highest road in Japan. I quickly geared up and was on my way up the road. I passed many skiers and a few snowboarders on my way up. At a corner in the road however they all went around a different way. I wanted to make the summit so kept going up. Little did I know that the road I was on only went to the observatory. I kept going up passing two snowboarders going the other way. 1 of them in broken english asked me my purpose. I said skiing and pointed at a snowfield beyond. She said okay and told me that the trail to the summit was back behind where everyone else was turning off the route. Oops. Already a ways up to the observatory I kept trucking and decided to get a run in on the snowfield beside the road. A helicopter was buzzing me for a while and I later found out it was a news crew filming me. I made the Saturday Evening news. At the top of the snowfield I dawned boots and skiied down beautiful corn. At the bottem I ditched my boots in the bushes and found the correct trail. Going around a corner in the ridge the summit came into view along with many many other skiers. There were probably 100-150 people hiking up the snowfield. I was not alone at all. This was kind of reasuring though as I fealt a lot safer. I had brought my skins along however decided to just boot up the snow as it was pretty easy. Some of the skiers was skinning up a ridiculously steep slope. I passed them with ease watching them try to make kick turns and fall glad it wasn't me. I quickly made the summit at 3026 metres and the obgliatory summit shot. Clicking into skis after some food I skied a nice open steep line down to a road below. The snow was great. At the bottom of my run I noticed that the blue sky was gone being replaced by clouds. Also the wind had picked up. I had made 2 runs already however I wanted to get 2 more so I booted back up to the ridge which was super tiring. Along the ridge the wind was very strong and I had trouble keeping my enthusiasm. But after a little rest I spotted a nice line next to the snowfield of my first run. I made my way along the ridge stumbling on the big rocks in my clunky alpine boots. Is there an easy way to hike on rocks in alpine boots? The wind was very strong threatening to blow me off me over but finally I made it to the top. Taking my skis of my backpack they almost blew away until I had them on the snow. Clicking in I decsended down snaking my way through the rocks. Nice and steep. A few people on the road below had stopped to watch. Each turn the wind would pick up the corn and blow it into my face which was interesting. The run ended in a pond and the snow had seperated in places making little crevasses however these were easy to ski across. At the bottem I walked over to my hiking boots and 1 of the people watching came over to me. He had his arms crossed in an X and looked very stern. They wern't fans. They were the police. He informed me through a rather stern lecture of very poor english that I had skiied through the mountain huts water supply and was not allowed to be there. I looked up at the tracks and pointed to them explaining that I had done it twice. He just glared at me and couldn't understand why I would be so happy with my huge smile. He then informed me of another area where I was not allowed to ski which was my next line. Oh well I was super tired anyways.I made my way back to the bus area and sat down. The 2 snowboarders from earlier in the day came over to chat and I made some good friends. Both of them like the backcountry and were equipped for safe travel. Also they both ride at one of my favorite Hida Gifu hills. So after exchanging numbers we promised to get out together next winter. The girl was pretty cute as well. They then led me inside where there was a huge barrel of free sake. I filled a coffee mug up to the very top and downed it. Very nice way to end the day. So all in all it was a lot of fun. I skied 3 great lines probably getting about 800-1000 metres vertical and was exausted. A very good day out.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - Yakedake

April 17, 2004

All week long I had been waiting for the weekend. Watching the weather reports every night to see what the weekend would hold. Thursday night told of a Saturday as Sunny with cloudy periods. Friday morning it was changed to just pure sun. Saturday was clouds with sunny periods. Silly weather people.Erik came up from Gifu friday night and we got some beers and vedged in front of my TV watching ski movies. We were both in bed by 10. Alarm ringing at 5:00 AM I jumped out of bed. Made my breakfast and made sure my bag was packed. We were soon off to our destination. Matt B, Erik and myself were going to ski the active volcano Yakedake on the Gifu, Nagano border. We started walking up the road around 7:30 and hit the trailhead shortly after. I ditched my hiking boots in the snowbank and Matt and I dawned skins and started skiing up the trail. Erik was hiking as he does not have skins. Matt and I quickly found out that the snow this low was just to sparse and dirty for skins and bootpacked up behind Erik. We were finally able to get back on the skis when the terrain rolled over a bit and there was less debris in the snow. About half way up the mountain you reach treeline and the huge bowl. Erik went up the ridge while Matt and I made an effort to ski right up making nice big switchbacks. I love having heal risers.We reached the summit area around 11:30. It was really cool. Beside us the vents were spewing various gases. Most likely sulfer as a lot of the rocks around the vents were yellow. On the other side of the vents was a nice bowl which we decended into waiting for Erik. He finally appeared on the summit above us and we shouted for him to decend down a nice steep chute. He was taking forever getting his gear ready so I booted up this steep face to the ridge line and skiied down a nice steep chute. The corn was amazing. Just about perfect. Matt booted up after teleing down a really steep face. Erik finally came down his chute making nice tele turns. I still had lots of energy so hiked up again and skiied down a steep face. This little bowl was so nice. We started to leave after an hour of playing in the steeps and had an interesting run down to treeline. The snow was a bit mushy so it was a little difficult but was fun nonetheless. Below treeline the skiing got really interesting as the snow was hard and difficult to ski due to the melting process and various branches, leaves, dirt and tree bits. Matt and Erik had a difficult time teleing down this however it was a lot easier for me on downhill gear. I only had to ski across all small sasa patch once which was pretty interesting. We were back at the car at 2:30 making a 7 hour trip. We had an onsen and then followed it all up with McDonalds and then a bbq and beers at my house.

Backcountry Skiing – Gifu - ShinHotaka

April 11, 2004

So now the skiing post.Sunday arrived late as usual and I was up and ready to go wih lots of time to sit around and wait. I met Matt at 9 and we were off on our first backcountry ski trip. We had planned on going into the Yakedake area however the road was gated just outside the town of Hirayu. That would involve far to much walking. So we trucked on to the other side of the mountain at Shinhotaka. This side looked very evil and not very fun for skiing but we were close to the old ski hill so just went there. We skinned up the old runs making pretty good time. I was having binding trouble all the way up and quickly fell behind Matt who is now nicknamed the Machine. My Secura fix's were not tightened enough and kept shrinking down to the original size and popping out of my binding. Kind of annoying. I would have to get my knife out and loosen the screw resize them and then tighten it back up again. Now very annoying. I didn't however yell or swear. Matt being ahead gave me drive to push it and not get to troubled over trivial things. One thing I did like about the bindings was the heel lift. My old 25 year old touring bindings do not have lifter so I was always straining my ligamints. But these I could just go up the hill. For a while I was catching up to Matt however having to stop and reajust my bindings every once in a while kept me behind. We did finally make up to where we wanted to go. We did about 700 metres vertical in just over 2 hours. The last bit was post holing up rotten isothermic crap. We got to a clear area and practiced our beacon drills before de-skinning and packing the bags. I really like my new beacon. Very easy to use. The ski down was interesting and fun and our thighs were burning. We waved to the tourists many times going overhead in the gondola and made it back to the car safely.As we were are now backcountry skiers we have to be cheap so we went to the free public onsen at Shinhotaka however we did have to shell out for pizza and icecream to finish the day. I'm already exited about next week.

Hiking - Fuji - May 04, Sept 04, Oct 05

2009-05-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hiking – Mount Fuji

1st October 2005

3rd Time LuckyDan sent out a massive email to all the ALTs in Hida a month or two ago about a trip he was planning. He wanted to summit Fuji again although this time he would promise good weather. A few people got back and the date got closer. A week before the trip we thought only 8 people were coming. This quickly grew into a big 14 with 4 nearly full cars.Those climbing were - Helen, Mike, Niall, John, James, Beck, Jeremy, Dan, Risa, Tom, Chris, Tom, Aki and MyselfWe finally made it to the base of Fuji after numerous annoying stops for gas, bathroom breaks, getting lost, red lights seperating the group, mutinous cars, dogs running in the middle of the road, phone calls to pull over and where there was no reception beeping horns and flashing high beams. The drive took us 6 hours.A quick picture with all 14 people at 11:30pm and that was the last I would see of the group together. I was very happy about this as the group was far too large for my liking. Just after taking this group picture I picked up my camera but the strap snagged on something and it jerked the camera out of my hand landing back on the pole it had been resting on somehow screwing up the zoom mechinism. Obviously this annoyed me a lot as it's already my second camera in a couple months. I quickly got ahead trying to tire the agression I was feeling towards Olympus. This did not work of course and I just got more annoyed as the higher I went the more spectacular the view was. The sky was very clear and I could easily see the large cities of Fuji and Shizuoka to the South. After I had gained about 500 metres I came upon a station and sat down to have a quick rest. I got my camera out and after a little manipulation that I like to call the caveman got it working again. I was once again happy. I waited for a few minutes and 3 of our party showed up. This would be the lead group for the trip and mostly the people that I climbed with. They were John, Jeremy and the young gapper Chris who is just out of high school. We had a quick rest and again started up the mountain. The weather was holding and after 2 more stations we descided to have another break and maybe wait for some other people. We had a lot of time before sunrise so why not. Surprisingly the entire group showed up 30-40 minutes later. It was getting cold out and each stop I had to get my down jacket out to stay warm although even this did not keep me very warm and the only way to not get cold was to keep going. We started off again and were soon making our way up to the second last station just below the summit. We could see that the summit was under a thin layer of cloud but where we were just 200 metres below we were clear. It was about 3:00 am and our thinking was to wait here and see if the summit would clear up. We all got our warm clothes out and changed into dry shirts. Mike who had joined in with us pulled out a sleeping bag which was a great idea. I was a little jealous. We rested and slept for nearly an hour and then descided to make a go for the summit arriving sometime around 4:00am. The sun wouldn't come up until 5:40 so we had more than a little time. We went over to the East side of the mountain to look down on Tokyo. It was an amazing view as a very small cresent moon was just coming up. Well at least I thought it was a cool sight. The others were disapointed and thought the lights would be brighter. A few pictures and we retreated to the top station to stay warm out of the strong wind. The sky started to change colour around 5 and we quickly ran back to our previous spot and watched the sky turn from dark dark blue to a brilliant red. The clouds moved in on the summit again just as the sun was going to come over the horizon though but we had already snapped dozens of pictures. We found Dan somewhere during the sunrise and he informed us that Risa had turned back at the second last station because of altitude sickness. He said the rest would certainly make the summit which was good news. As the clouds didn't look like they would clear we started to make our way around the summit crater. We met a few people on the way and it was funny as they were almost all gaijin. There were maybe 30 gaijin on the summit with only about 10-15 Japanese people. Seems strange but then I guess closing the mountain to climber at the end of August turns more than a few people away. The wind was very strong going around sections of the crater rim and sometimes it fealt like it would almost push us over. At least it was no longer cold out as the sun was already raising the temperature even though we were in the clouds. We were soon on the ugliest summit in the world. I don't think they could have made this summit any worse. The weather station looks like a squatters settlement. A quick summit picture and we made our way back to the top station where after a quick break we started down the mountain. We were now a group of 5 with Dan and were going to descend a different route. This route is famous because the rocks are very small and you can pretty much just run straight down the fall-line. The descent was very fun and near the bottom we were able to run very fast in the loose rocks. The view was also amazing with the low hills below covered in a morning fog. As this was a differnt route down though at the bottom we would have to traverse a little to get back to our cars. Going along a ridge just before this little traverse we were blasted with the strongest wind I have ever experienced. It nearly pushed us right over. It was really quite amazing. But the thrill of the wind couldn't last forever and we were soon back at the cars just after 8:00am. Risa and Tom were both aready down the mountain and we found out that Risa had made the summit which was good. Turns out that she fealt better and descided to make a go for it. Strong girl. As Dan is a Nazi and his group was already down they left and drove staight back to Takayama withouth even stopping for an onsen. Jer, John and I were left to wait for the rest as Chris, Tom and Aki left a few minutes after Dan. On the descent I had been hoping to at least be able to spend a few minutes sitting in the sun waiting for the others however this wish backfired on me as the rest of the group didn't get down till well after 10am. They were all happy to have summited but fealt that it should have been over at the top without another 3 hours of going down. We had a quick onsen and then were on our way arriving back in Takayama at 5:30pm. I was in bed sleeping deeply at 8:00pm happy to finally have knocked this peak off in clear weather. I can't say if I'll be back to it's summit but at least I don't have to worry about getting up there in clear weather anymore.3rd time lucky

Hiking - Fuji

September 27, 2004

"A wise man will climb Fuji. A fool will do it twice"I guess that makes me a fool as I have now climbed Mount Fuji two times.Setting out at the way to early hour of 3:30pm Bill, Jenny, Angela, Dan, Risa, myself and a Japanese fellow left for Shizuoka to climb the symbol of Japan. Dinner was eaten at a rest area along the toll highway and after a quick break and near mutiny at Lake Suwa we set off. Dan's group of Risa and the Japanese fellow were certain that hiking the north side would be better. I told them that the south side was shorter and as it was so early if they did the north side they would be on the summit well before midnight. South Side it was. Mutiny Averted.We started hiking at 9:30 pm just taking it easy. Jenny didn't start out to well and the first few stations were very difficult but the view was amazing. We were really lucky for the ascent. We could see thousands of lights below us. Everyonce in a while there would be an explosion which Dan said was the military training however I thought it might be North Korea invading. Further up the mountain and after many long rest stops the clouds rolled in. We were above them for a while and it was interesting to see lightning flashes from above however lightning generally isn't a good sign when in the mountains. Getting close to the summit I went off ahead and upon getting to a station sat down to wait. Angela came up next surprisingly followed by Jenny who seemed to be doing great. But she wasn't wearing her backpack. Bill the gentleman that he is was carrying it on his chest. Reaching the 9.5 station (10 in total) the weather closed in and it started to drizzle. The temperature was pretty low as well. Probably around 5 celcius. Bill, Jenny, Angela and I sat down in a doorway and huddled under Angela's huge poncho for an hour waiting for the weather to get better. When it did we went for the summit reaching it at 3:30am in really thick and cold fog. We were all surprised to find nothing open at the top. It's only september people!!!!!!! We found a small overhang and once again huddled under the poncho trying to keep eachother warm waiting for the sun to come up. Risa was not doing to well and suffered a brief altitude sickness throwing up near where we were all sitting. She was also very very cold with uncontrolable shivering. Dan broke out his evergency blanket and she warmed right up. Wanting to warm up I went for a little walk among all the stores and found on the other side of a rock wall piles of new bells. It appears that they have fallen off of the walking sticks and instead of cleaning up the waste to take it off the mountain they were just dumped out of sight. I filled up my pockets and brought them back to everybody. Free bells. Yippee!!Sunrise came and we were all still alive however it was just a change in the shades of gray. Bill and I went for a walk around the summit crater to bag the true summit. We started out with the girls however we had no idea where the trail went and they didn't want to get lost. Walking around the crater was kind of sad as there was waste everywhere. Old cement foundations, used car batteries and every other kind of waste imaginable. They had also taken down any signs so we were a little confused as to where the trail went. But as long as we stayed along the ridge I assumed we would eventually get back to the area we started. And we did. But we were able to get the highest point which was next to a huge ugly weather station. Climbing up a ladder I was able to get a few metres higher than the actual summit. Take that Japan.Back at camp Dan and Risa were just packing up to go so we joined them and headed back down. Last time we were able to glissade most of the way however now that it is September the snow has long since vanished. I was surprised however to find that the trail down was quite a pleasent stroll. Mostly sand it was pretty easy to get a good pace going. We also dropped out of the clouds for a few minutes and got an amazing view with low clouds below us and high clouds above with the sun in the middle. Very beautiful. I made it back to the car in 2 hours and was shortly followed by Bill and then the ladies. A quick Onsen and then it was back to the Yama-shi. We stopped at an British Pub in Matsumoto for a much needed lunch. And then we were back home. The drive was very difficult as I was very tired. I was in bed by 8:30 and I slept for 12 hours. Very nice.

Hiking - Fuji

May 22, 2004

Friday after school I went to get my altimetre battery replaced as it was getting low. One moment I would be at 25373 metres and two minutes later I would be at -2324 metres with a temperature of 85 celcius. So I took that as a low battery as it usually means this. Went to a watch store and they opened it up and told me they replaced the battery however the watch never reset so I think they assumed the battery was not dead as it was still telling time. So I paid 1000 yen for nothing. But back to the journal. Matt was late as usual and we left Takayama at 5:30 on our way to Gifu city to pick Erik up. As we were late we took the expressway which only took an hour and a half. Very fast. Then when we got to Erik's apartment in true Erik fashion he wasn't there. Out shopping. So after eating the last of his bread he finally showed up and we were on our way. As Fuji is so far away we took the expressway which turned out to be 4 hours. But we finally arrived in the parking lot at the New Fifth Station at 1:00 AM and 2500 metres. The sky was clear and you could just make out the observatory at the very top. It was to dark though to make out any snow. We were undecided as to what to do. Nice weather do we hike. Or sleep till sunrise to see if there is snow. Erik on one side of the car got all his gear out and tele boots on and Matt and I got the tent set up on the other side of the car. After a short discussion and some good laughs we decided to sleep a few hours. There was no way I was hauling my gear up there if there wasn't any snow. Into the tent for a few hours sleep which was very difficult as the wind was howling, tent was flapping and there was an ever present fear that we would be run over by the speeding cars flying through the parking lot at all hours of the night. At 4:00 AM I couldn't sleep any more and was up and out of bed. Looking up at the mountain NO SNOW!!!!!!!! So we geared up for a hike. Erik had only brought flipflops and tele-boots so he had to borrow Matt's indoor gym shoes. But we were finally underway at 5:30. There was only 1 hiker ahead of us. The hike went great and we just took it easy. The wind kept us cool and the sun kept us warm. Near the top the clouds rolled in and the trail vanished in snow so we split up. Matt and I went straight up while Erik found the trail. This was my favorite part of the hike as we got into some cliffy parts and had to scramble up so gully's on nice rock. I was having a great time while Matt was cursing me. The rocks were beautiful covered in a little Ryme ice. Our route brought us right to the summit where after a few minutes Erik joined us. It had taken us 4 hours and it was now 9:30 AM. The wind was howling and we all dawned our cold weather clothes. This was a true Fuji experience. We were alone on the most climbed mountain in the world and couldn't see more than 10 metres. After a few pictures and good laughs (Matt kept loosing his glove) we headed down. We found some snow lines on the way down and had a good time sliding down. Near the end of one line however some rangers were waiting below. We were instructed that skiing/glisading is not permitted on Fuji and were told to get back on the trail. So we did what any self-respecting Gaijin would do and as soon as we were out of sight got back on the snow sliding most of the way back down.We were back at the car by 12:30. We all fealt great after hiking for only 7 hours with an elevation gain of only 1200 metres and a high of 3700 metres. No really I actually fealt great. Hit up an onsen and then drove back to Gifu. We didn't want to drive any further so went out for drinks in Gifu city. We were planning on catching the last train however 11:30 came to quickly and we ended up staying out till near 4:00 am. Climbing Fuji that morning is a great conversation starter. We had been up for 24 hours and it we all passed out quickly.So my impressions of Fuji-Beautiful mountain from a distance-Dirty ugly rubble pile from close-Anal rangers-Friendly people-Good times with good friendsWill I climb it again? NoWill I climb any of the other Japanese mountains I have climbed again? For Sure

Hiking - Gifu, Nagano, Toyama - April 2004 - July 2006

2009-05-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hiking: Kasagatake – 1 day circuit

15th July 2006

3 day weekends rule. Especially when the weather works out and I can get into the mountains for the entire time. 3 day weekends are even better when your birthday falls on one of the days. 3 day weekends do not rule so much when the weather craps out and instead of mountain fun you're left with miserable heavy rain.That was the case for this past weekend but I still got out into the mountains for 1 VERY long day.Kasagatake is my nemisis. It's a big and beautiful mountain that I can see from most places in Takayama. Standing at only 2897meters it's not close to being amoung the bigger mountains of the north alps. But what it doesn't have in altitude it makes up for in vertical rise. From the car it's over 1800 meters to the summit.I've only summited Kasa on 2 of 5 trips. Not a very good track record compaired to the success of my other climbs in this country.I had to at least make it 50/50 so set out on the day trip from hell with Jeremy.Due to me always being really prompt and Jer always getting lost or being late I ended up waiting at our meeting location for nearly an hour. I was 30 minutes early and Jer was 25 minutes late. But it gave me some time to properly eat and digest my greasy bacon breakfast sandwich.We shuttled the cars leaving Jer's truck at our exit and then taking my car to the trailhead. Just as we were getting ready to leave I asked Jer if he wanted to leave his keys in my car. He said that's a good idea and I tossed them under the seat. Yup we're really that stupid.We left the car just after 7am and I asked Jer if he was ready to suffer. He was and I pointed 1800 meters up to the where the summit was almost directly above the small resort community of ShinHotaka. We couldn't see it though as it was in the clouds. We made good time to the turnoff having to only walk the gradual road for 50 minutes. A really good warmup and especially nice in the cool light rain that was falling off and on.With full water bottles we turned off the road and quickly gained elevation on the steep trail. The rain got heavier the higher we got but it was never a problem as it usually only lasted for 5 or 10 minutes before stopping. We passed a lot of Japanese people hiking in long lines fully decked out in rain gear. We chuckled at them sweating it out while they pondered our insanity as I was wearing just a thin long sleeve shirt with pants and Jer was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts. We finally rose over the edge of the first ridge and were now fully into the clouds. It had so far taken us almost 3 hours but we had gained a very large chunk of vertical.Into the base of the large bowl we went on and filled our bottles at a small creek. The trail vanished here under the snow and we also met an older lady of about 60 that was lost. She followed us up the snow slope looking very shaky and uncomfortable on the snow. I found the trail again further up and we asked if she was ok. She said she was still unsure of herself so we again put her inbetween us and continued up walking on the trail in places or on the steepening snow. The rain really started falling when we finally gained the ridge that would lead to the summit. It was really coming down and the rain hitting my legs rolled down and into my boots. At first it was only my heals that were wet but soon my feet were just as wet as they would have been had I been walking in a river. But we were close to the summit with it only being about an hour away along the gentle ridge. The lady was still unsure of herself so we had to slow our pace a little so that she could keep up. We finally got to the hut just below the summit and the lady was so happy with us for getting her there. It had taken us 5 hours. She thanked us by buying us 2 bowls of hot ramen, 2 coffees and a box of cookies. It was really nice drinking the hot liquid. The hutmaster got the wood stove going and we tried to dry out our socks and any other wet clothing which was everything. We relaxed in the warmth of the hut before getting ready to complete the final portion of our loop. The people in the hut were amazed with what we were doing and said that the next portion of trail would take 8 hours. I scoffed at that as even the map time was less than 6 hours. They also warned us of a creek crossing. I said we'd be back at our cars in 3-4 hours. With that challenge we set off at 2pm. The rain had stopped by this point and we were on the summit just a few minutes later enjoying the nonexistant view. My 3rd time on top. We quickly got a picture and then set off the other side of the mountain. We soon dropped out of the clouds and while the sun did come out for about an hour we were never able to see the summit we were just on. For a while the trail was quite rough making the walking slow and I wondered if we would make it out in the time I said. But we were in fact making good time and the elevation was dropping off. The hours went by and the vegetation got thicker as we dropped. We crossed the creek a couple times however it was never difficult. There were always rocks to step on. Sometimes I think that Japanese people get really worked up about nothing. As we got closer to the end of the trip Jer started slowing down really feeling the effects of the distance we had so far travelled. At first his breaks were every few hundred meters or so but by the time we were in the last km or so he couldn't go more than a few steps without having to stop. His body had almost fully shut down and was almost refusing to go any further. I went on ahead to wait at the bottom here and I guess he had to go so far as crawling in a few places as his legs had next to nothing left in them. I reached the trailhead at 6:30 making for 4 and a half hours since we left the hut. Jer soon emerged as well and I knew without him even having to tell me that I'd be the one walking back to my car because we were idiots. It really sucked to have to do this but that's life and sometimes you have to suck it up. The walk back up the road only took about 30 minutes and once back at the car with my boots off I looked at my watch. It was nearly 7:00pm making for a 12 hour day.The trip was everything I thought it would be. We made the summit and got out safe even though 3 days after I'm still feeling the muscle pain in my legs much more than past trips that I've done.Jer and I onsened it up right after and then went on our ways but not before Jer thanked me for the hardest workout in his life. He also promised to come over to my apartment the next day and kick me in the teeth if only I lived on the first floor.A great trip and it's always good to know what the body can be put through.

Hiking – Gifu - Kasagatake

4th November 2005

2897 metre Kasagatake has always had a special place in my heart. Cue the violin. I first climbed her in June 2004. I was so beat up at the end of that trip that I wanted to quit climbing mountains and sell all my gear. That trip turned into one of my most memorable non-skiing experiences in the Japanese Alps. Since then I have tried to get to the top of her on 2 other occasions. I was driven back by snow and rain on both occasions.I had to get to the top again but maybe by a different route. There are 3 ways up Kasa and I had only done 2 of them. The route that remained was a full on straight up climb of over 1800 metres vertical. This past summer I came to realize that although going straight up mountains might be difficult it is truly what I excel at.Friday - Not wanting to sit around my apartment doing the sameold sameold I set out from my house at 7:00pm and made it to Shin-Hotaka an hour later parking illegally right at the gate that blocks the road. I started up the road using my headlamp for light and after a quick 40 minutes was at the base of the mountain. This would be where I would camp for the night. Although it is November and there was fresh snow blanketing the mountains I was only using my bivisack as I wanted to save weight. My last trip to the summit I found that behind the small hut near the summit there is a much smaller hut that has an unlocked door. It is a storage hut for the main hut however there is a raised platform that can easily sleep 6 or 7 people. I guess you could call it an emergency shelter. So I didn't want to carry my tent up to the mountain just to have it stay in my bag. And if for some silly reason the door was now locked I still had my bivi sack for shelter.Saturday - I was woken up by a van driving by. Must be a service van for the hut further up the valley. The temperature had dropped down to just below zero during the night and I experienced my first frost of the season. Packing my stuff into my bag I was passed by an older Japanese guy with just a day bag. He started up the trail ahead of me. I was going to have a warm breakfast however I got lazy and didn't want to get my stove out. I started into my very greasy egg, cheese and ham sandwich. I have always tried to make my hiking sandwich's as greasy as possible but I think I found the limit. I had run out of olive oil while frying the eggs the night before so used a load of butter. All I could taste was butter which isn't really a bad thing cause I needed the calories but I could only take a few bites at a time before I thought I'd have a heart attack and had to take a break and finish packing my bag. My boots were on and I was hiking just after 7:00am. Up up up up up I went gaining elevation quickly. Amazingly though this is one of the best trails I have been on. It actually uses somewhat gentle switchbacks unlike the near vertical trails found throughout Japan. I was soon getting near the ridgline that on the map showed 4 and a half hours with 1100 metres of vert gained. Looking at my watch I found I had been at it just over 2 hours. That really makes me feel good. However I deserved a break and when I came over the ridge and was faced with an amazing view of Kasa I took my bag off and sat down. I had been just behind the older fellow for the last bit and he to was resting. As he was on a day trip though he just had a short break while I opted for the leisurly 30 minute rest.We still had to gain another 400 metres before gaining the final ridge so I set off after refueling and quickly made it up the final bit to the ridgline. Going over the top of the ridge I was hit with a wind that I had previously been sheltered from. It was strong and cold. The trail popped out on the top of a 2800 metre bump of the ridge which is also the top of many couloirs that I have been eyeing for some time. One of them is the couloir that I bunged up my hips in back in August trying to get some summer turns. I'll be back to this spot for sure. It was really intimidatig looking at the the couloir from the top. Steep and scary without snow. But once filled in will be lots of fun.Toque, gloves and jacket on I started out along the snowy ridge. The older guy was just ahead of me and looked to be stopped for some reason. He then turned around and started coming back. Meeting him along the ridge he said that the ridge was to long and if he wanted to get back before dark would have to bail on the summit. Too bad for him because he was so close. But walking along the ridge I realized that we were not close at all. 2 people previous had layed in the bootpack and had not done a very good job of it. That's just my opinion though. They were a Japanese sized couple and based on the stride seemed to be only 150cm's tall. I had to take the smallest of steps and it seemed like forever before I was getting near the top. I finally made it to my small hut just after 12 making for 5 hours. The summit was only 10 minutes away so I took a good long break here. I was lucky and the door was unlocked and the small hut was empty. I quickly unpacked all my gear taking over the entire area and set to melting snow for water. After melting 2 pots of snow and getting a litre of water I set off for the summit. I wasn't dissapointed at all. The view was amazing. I really think that Kasa has one of the best mountain views of Japan. It's not a very major summit being just below 2900 metres but it is right next to the Hotaka - Yari ridgline making for a good view. Being below 2900 metres keeps most people away which is nice. I could see the entire length of the couloir I skied back in Golden Week and it looked really cool under the fresh snow. While on the summit a lone Japanese guy came up for a smoke and then quickly left. He didn't leave until just after 2 and would have been doing most of the descent in the dark. I recognized him from somewhere in the mountains though. I just can't seem to place where I saw him last. Back to the hut for a rest and to warm up I changed out of my day clothes and wet socks and set my alarm for 4:40pm to see the sunset. I crawled into my bag and fell asleep. It didn't even seem like I had closed my eyes when my alarm went off. I had timed it just right and was able to witness an amazing sunset. It looked like the clouds were on fire. The wind was quite strong though and while it was only -2 outside the windchill brought that down quite a lot. Back into the hut where it was just as cold outside minus the wind I again melted more than a few pots of snow to get enough water for dinner and drinking. After my last experience with my stove on Tateyama with Dan a few weeks ago I had cleaned my stove quite well and it was now firing like it was brand new. My dinner of rice, tuna, mushrooms and corn turned into a soup or stew when I didn't hydrate it long enough and had to add more water. It was actually much tastier this way and helped get liquid into my body. I was soon finished my dinner and most of my body was already in my sleeping bag so just layed down and quickly finished my book "The Secret Lives of Wombats". I learned that they are indeed very secretive. I didn't plan that very well at all as I was finished my book at 7pm. Lights out I guess.Sunday - I always consider it a good nights sleep if I can make it past midnight before waking up again. And this night I slept until 1am before waking up for my usual pee break. All my warm clothes on I stepped out into the wind and cold to relieve myself. As I was already outside I wandered around a bit and took in the lights coming from all the Hida villages far below. Very nice. Back into bed I didn't wake until it started to get light again around 6am the next morning. I jumped out of bed and ran around to the front of the hut just in time to see a brillient sunrise coming over the Hotaka mountains. Just about as spectacular as the Sunset the night before. Very high clouds had moved in over the night and after a few minutes of watching the sunrise it was over as the sun went behind the clouds. I was very lucky. Back into the hut and my bag I again melted snow and made a good hotwater bottle which I placed in my sleeping bag to warm my feet. A little bit of rest and packing and I stepped out around 7 for the descent. It was even colder than the day before as there wasn't any sun to warm up. I made my way back along the ridge taking a few pictures along the way of thousands of tiny flies that had died in the footsteps along the ridge. Coming to the last bump in the ridge and not wanting to climb up and over it I dropped down off the trail and beelined back to where I had had my long rest the day before. A much more direct route with less lollygagging around. I was now faced with 1400 metres to loose getting back to my car. Not so much fun but better than sitting at home.I was back at my car just before the rain started at 11:00am. This trip like the last Kasa trip was an amazing experience. I havn't done so many up trips this fall as my hip has been messed up. In fact other than Fuji at the beginning of October all my recent trips have been strictly downwards traverses. It was nice to get some earned elevation again. Other than BC ski trips this has to be one of my favorite climbs since coming to Japan. Kasa is such a good mountain.

Hiking - Tateyama

15th October 2005

Everytime I drive up to the Murodo Plain I always longinly look north towards a really cool looking ridge. I have wanted to traverse this ridgline for some time and finally found the time to do it.As usual the weather report crapped out for the weekend after a week of supurb weather and I was left with a wet Saturday and maybe a clear Sunday. I went with it and called up Dan who is always in for some torture. He had just bought a new Marmot tent and I was eager to get him out and using it. The deal was I'd carry the food and stove if he carried the tent. That way I could carry my big warm sleeping bag while only using my small day bag as my backpack. My original plan was to traverse all the way around the Tateyama bowl on the Saturday and camp at Tsurugizawa tent area however who wants to hike familer ridglines in pour weather? Not me. So we decided to just have a lazy Saturday night and only hiked to Raichozawa Tent Area getting there after a 30 minute hike in the rain as the sun was setting. We of course couldn't see the sun setting. It just got darker and darker. We got the tent set up which I was surprised to find was pretty much exactly the same as Bill's REI tent. Right after setting up the tent we wandered over in the rain to the onsen for an undeserved soak. It was nice even if we didn't have to work for it. Back at the tent we started our dinner only to find that my stove wasn't working properly. MSR stoves are know to be finicky and I'm known to be mechanically inclined. But after taking the stove apart and trying to look like I knew what I was doing we did get it to burn albeit at a very low temperature. Good thing we wern't melting snow or cleaning water. The water was soon hot enough and we ate a good warm dinner while drinking beer that Dan was nice enough to bring along. As there is never very much to do in a tent after dinner we both got into bed and it was lights out.Sunday - The rain carried on heavily most of the night and we were lucky to stay dry the entire time. I had my first completly warm night since Golden Week back in May when I last used my warm sleeping bag. I'm a glutton for punishment and choose weight over warmth every time in the summer. When we woke in the morning we were happy to see that the weather report was correct and we were looking out of the tent to clear skies. It was cold out though so we tried to wait as long as possible to get out of the tent. As the sun has to climb quite high in the sky before it passes over the Tateyama ridge we were out, about and nearly packed up when it finally came over the ridge at 8:00am. The only thing remaining to be packed was the tent and we wanted it to dry out so as to not add any extra weight. We were on our way after a quick conversation with a Canadian and his Japanese girlfriend on the best bets for day trips in the area just before 9:00am. Our first destination would be the rugged looking 2611metre peak to the west of the camp. I've always stared at this peak because when it is plastered with snow it look amazingly rugged and would offer some really cool to skiing. We've just never know how to get out of the gully you would be skiing into. But I solved that while we hiked up to the top of this peak which we arrived on an hour after setting out. There are quite a few very steep lines coming off the ridgline all the way up to the summit and all of them end at the bottom of a wide gully. While it is kind of a terrain trap it's not as bad as you would think. There is also an easy exit up steep safe slopes that would remain hard well into the morning. Definitly a destination for next spring. The view off the summit of peak 2611 was absolutly amazing. It showed a view I havn't seen before of all the Tateyama peaks, Murodo Plain, rest of the North Alps, the sea of clouds over the low points of North Gifu and Toyama Prefectures and the huge and very rugged Tsurugi. Very nice and we could have easily spent the entire day taking it all in. But we had a destination and time was ticking. We again set off traversing the ridge and like all other ridge traverse in Japan this involves up/down, up, up, up and then down/up, down/up or just down, down, down followed by a big UP. I would normally get annoyed however the view was too much. We made it to the final part of the ridge traverse where after a quick lunch where I ate the always healthy Kitkat and M&Ms chocolates. We were now faced with just under 2000metres of elevation to loose. We would also be dropping into the clouds. But as we would be dropping the vegetation would change from the late fall brown of high elevation to the beautiful red and yellow leaves at a central elevation and finally to the green jungle of low elevation. As we dropped down we emerged onto a portion of the Murodo Plain that is cut off from the main plateau from a deep gorge. I have seen ski tracks in this area and wondered how they got over there. Now I was figuring it all out. Near the edge of the plateau we came across a hut that had just closed up for the season. An employee was busy cutting wood for the spring and was nice enough to give us 2 oranges each while we sat and relaxed. They were really good oranges and were just what we needed. As we were nearing the end we were ready to get out and set off again reaching the edge of the plateau. It pretty much just drops off to the bottom where the water flys 350 metres over a huge waterfall. We reached the waterfall just after 3:00pm making a 6 and a half hour day out of about 9-10 hours map time. Not bad. A quick jaunt up to the viewing platforms where we could take pictures and then back to our bags to find the bus that would take us back to the Tateyama Station. We found that the next bus wasn't for an hour so set out down the road. I stuck my thumb out to try and get a ride and we were quickly picked up by an nice older couple out from Kurobe City to look at the falls. They whisked us off to Tateyama Station and we quickly realized that walking this road would have taken a long time. Much longer than the hour we would have spent waiting for the bus. We were both very happy to get a ride so quick.We made it back to the station right before 4pm making for exactly 24 hours out in the mountains car to car. A really good trip.

Hiking – Gifu - Norikura

16th October 2005

The weather and my hip wern't cooperating with my plans for a 3-day get out of Takayama cause 1,000,000 people would be invading it because of the festival so I set out with a few people on a day trip. I was going to do the trip by myself however Chris emailed me saying he wanted to do a daytrip and was looking for ideas. After telling him about my route and a few small mutinies that never came to anything we found ourselves in Hirayu Sunday morning. I had driven up with John and we had arrived early. We were going to catch the 8:45 bus and as usual Chris was going to be late. He was coming up with Jeremy completing a party of 4. They made the bus with a few minutes to spare and we were off under gray skies and heavy mist.The plan was to summit Norikura on the standard route and then hike out to Hirayu Onsen knocking off the 2500metre peak along the way. Driving up the skyline road we started breaking out of the clouds and were quickly above them in amazing sunshine. Very nice. We got to the bus station and were hiking by 10:00 am. I was really amazed at how many people were on the mountain. Looking along the trail and top ridge it looked like hundreds of people were ascending and descending. Even more surprising was the lack of snow which nearly made me cry. There was just a fraction left of the large snowfield present in August. But there were still a few people skiiing on it. I hope I can ski on the fresh snow that will hopefully fall soon. Hiking quickly and passing many people the 4 of us were on the summit 45 minutes after starting the 90 minute trail. We must have nearly run up the mountain. I didn't enjoy the summit though cause it was crawling with people and I was very eager to leave. The route we would follow would be empty of people and I was really looking forward to that. A quick summit picture and we started down reaching the bus station soon after. We still had quite a ways to go though so set off down the road to where we would leave the pavement and set off over land. As we were hiking out to Hirayu we would be dropping more than 1700 metres in elevation and would end up in the clouds. At the same time as we left the road we entered the clouds which was nice as instead of mountains to look at now we had the fall colours that were changing at the slightly lower elevation. We had a quick lunch near a small tarn and signs that stressed the danger of following the route on the map. Must only be for the winter. We would be following the ridgline in what I am sure is now a maintained trail with signs and everything. I was lucky to also find lots of Oregon Berries like I did last year when I completed this route at nearly the same time of year. Very tasty. Onto the ridgline we easily followed the trail to it's juntion with the 2500 metre summit trail and the Hirayu Onsen trail. The other 3 in the party were in mutiny towards my plan of climbing this easy little summit. My argument was that we had already come so far and it might be above the clouds with views. Their argument was that they wanted to get back to the festival and drink beer. 3 against 1 and they won so we started down the trail to Hirayu Ski Hill. The trail looks like it's been brushed out a bit and I was very surprised to see 2 Japanese guys coming up with overnight bags. The trail isn't on any maps and it used to be just a survey cut. But there are brand new sign posts all the way along. They have even brushed out a short trail to a pond in the forest. I didn't even know it was there and have skied right over it before as I recognized the area from when I was backcountry skiing here in April. At the top of the ski hill we descided to go straight down the main run instead of walking out on the switchbacking trail. The main run is very steep and they had done a poor job of clearing the brush off of it. The little stumps were about 10-20cm tall and looked like they would hurt a lot if you slipped on them. But we made it out safely without impaling ourselves and had a quick bath at the packed Hirayu Onsen. A good trip over in 6.5 hours with 1 big summit climbed.

Hiking – Toyama – Tateyama Park Area – Yakushi Summit

23rd September 2005

After a month of not being in the mountains I was itching to get back out. On my last trip near the end of August I had gimped up both my hips trying to get into a couloir to get some skiing done. That little accident had hurt me enough that long walks were out of the question. After spending the 1st of 2 long weekends at Disneyland I realized that my hips were still in bad shape and were not close to being back to 100 percent. But I was getting cabin fever and so with another long weekend just 3 work days after the 1st longweekend I set out on a 3 day trip. My original plan was to hike in on the same muddy ridge passing the Emergency hut that Chris, Bill and I stayed at a year ago. I would then cross over Kurobe and camp in the low pass beyond. On the second day I would climb a 2924 metre peak that I had not yet summited and then on the 3rd day hike out again. It was an extremly ambitious plan that would involve more than 2000 metres of gain and a long distance of travel on the first day. Over the entire trip I would have to climb over Kurobe 2 times and my objective once making for 3 high peaks. Day 1 - I was going to try and hike in from a different trail as I believe this different trail is the winter route however I was unable to find the road and so had to park just before the tunnel going into Tateyama Park. I set out after having to fiddle with my shoelaces for 20 minutes eventually lacing the trouble making shoe up backwards. Seems my boots don't like laces without the little plastic things on the ends. But after finally getting on my way I made good time up the trail and found it to be just as muddy as before. Strange as we havn't had much rain. I soon found myself at the hut having hiked for 2 hours. A quick break and a greasy egg sandwich and I was hiking up the final 700 metres to the ridgline where I would turn right. I started to feel the altitude and or my exaustion at not being on a trail in a month and had to stop for shorts breaks numerous times. It was odd though as I still made the ridgeline in just over an hour. Quicker than before and much faster than the map time. My hip did start hurting though on the way up and I started to think about how I would fare as once I gained the ridge I was still only half way to my camp. I made the wise descision to turn left instead of right on the ridge and headed down to a different camp below Yakushidake. I'm glad I turned left as the final 2 hours of walking turned out to be painfully slow with my sore hip. I made it into camp and found a good spot far from the paths and relaxed for the rest of the day. I was treated to a good sunset and a clear night with many stars as there wasn't a moon.Day 2 - I slept in till 6 and when I awoke I was happy to find clear skies. I lazed around eating my breakfast of a bagel covered with a huge amount of butter. I'm on a diet;) hahahaha. I started up the trail to the summit of Yakushi 700 metres above with just a jacket, water and camera. The trail is gentle and fun with many large boulders to jump from. I found myself on the summit just over an hour after setting out. On the way up I did pass a group of people that looked to be on a tour. One of the ladies was a little overweight and out of shape. She would stop every so often and take a pull from an oxygen bottle. We wern't even above 3000 metres and the trail is really easy. Once on the summit she continued to suck air from the canister like we were on Everest. Seeing that was a first for me and I hope to not see it again. It was an amazing morning. The vallies to the West were covered in cloud and to the East the eastern range of the North Alps were coming in and out of the clouds. I guess the typhoon that was just off the coast on the Pacific was forcing a few clouds inland. I lounged on the summit for well over an hour talking to a few people who were nice enough to give me a few tubes of cheese and meat substances. Interesting food. After a few pictures I headed down having now climbed Yakushidake 3 times. While it is a relativly tame mountain on most aspects the north faces look very nice with many short steep chutes into a safe bowl below. I'll have to try and get back in here next spring. Heading back down I made the descision to pack my camp up slowly with the plan of staying another night out at the Emergency hut that I passed on the way in. While I could easily get out on Day 2 it would be nice to stay a 3rd day in the mountains and I'd be able to have a camp fire at the hut which is always nice. I bought some beer at the hut near my camp and then hoofed it back up the ridgeline to where I would drop off down to the hut. Once there I quickly made myself at home and had a nice little setup reading my book outside with a beer in hand. An hour or two later a strange couple came in that I wouldn't have thought would get this far into the wilderness. It was 2 men. 1 of them was a guide and the other was completly blind. While it took me 2 hours to get to the hut from the car the day before it probably took them 6-8 hours as the trail is very rough and a little difficult with all the mud. They set themeselves up inside and then came out and sat down around the camp. I thought it time to start my fire so set off doing that. I'm not much of a fire starter and that was quickly proven in that it took me about 2 hours to finally get a good stable blaze going. My first attempts almost always involve some sort of gas. I drained most of my white gas out into a tuna tin and then surounded it with nice branches. Up it went in a nice fireball but it didn't really catch and eventually went out. I'd have to try a more traditional method. I got my roll of toilet paper out and made a nice pile of crumpled paper and branches. I also found out though that toilet paper doesn't burn. It just smoulders. So I had to take my fire apart again. My only option left was the book that I was reading. I ripped a hundred or so pages out that I had already read and crumpled them up nice and good and finally had a blaze going. I still had to spend a lot of time blowing on it though and it wasn't till after the sun went down that I didn't have to continually worry about it. It was around this time that the blind man was left outside while his guide was setting up their beds in the hut. We had a little conversation and then he asked me if I knew any songs. I didn't so asked him to please sing. So off he went singing some nice traditional Japanese songs. It was a good way to end the evening.Day 3 - It started to rain a bit in the night as the typhoon pushed some bad weather into our area of Japan and that mixed with the sounds of people sleeping kept me up most of the night. The 2 people I was sharing the hut with were going for the 2700 metre highpoint on the ridgline so were up before sunrise as well. But I managed to stay inside my bag until 6am. I quickly packed up and ate my "low calary" breakfast once again and headed out saying goodbye and goodluck to the blindman and his guide. I was back at my car at 9 with my legs completly covered in mud and my hip just aching a little bit.I'm glad I changed my plans mid trip as my original plan was a bit too much for not being out in the mountains for over month and having sore hips. I still got to summit something big which is always nice. I'll just have to get onto the other summit on skis next spring. The trip had a nice relaxed feel to it and as always it was great getting into the mountains.

Hiking – Gifu – Yari and area

20th August 2005

Dan Neutel planned a 4 day trip to get out into the mountains with his girlfriend Risa. He invited a few people along and I jumped at the chance to join them. We would hike into Sugoroku-goya and make a base camp where we could hike to the surrounding mountains. We wanted to climb Yari, Kurobe and Kasa.Day 1So on Saturday morning Dan, Risa, Tom, Chris, Niall, John and I set out in a group of 7. Dan, Risa, Tom and I planned on the 4 days while Chris, Niall and John were going to hike out after 1 night. We quickly made our way up the road from Shin-Hotaka splitting up in a way that only gaijin can. A case of too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. John and I were up front with Chris just a bit back followed by Tom, Niall, Risa and Dan bringing up the rear or ass end of our large group. We soon made it to the viewing platforms around a pond with views of Yari and sat down waiting for the stragglers to come in. Our view of Yari was very much limited to only our hands in front of our faces. Sitting on the platform we waited well over an hour and then as we were getting cold decided that the others could get to camp on their own and went on our way. Turns out that the other group had stopped to have lunch before our planned lunch spot. Case of once again too many chiefs and not enough Indians. We soon rounded the ridge and spotted the hut and campsite situated in a low pass at 2550 metres. The camp site was on a sandy plain just above a large tarn with the hut behind massive rock walls on the pass itself. Getting to our campsite I found a spot to set up my tent. As I was going to be staying here for 3 nights I picked the best spot I could find. I have come to realize that picking a good spot makes or breaks the trip. Japanese people love to get up early (much earlier than I do) so having a spot away from trails and main walkways is a must. I picked the furthest spot I could. We set up our camp and then it started to rain. 3 people in the rain around a small 2-man tent. We got our bags into the vestibule and then all squeezed into the tent. It wasn't so bad at all and in a pinch my tent could sleep 3 people. The rest of the group soon showed up while it was raining and set up there camps. Just as they were finishing the rain stopped and we came out of my tent to greet them. While getting water from near the hut we found out that at 7pm there would be a concert inside so we planned to be finished our dinner by then. 7:00pm rolled around and we made our way up to the hut and inside where we found a packed tatami room and a lone Japanese man yodaling away while playing his guitar. It was very interesting and entertaining at the same time. After the "concert" I told everybody the plan of getting up at 4:30 so we could get to Yari with enough time for the others to get out. They all groaned and we retired to our tents.Day 24:30 came with Chris and I being awoken by Ava Maria. I got out of the tent and was greeted with a cold, dark, cloudy and windy morning. I shook all the tents until I heard the noises I wanted to hear and then went back to my sleeping bag for breakfast in my sleeping bag. I found out that for some reason my bakery only makes bagels on Wednesday so come Friday when I was buying supplies I wasn't able to buy bagels as they were sold out. I did however buy a very heavy loaf of bread, a tube of butter and a small tub of jam. I was very excited to see how this would work as it was much cheaper than buying bagels. It was very good and stayed fresh for the entire trip. The tube of butter was the best part except I mistakenly bought a tube of 1/3 calory butter when I really wanted the full amount of caleries so I could have some energy to burn off. But it was very good and I will try it again for sure. Everybody else was just as excited as I was about my breakfast;) We started up the ridge to Yari at 6:00am. I had thought it might take us 5 hours to get there so I was very surprised when I got up there in 2 and a half. The wind had been blowing and with the occasionl rain drop I hadn't needed to stop for long at all. Just a quick drink of John's water. We did get a few views down the valley towards ShinHotaka and where we had climbed up. I even spotted a couloir still filled with snow. Hmmmmm. While waiting for Dan, Risa and Niall to get up to the Yari Hut we all warmed ourselves with the expensive but very tasty Raman. It tasted so good. Tom had already mistakenly summited (another case of Indians and Chiefs) so not wanting to wait any longer John, Chris and I headed up. Chris is very afraid of heights so I had to help him up the very steep route. It was probably best that we couldn't see anything as in some places it is a little exposed and near vertical. He made it up though without too much trouble and we enjoyed the white of the sky and grey of the rock views. Going down was much the same as up however there were a few delays from annoying traffic jams. We got back to the hut and found Dan, Risa and Niall who were just about to go up to the summit. Tom and I were ready to go back to camp so we said goodbye to the rest and went on our way. The ridge back to camp was just as entertaining on the return as it had been on the ascent however this time we were greeted with much more rain and in places annoying up hill sections. I really don't enjoy ridge walking. I was back in my tent at 2:00pm drying off. Little did I know that I wouldn't really leave it for quite some time. Tom didn't feel like sitting in his tent so he chose to sit in the hut's Tatami room. I don't really like using the hut facilites as people staying there pay big big big dollars to spend the night. I on the other hand maybe pay 500 yen to camp. In my mind it doesn't work out. So I spent my time in the tent reading my book and in the occasional lull in the rain taking pictures of the tarn next to our camp area. 6 o'clock came around and Dan and Risa were still not back yet. It was slowly starting to get dark and I was a little worried about them. I went up to the hut to ask Tom what he thought and found them inside the hut as well. Fuckers had been there since 4:30. Again I didn't feel confortable so returned to my tent for dinner and then bed.Day 3It poured and blew all night long. I had to get out of my tent more than once to make sure my rocks were still keeping the tent in place. Around 2:00am I guess a large gust of wind broke some of the strings on Tom's tent. He did nothing about it though and after trying to sleep in a freezing puddle of water for 2 more hours decided to go to the hut and ask to sleep there. They said he could sleep until he was dry but that was all. Why he didn't come into my tent is a mystery. The morning came and as we had agreed to no wake up call the night before we managed to sleep in until well after 6:00 am. Tom was not feeling good so packed up and hiked out in what seemed to be the heaviest rain so far. Dan, Risa and I were all hoping the weather would clear for the following day when we could climb Kasa. The minutes and seconds ticked by and soon the rain would stop for longer than it would go. We were able go outside for very brief minutes to talk and stretch our legs. I went to the hut to get a weather forcast. They advised us that most people were packing it in and heading out. A typhoon was hitting Kyushu to the south and would soon be into our area. It was almost lunchtime and we had a tough call to make. We could weather out the day and night in our tents hoping for good weather on Tuesday or bail out in what looked to be a nice sucker hole. We saddly chose to bail. I was able to pack up my gear while the rain let up however during this time Dan and Risa chose to have lunch and just as I was finishing packing it started to rain hard again. Not good for them. We were soon packed up and happy to be out of the tents. I had been in mine for more than 20 hours. Of the 20 hours I was only able to sleep 8 of them. That is my first time for that. I know for a fact it will not be the last. Hiking out was just as entertaining as the hike in although this time it rained really really hard where as the hike in had been nice in the slight sun. We were all out of the mountains and in my car heading for an onsen at 5:00pm. An interesting long weekend in the mountains. I know that I mentioned the Indians and Chiefs thing a few times and have to say that I am probably the worst of them all for heading off on my own whether it be at my own pace or on my own completly. I do not enjoy a team environment.

Hiking – South Alps Traverse – 5 Days

27th July 2005

Last summer Dan Neutel and I traversed the North Alps of Japan over 7 exciting days. Wanting to get out on another backpacking trip we found a traverse of the South Alps. The South Alps are Japan's highest range. Most of the major peaks along the route top out above 3000 metres. So with 7 days of vacation we set off on Wednesday July 27. Getting to the parking lot late in the evening we got our sleeping bags and pads out and tried to get some sleep. As usual though we had chosen the worst place to sleep. When we had arrived in the parking lot there were only a few cars. So we picked the middle of the lot. As the hours ticked by car after car came in and found a spot to park. What made matters worse was that if I slept on my left side I was looking at the bright neon of a vending machine. On my right side I was blinded by the public washrooms. The heat and humidity was oppresive however sleeping with my arms exposed meant bug bites. Dan was experiencing the same problems. We both got an "excellent" night of sleep.Day 1Up before 4:00am we got ready in the dark along with many Japanese hikers. When we were ready we caught the 5:10 bus to the trail head and after a good breakfast below Kita-dake started the 1500 metre climb to the ridge where we would camp. I had already climbed this trail with Bill last fall so looking at the map found a slightly different route. Hiking up the trail just before the fork we encountered a large traffic jam. We couldn't get by them and they wern't moving. We decided to go the opposite way that they did and ended up on the very steep trail that I had already climbed. At least we were on our own and could climb at our own pace. We gained elevation quickly and were soon gaining the summit ridge. Coming on to the ridge we looked northwest and could see all the way to the North Alps. We easily named off the peaks. Yari, Hotaka, Norikura and Ontake. The Tateyama area at the extreme north end was also visable. Looking Southeast we could easily see Fuji-san. There was nothing except small foothills in between and it couldn't have been more than 30-40km away. A few photos of Fuji and we made the final steps to 3000metres and the camp below Kita-dake. It had taken us about 5 hours to reach camp and it wasn't even after 12 yet. The weather was amazing so we decided to just laze around in camp as we were both tired from the horrible sleep we had had the night before. After setting up the tent Dan went right to sleep next to it. I read my book and worried about the sun on my neck. To keep it safe I rigged up my t-shirt in an Arabic style so that only my face was showing. It worked really well but looked really silly. Soon the sun was getting lower and we had eaten our dinner. We were treated to an amazing sunset and then it was off to bed.Day 2We awoke to very thick clouds and we both regretted not making the 15 minute hike to the summit the day before. While getting ready and filling up my water bottle I met an older gaijin. His name was John and he is a Future Studies professor teaching at a University in Taiwan. He was traveling on his own so we invited him into our group for the morning until we would go seperate ways. We were soon ready and were quickly on the summit of Kita-dake Japan's second highest peak at 3192 metres. We couldn't see anything so after a quick summit shot descended over the south side on our way to Aino-dake. We had to drop down a bit but were again climbing and again found ourselves on anther 3000 metre summit. This 2nd summit of the day was Aino-dake and is 3189metres tall. It is a massive mountain but because there isn't very much prominance between Kita and Ai it is not classifed as as sepertate peak. A quick snack and we said goodbye to John who was going further than us and had different plans for the 2nd day of travel. We went left where he went right and we found ourselves dropping out of the clouds. We could see our afternoon objective of Notori-dake. We were going to run up to a summit on a little side trip. After a quick rest at a hut we left our bags and very quickly made the climb up to the 3051 metre summit. We were both on top in under 30 minutes. A few pictures and we went back down to our bags where we had a nice hot lunch. The day was ticking though so we shouldered our bags once again and started to traverse back to the main trail that we had left a few hours before. We had to contour all way along the massive south face of Aino-dake. Sections of it were very dry and arid while other parts were wet. We were able to fill our water bottles in a cold clear creek. The water was very refreshing. We soon saw our destination for the evening. The hut was down low in the trees. We arrived and had a refreshing beer on the patio before finding a campsite in the trees below. We found a really nice one next to a small creek. It was very private and we decided to have a campfire. Fires are a really nice way to pass the time and are very relaxing.Day 3 We were again up early faced with a long labourous day. Filling up our bottles we started out on the forested ridge that would take us to our first and only big summit of the day Shiomi-dake. The map showed water just before the ridge on the side trail so we only took a litre of water each. We began to get very worried however as the side trail never appeared and were running low. The climb would be very difficult with no water. But coming over a small subpeak well after the trail was supposed to branch off we found a very old boarded up hut and a sign for water just a short walk away. We filled our bellies as it seemed to be the thing to do and then with full bottles set off up the trail to the high summit. We had to gain quite a few metres but were soon on the 3047 metre summit exausted and hungry. We had a hot lunch and then after over an hour of rest started down the other side. We could see our final destination for the day however it was at the top of a very long valley still 3-4 hours away. The trail dropped way down into the forest which I was amazed to find looked nearly the same as what I'm used to hiking back home in Canada. Nice big coniferous trees with ferns and other small plants growing underneath. We regained the ridge and were soon on the final small bump leading to camp. The map showed 90 minutes to camp however after a quick snack we shouldered our bags and set off coming into camp after 30 minutes. We were exausted. It had been a long day and we drank our cold beer happy to be finished. The camp area was very ugly as a bulldozer had just plowed out flat areas from the earth. They were muddy and garbage filled. We did have some comedy though. A group of 8 or 9 University girls were camping nearby in 2 giant dome tents. They were militarily organized and very humourous. Every so often the leader or one of them would start calling out names "Yuki, Mai, Mami, Saori..." and then we would hear very loudly from all of them " Hai!, Hai!, Hai!, Hai!" It was all very dramatic and made us chuckle for the rest of the trip. As the sun set we could see Kita-dake far off to the north where we had started. Day 4This was the day I had been waiting for. In the LP guide book it says this is where it gets more difficult. I wasn't looking forward to that part but instead had been looking forward to climbing 3141metre Warusawa the 6th highest mountain in Japan. It would be a short side trip that we could run up without our bags but would add 2 hours to an already long day. We started out from our low camp very early in the morning and gained elevation quickly soon passing the University girls who were still shouting "Hai!, Hai!, Hai!..." all along the trail. Gaining the bump on the ridge we were traversing we saw in the distance the mass of Warusawa-dake and Naka-dake. Together they formed a massive mountain that we would have to climb. At the time I was feeling fit although the thought of climbing them sent shivers through my body and made me feel ill. Up and over each bump I started to remember back to last years traverse where I found out that I don't like up and down ridge traverses. They wear me out mentally and physically. As we approached the base of the peak the last few bumps showed themselves. For once the trail skirted them however it was still very rough and exausting. On the top of one such bump we could see silouetted against the morning sky a Kamoshika. It was a beautiful site and we both stood for a few minutes watching it. With that in our minds we made the last few steps to our chosen morning break spot which was called the Takayama Emergency Hut. We happily rested there for an hour while I contemplated the 500 metre climb ahead and how would I tell Dan who was doing extemly well this morning that I didn't want to climb 6th highest peak in Japan and was thinking of dropping out of the mountains. I have to say that this was my low point of the trip. The steep up and down traverse we had been hiking for the past 5 hours had taken all my energy. Dan chose not to listen to my hints as I would have done had he been hinting at the same thing and we went on our way. The climb ahead was very steep and went right up to the top of 3083metre Naka-dake. I soon found my strength returning and have since found that although very difficult I excel at steep long climbs. 2 hours later we were on top and I now was very happy and ready to climb the 6th highest mountain in Japan. It was Dan's turn to crash though as he is pretty much just muscle and bone and has nothing extra to burn. We rested and ate a hot lunch for more than hour at a fork in the trail. Dan slept right next to the trail while I huddled out of the wind in some rocks. A few Japanese people passed by and they must have found it odd seeing him there passed out. I started to get bored so woke Dan up and we set off on our side trip. The LP guide said an hour or so each way so I was determined to beat that. Hiking without a backpack I was on the summit of Japans 6th highest mountain Warusawa at 3141metres in under 40 minutes. Exausted I sat in the clouds waiting for Dan who came up a few minutes later. A few pictures and we again set off back to our bags as it looked like the weather might get a bit wet. We were stopped briefly on the descent to photograph a family of Ptarmigans. Mom was taking her 4 very young babies out on a walk along the cliff face. Back at our bags we shouldered them and made the final steps to our camp site an hour down the mountain. Another beer and after a brief rain storm we were able to relax in our camp next to a fire. It was obvious that the smoke was coming from our tent area and we were told to be very careful. After my low period earlier in the day I was now very excited about the 5th day of our trip. Dan was also very pumped up. Looking at the map and reading the LP guide however I realized that if we continued on Day 6 would be very difficult and the chance of getting out that evening would be very slim. Dan had plans of visiting his girlfriend in Osaka and I wanted a rest day before returning to the rigours of my work. There was a route on the map exiting at the same place as we would on Day 6. It would give us an extra day to figure out how to get back to Dan's car. The descision was left up to me and I made it. We would exit on Day 5 instead of Day 6. We would still climb a high peak but would miss out on 3013 metre Hijiri-dake Japan's 12th highest peak. Day 5We got up early again excited to get out and eat some food that we had been craving. We quickly gained the 500 metres we would have to gain to our high point of the day 3120 metre Akaishi-dake. We were lucky to have gotten up early as we had a very good view of Fuji for a few minutes before the clouds moved in. We also found out that Dan was having knee problems. His right knee was seizing up slowing us down considerably. My feet were also turning into ground beef and starting to become a just a little painful. So with our exit in mind after a quick break we started our 2000 metre descent. I quickly got ahead and after an hour reached a hut where I slept on a bench waiting for Dan. I gave him some happy pills and then let him go ahead before again setting off with somebody to catch. I really enjoy doing this. The happy pills were working though and it was a little more difficult that I had imagined. But I caught up to him and after a few hours we were at the valley bottom contemplating the 18km of road we might have to walk. Going HomeWe had exited at a logging camp. The logging camp owns and operates 2 of the hut areas that we passed through. They also run a "free" bus that takes hikers the 18km along the private road to a dam where there is a bus stop. The thing is though that to get on the "free" bus you have to have stayed at one of the 2 huts and ordered breakfast and dinner. This is nearly 100 dollars CDN each. A bit expensive. We had only bought 2 beer and paid for the tent area paying 30 CDN for the 2 of us. But we had our reciept and tried to get on the bus. We talked to a guy who after much himing, hawing and sucking of air through teeth told us to go talk to the girl at the bus stop/lodge. We went over and she told us we could get on the bus as it wasn't full. It was leaving in 5 minutes so I bought 2 congratulations beer for us which turned out to be tapped beer. We had to down them very quickly which was really nice. It was funny though as the guy who had helped us first had come from the building across the road and then served us the beer. We got on the bus happy to be getting out and happier to have accomplished the route that we had.The bus dropped us at the dam where we both had small armpit and face washing showers in the stinking bathroom. We caught the next bus to Shizoka which took a very long 3 hours and traveled through some of the most remote villages and vallies in Japan. That bus dropped us in the seaside city of Shizuoka. We were craving McDonalds so carrying our backpacks and smelling very very badly we walked the busy streets looking for dinner. What a contrast that was for us though. Coming out of the mountains were we had mostly been seeing old men and women we were dropped in a busy city with beautiful scantilly clad women everywhere. Our tongues were on the ground and it was difficult not to stare. With McDonalds in a bag we caught our train to Kofu and ate in comfort in the large seats. Up until now it had been pretty easy. But we knew that we would be arriving in Kofu too late to get a bus to the car. So we pooled our money and after arriving got a taxi for 6000 yen to take us up to the gate where Dan's car was. We had finished the route and as usual everything had worked out. Back at the car I stripped down outside the bathroom and had a shower in the outdoor sink. It fealt great to clean the dirt off and get into clean clothes after nearly 6 days wearing the same things. I was at home by 2:30am some 11 hours of bus, train, taxi and car travel.So with this trip I have now climbed 10 of the 11 highest mountains in Japan. Erik when he visited a few months ago asked me if I planned on climbing all of the highest mountains in Japan. I said I didn't have any such plans and didn't even realize until after this traverse what we had accomplished. It feels good. Now I just have to get the last one of them.

Hiking – Tateyama – Tsurugi Summit and out to Japan Sea

16th July 2005

Happy Birthday MattFor my 26th birthday I decided to climb 2998m Tsurugidake and as it was a 3 day long weekend make the fun last with a hike out to the north ending in the tourist trap of Keyakidaira on the Kurobe river. From there I would take trains back to Tateyama station to get my car. Dan and Risa planned on climbing Tsurugi with me and then were going to hike back over Tateyama on Sunday and out the same way as we came in.Day 1We met early Saturday morning at the Tateyama train station and were quickly on the tram. For the summer hiking season the terminal was oddly empty. We were hiking by 9:30am and quickly made it up to the hut at 2700 metres before descending down into Tsurugizawa where we would set up camp. Up until now we had only brief views of our surroundings as the clouds moved in and out. Our main excitment seemed to be when I stumbled across male and female Ptarmigans on the trail. A quick few pictures and we were again on our way. We made it to the camp site and quickly set up in the strong wind which at times tried to blow our tents away. I had visions of Kitadake with Bill in the fall of 2004 when we permanently bent one of his tent poles trying to hold onto the tent so it wouldn't be blown off the mountain. But we got both tents set up and made sure to tie them down with more than enough rocks. We had a quick lunch and then at 1:00 decided it was time to climb the mountain. We set a turn around time of 4:30 and hoped to be well off the summit by then. We made good time reaching MaeTsurugi within an hour. From here the fun starts as you have to traverse the narrow ridge leading to the final summit push. So far we were making very good time. Reaching the base of the main summit pyramid we found a snow filled couloir which I later found out was continous and went all the way to the valley bottom 800-900 metres below. We traversed over to the base of the up route and started up. Under good conditions this section is rated class 4. Lots of exposure but a ton of handholds and fixed aid gear like chains and metel rods for you feet. I really enjoyed it on my last summit climb. This time however the rock was a little greasy from the light mist and rain we were getting. I would say it was almost 5th class rock climbing the way the conditions were. I was not happy about it. We all made it up however and nobody died on this section. While climbing however Dan started swearing loudly about hitting his knee. While he was swearing away Risa was just climbing up the last and most difficult section. She was very concerned about Dan and from my vantage off to the side could see that she should not be worried about Dan and that she should have been concentrating on what she was doing. It took a little encouraged shouting of my own to get her back on task and up safely. Dan easily followed her up a few minutes later. Now that we were finished with the hard parts we moved into a gravel filled gully where at the top we joined with the down route. I started up in true Matt fashion oblivious that Dan and Risa were not behind me. I made the summit shortly after 10-15 minutes before 4:00pm. I waited and waited but they never showed. I went looking for them and finally made voice contact. I guess they got off route immediately after I left them and somehow ended up in a loose and dangerous gully on the wrong side of the ridge. Their stories were scary and involved hanging onto rocks as the ground slipped away. I got them safely up to the summit where we took a couple pictures and as our turn around time was approaching fast we started on down the mountain. The down route is a bit easier than the up route which I was very happy about although you still have to remain calm. There is a tricky nearly vertical slab that has to be crossed which has a bit of air below it and then the ladder which I feel is really difficult to get onto. Just as we got to the ladder a few drops fell and the sky got very dark. We made it down to the base of the summit pyramid and followed the ridge back to MaeTsurugi. Just past the middle peak it really started to rain. Jackets came out and as we were passed the difficult sections I told Dan and Risa I was going on ahead and wasn't going to wait if they fell behind. The rain was heavy at times although as usual I sweat like a pig so eventually just took my jacket off and went with it. I made it back to the last subpeak where the weather cleared briefly. Dan and Risa were still descending the MaeTsurugi and in the clear weather took a break. A few pictures on the top of the last peak and I was off on the final section. Crossing the final short snow patch I slipped and was on my side trying to stop. My hands and feet gripping and grabbing try to stop. I only slid a couple metres but the snow ripped away at my 2 of my finger nails. This was a first for me ever. I almost always wear leather gloves when I'm near snow for protection however didn't bring them this time for some silly reason. Regaining the trail I found my fingers to be a bit bloody and really sore. Lesson learned. Passing the hut just below the peak I waved at a few Japanese people that were holed up inside because it was raining and I was only in a T-shirt and pants. Back to the the tent area I turned around to find the entire peak in the clear with blue sky beyond. Towards Tateyama though it was a very different story. The clouds were very black and thunder could be heard. I got into my tent just as the clouds let loose some very heavy rain. As it was just after 6:00pm I decided I wasn't going to wait for Dan and Risa to have dinner and cooked up my spaghetti in the vestebule of my tent. It was really good and a great birthday dinner. Dan and Risa finally showed up during the heaviest part of the rain just after 7:00pm. They didn't look happy. They didn't bother with dinner and instead ate their breakfast. As it was 7:00 and I was alone in my tent on my birthday I opened up my book and read till late. A great day.Day 2I fealt the need to sleep in a bit so finally emerged from my tent at 5:30 on Sunday July 17. A good leisurly breakfast and then I slowly packed up my gear. Dan and Risa finally emerged from there tent and tried to dry out their clothes on the rocks under the cloudy sky. I got my gear ready and thought it about time to get going so after a picture with the 3 of us I bid my farewell and was on my way at 7:30. Except for the first 200 metres of trail the next 2 days were going to be new ground for me. Very exciting. I made my way down the valley and soon reached a point where the snow became so deep that it buried the trail. Onto the snow I went which was nice as it was a little softer than the loose rocky trail. I was amazed at the amount of snow. It was almost like a valley glacier or super highway as it just kept going and stretched right across the valley. It was probably close to 300 metres wide and I bet 20 metres deep. On the map it shows snow so I think that this is a permantent snow field and gets replenished each year as the thunderous avalanches plunge off of Tsurugi down the numerous couloirs and chutes. I was also amazed to find that many of the couloirs still had skiable snow in them going right to the ridge that I had climbed the day before. Maybe I could get a day of summer skiing in the near future. I hiked down the valley for about an hour before the snow ran out just below 1800 metres. A quick break and I regained the now rocky trail next to the swift river. I ran into one of the only hikers right away and he turned out to be a gaijin from England. He had spent the past 3 days climbing up from Keyakidaira taking an extra day because he had gotten lost because the of the snow. He warned me about the trail and I hoped I would not suffer the same fate. We went our seperate ways and I was left wondering what I was getting myself into. The trail was very rough down here and in places the river had changed courses eating away at it. In this case a route had been blazed right into the bush like a surveyers trail. Interesting. I soon made it around Tsurugi and gazed up at the final couloir coming off this amazing mountain. Here my trail left the river as it soon turned into a very deep canyon. I would have to gain a peak at 2100 metres some 400 metres higher than I was at. Filling up my water bottle I started up the very steep trail. I was startled many times by reptiles and whatnot resting in the sun on rocks. I found 3 large snakes and 1 large toad. The snakes of which I'm horribly scared of startled me baddly. They were all big and of different colours and seemed to be more than a metre in length. They were slow moving though and I was able to get pictures of at least part of them. Making sure to check each rock I touched for snakes I soon found myself on top of the mountain and looking to the hut just below where I would have my lunch. Wondering into it though it fealt very unfriendly as there wasn't even a tabel to sit at. I only had a snack as I didn't feel welcome. On my way down the other side I came to a steep creek bed again filled with snow. I started down this and was able to walk on the snow for almost an hour before I started to hear the rushing of water signaling a waterfall or open holes ahead. Only a few times did I have to jump small crevesses that went deep down into the snow. Hidden from above I almost walked into a few. I didn't want to end up in the same situation as the gaijin I had met earlier so kept my eye out for the trail as it went in and out of the snow. Watching my map I found that the trail would soon leave this creek as it wound it's way to a hut. I found the trail and was soon at the hut high above the river. I was welcomed here and learned that I was the 1st hiker they had had all year. It didn't help that the 16th of July was the first day of operation. There was a small onsen just beside the sitting area and they wanted me to have a soak to obliged by soaking my sore feet. They were amazed to find how far I had already travelled that day. Finding out that the day before was my birthday the hut master gave me a free can of juice. A very nice man. I ate my lunch quickly though and said my goodbye and went on my way. I soon found myself on the same snow filled river as I was on before lunch and faced with a problem. I couldn't find the trail. The river went into a canyon below this point and an avalanche had obliterated the markings signaling the start of the trail. Looking back up the river of snow I also found that I couldn't see where from the bushes I had emerged. This I learned was where the gaijin had gotten lost and why he had not reached the hut I had had my lunch at. Looking a my map I decided that if I couldn't find the trail I would test my skills hiking out the canyon to a trail far below on the Kurobe River. I hoped that by walking down the snow I would also be able to see my trail cut into the vegetation and rock above. Rounding a corner I saw a piece of flagging and a few minutes later saw a man in the distance clearing the trail. I was lucky as hiking the canyon would have been very dangerous. Regaining the trail I met up with the fellow clearing and through a little conversation found that I was only an hour from the camp. That hour was both difficult and interesting as I was exausted but happy to be completing a rough section of trail without too much trouble. I reached the hut at 3:00pm making seven and a half hours of travel over very rough terrian. I was exausted. Luckily there was an onsen and I was able to soak my worn body. Very nice. The hut area was very run down and I could tell that they didn't get very much buisness. Next to the tent area there was a tunnel that went to a railway that services Kurobe Dam. To bad it isn't open to tourists. Well maybe not because then it would be very busy with omiyagi stores. Day 3Not knowing what kind of place Keyakidaira was I was up early at 4:30 and on my feet hiking by 5:30. I was worried that because of the unmaintained nature of the hike so far that the exit might also be difficult with not very many train departures. The trail turned into an amazing route along the vertical walls high above the Kurobe river. At first I thought it was an old railway bed for when they built the dam however it soon narrowed so much that in places it was only 50cm's wide and cut into the cliff face. I was amazed at the amount of effort it took to cut this trail. For almost 5 hours I was walking on a level trail with a rock wall on my left and in some places above my head and a shear drop on my right that sometimes was hundreds of metres. Reaching a river filled with snow I was faced with a 150metre long tunnel. It would have been impossible to get onto and off the snow as the moats were well over 10 metres deep. Out came my headlamp. I havn't changed the batteries for quite some time though so in the blackness of the tunnel kept my right hand on the right wall with the very weak light focused in the same place. I trudged along in this fashion for what seemed like an hour sometimes with water reaching ankle depth. Soon I reached the exit though and realized it hadn't even taken me 5 minutes. It was an interesting experience. Eventually I neared the end and the trail dropped down into the canyon and I was quickly spit out into a mob of tourists wearing really nice and clean clothing. I was very sweaty and dirty and must have looked and smelt horrible. This trip was amazing. I was able to see an area that few people ever get into and was lucky to do it in solitude although a few times I wished I wasn't alone on the tricky sections. I easily made it back to my car at Tateyama station only having to transfer to different trains 2 times. A very fun trip over.

Hiking – Gifu – Norikura Traverse

2nd July 2005

Summer has kind of snuck up on me this year. I've spent the last 8 months trying to make my winter last by pretty much skiing every weekend. This kind of threw my mind on a loop though as every weekend I was trucking into a cold snowy sterile environment. So as July has now rolled in I'm stuck with the rainy season which is hot, humid and wet weather after just finishing a really long season on the cold snow. My body is confused as to what to expect. The skis are away and I'm now breaking in new hiking boots for my summer vacation coming up at the end of July. For my weekend break in the boots first hike of the season I set my eyes on a traverse of Norikura exiting in Hirayu. The heavy rain of the rainy season however closed down the road so I had to change my plans on the spot in Hirayu. I would climb Yakedake instead. This was also complicated however as I found that the Abo pass was closed. I would have to pay the toll. As I would have already been paying for the bus to the top of Norikura I shelled out the 1500 yen for the round trip with just a little bit of frustration. Going through the toll gates work crews were stopping each vehicle and turning most around. The road to Matsumoto was also closed. But they let me through as I was just going to the other side of the pass. I was able to drive as far as the onsen where I was again stopped by a parked snow plow across the road blocking any further traffic. No problem however as the trail head was just a 10 minute walk a bit further. Boots on I started trecking and soon found myself at the trailhead where I joined up with the trail. A hundred metres or so in though I was girlishly startled by the rotting body of a Kamoshika. It appeared to have died in an avalanche as it was just off to the side of a slide path. What really scared me though was it's eyes. They were mostly rotted out except for the hard centre which was somehow still supported in the sockets. A ghoastly site and I wonder why nobody has disposed of it yet. This is a very popular trail and the body wasn't even a metre away from the tail. The smell let alone the danger of having a large rotting animal on a popular trail is enough for somebody to dispose of it. I was left to hike the trail with the thought of my own body broken and rotting after being uncovered in the spring melt after dying in an avalanche with tourists stepping over it commenting on my beedy eyes staring up at them. Maybe it was good that my season was over. With that on my mind I quickly made my way up the very muddy trail pausing a few times to make comments to myself about how I never got dirty hiking on the snow with my skis on my back. I was soon at the bottom of the bowl where the trail turns from muddy rocks to dry loose rocks. Much nicer in the spring when this is under a metre or more of snow. I made the saddle passing a few people along the way and as I have been to the hiking trail top once already and could see about 10 people up there went left instead of right and scrambled up the easy class 3 face to the true summit at 2455 metres in just over 100 minutes. It was nice being alone on the summit while other hikers were on the false summit a few hundred metres away. My boots came off and I quickly realized that my foot still has not healed from my last and final ski trip 2 weeks ago. I had descided on that trip to walk 22 km with a heavy backpack in skate shoes which as I have now found out offer very little in the way of support. Now the heal area of my left foot is very sore when I walk on it for more than a few minutes. Bike riding is alright though which is nice as I can still exercise but hiking is going to be difficult. A nice rest with a bagel made into a greasy egg sandwhich and I thought I better get going. Boots back on and I hobbled away down the mountain. I didn't want to walk the boring trail down the middle of the bowl though so struck out overland hiking down the beautiful meadowed ridge. I wonder why the trail doesn't take this route as it is much nicer than the current route. I had to regain the trail further down though as the vegetation was getting taller. I had also descided earlier that I would hike out a different way making a funny looking figure 8 of a route. My route would take me all the way back to route 158 where the Kamikochi road turns off. I would then have to walk up the 8 or 10 switchbacks to the onsen. Not fun but maybe I could hitch a ride. Off I went on my new trail. It was fun to be doing something new. At first it was in just as bad of condition as the other trail however after leaving the creekbed that was either made into a trail or the creek found to be a good route it left and joined up with a steep treed ridge. From here on the trail was really nice without the ruts and boulders that make up most Japanese trails. I have wanted to know where this trail comes out for some time as it offers the best access for winter trips. I found that this hillside would give amazing steep and open treed skiing. I really want to get back in here when the snow is on the ground. It would be loads of fun. Passing the time by dreaming about making powder turns on the steep face I soon found myself at the highway and faced with a long road walk. After the first switchback though a bus approached and my thumb went out. I was quickly picked up and taken all the way to the onsen where I found out that the bus was infact owned by the onsen. I fealt the good thing to do for the ride was to pay for the bath as I needed one anyways based on the startled noses of the Japanese tourists I was on the bus with. I was back at my car getting my onsen stuff a good 4 hours after leaving. A quick and fun 1st hike of the season.

Hiking – Nagano – Nagano side of Norikura

11th December 2004

With any luck this will have been the last hike of the 2004 season.Headed across the border into Nagano to check out an area for backcountry skiing. I was going to hike up to the emergency hut on the north end of Norikura from the Nagano side. I had been into this area 2 times before but both times from the other side of the mountain. The first time was with Bill and Erik when we hiked up from Hirayu Ski Hill during Golden Week and the 2nd time was when I traversed over from the Norikura Peak in October. Both of these routes would be long in the winter so I had wanted to check out the different trail for a future backcountry skiing trip.Starting just before 9 I headed up the trail. It was wierd as all over the snow where little childrens hand prints. I found this quite odd as why on earth would children be walking on there hands this far out in the bush. Figured out a bit further on that they were monkey prints. This place is messed up. But at the start of the trail there was about 10 cm's of snow. I think the leftovers of the first snowfall from earlier in the week. The first part of the trail climbed steeply through open forest before reaching the typical bench found surrounding Norikura. The snow started to get deeper the higher up I went and my pants started to get wetter and wetter. I was wearing my gaiters however when I walk I rub my legs together and they got pretty wet. Around 150 metres below the 2500 metre summit I had had enough and gave up. I was just at the treeline and it was pretty windy above. I didn't want to get above it with my wet pants. Would have been cold. Also the snow was pretty deep and it was slow going breaking trail through the knee to thigh deep snow. But I had made it up to 2350 metres with nearly 1000 metres of elevation gain in under 2 hours. A pretty good outing and good exercise. I saw what I wanted to see and was pretty happy about that. The descent was pretty fun as I could pretty much slide down most of the trail. A good little trip and it looks like I have found yet another area to get into this winter.

Hiking – Gifu - Kasaga

13th November 2004

With clear weather forcasted for the weekend I set a fairly abitious route for myself over Saturday and Sunday. I wanted to reclimb 2897 metre Kasaga. I climbed this Umbrellish looking mountain at the beginning of last June and halfway through the trip wanted to sell all my gear and never ever hike again. After I got out though I found that it was a very very enjoyable experience as I was able to push myself to the point of exaustion and still keep going.But with a new easier route I was determined to stand on top again. Setting out Saturday I made my way happily along the trail. Like the last time I had the entire area to myself. I quickly made it to the huge bowl at the end of the valley that was now snow free and made my way even quicker up into the mountains. Near the top of the little bump I was aiming for there is a hut next to some small tarns. Yari came into view for a few minutes and I snapped a great picture with the tarn reflecting Yari. Very nice. Yari was even sporting a small dusting of fall snow. Once again I was on my way and after reaching the ridge crest I decided to camp there as there was a small tarn for water. I made it up to about 2500 metres. A good 1300 metres in 3 and a half hours with a big winter backpack full of warm clothing. For once I set my tent in the first spot the sun would hit in the morning. Doing this however also makes the tent location the first to loose the afternoon sun. I settled for an early dinner so that I could watch the sun set however while eating I realized I was missing the sunset and had to run, snap a picture and then get back so that my dinner would still be warm. After dark I crawled into my bag where I was nice and warm. It didn't stay clear for long however and started to snow in the very early morning hours. My tent is only meant for 3 season use and as the flakes were small a few of them got through the mesh of the inner wall. It also got a lot colder and I had to use my down jacket inside my down sleeping bag for extra warmth. But I slept pretty good from 6:30 pm to 6:30 am.Waking up in the morning to clouds and snow I made the decision to bail on my route and descended all the way back. I wasn't feeling to good and don't think the ridge walk would have been to smart. Oddly enough it took me the same 3 and a half hours to descend as it did to ascend.

Hiking – Gifu – Kurobe-goro

6th November 2004

When Dan and I hiked through the North Alps in the summer we traversed over 2840 metre Kurobegoro-dake. The weather wasn't that great and we never got a view of the area. Having a free weekend I made a great plan with Bill and Chris Gravel to stay in an emergency hut and hit up Kurobegoro on the second day. Bill was busy in the morning on Saturday so we didn't start hiking till almost 2:30.Up the trail we went. It was a pretty easy trail following a gentle ridge. I quite enjoyed myself playing in the mud holes that seemed to lie along the entire trail. Chris was not so into getting dirty though so I don't think he enjoyed this quite as much as I did. As we got higher into the mountains the sun started to descend and we soon had to get our headlamps out. Bill had brought an extra flashlight for Chris however the 100 yen he paid for it really showed how quality the light was. We were left to guide Chris up the trail and as he wanted to avoid getting dirty at all costs we had to guide him around the numerous mud holes. But we made it to the hut situated just below tree line at 2000 metres. The temperature started to drop as the sun went down and we all got into our warm clothes had dinner and went to bed. Just after 9:00 it started to rain however the clouds where a good thing as it kept the temp from dropping to far and I don't think it dropped below freezing. Sunday November 7 - As the hut was located on the west side of the mountain we wanted to be on the ridge for the sunrise. So we got up at the really early hour of 4:00 am and saw cloudy skies but as the day would be long got up anyways. After a nice breakfast we were hiking just after 5:00 am. The first part of the trail was on board walks which where angled up the hill and had a layer of frost on them. So we had to walk on the low brush beside the trail which wasn't so bad except for the numerous tarns to be negotiated. The boardwalks soon ended though as the mountain got steeper and we got seperated a bit as our paces differed. I reached the ridgeline first in the clouds however after a few minutes they opened revealing the sun for a few minutes before closing in again. The ridge was covered in a bit of snow which made it very beautiful. Bill and Chris soon caught up and after a chilly break we got on our way. As usual with ridge walks in Japan the trail insists on going up and over each and every bump making the going a little slow. A few up and downs into the ridge and the clouds dissapeared revealing Kurobegoro in the distance. Getting near the peak we split up again as our paces changed. The final push to the summit was in the shade making it quite chilly however I didn't want to stop to put more clothes on and just pushed on to the summit arriving sometime after 9:00. Bill was a few minutes behind and Chris arrived about 15 or 20 minutes after. The face we had walked up was a pretty basic hike however the other side of the mountain is quite rugged as it is a really steep cirque. It was a bit windy so we sat just over the summit on the very edge of the cliffs out of the wind but in the sun. After a nice rest and lots of pictures we were on our way back again. The descent down the main peak was lots of fun in the boot deep snow. Bill and I had a good time sliding down the trail. We tried a shortcut around one of the humps which started out as a rough trail but it soon vanished leaving us in really thick shrubs. I had a great time walking in it and if you were careful you could almost step from shrub to shrub without touching the ground. Every few steps though you would fall and disapear beneath the shrubs. Great fun. And even better the sap made us all smell great. After many many up and downs we made it back to the final bump and after a good rest, pressed on for the final descent back to the hut. The trail down this part was quite rough as a creek had erroded it quite a bit. Bill and I both took to the alpine and just made a b-line down the mountain. Bill said that from a distance I looked like a Sasquatch as I was wearing all dark colours, my stride is quite long and I guess I was really flailing my arms. We made it back to the hut cleaned up and had a nice hot lunch. Thanks Chris for the Tomato Soup. It was great. As it was already getting late we shouldered our heavier packs and took to the trail for the final descent arriving back at the car just as the sun was setting. A long day from well before sunrise to sunset.A great hike in an area that I kind of missed the last time I was there. I really want to go back in the winter to get some skiing.

Hiking – Little Gifu Trips

30th October 2004

So this journal is 2 different little trips.Saturday - After the Halloween party friday night where I dressed as a School Girl I decided that I wanted to go for a nice little walk in the mountains. There is a nice trail with a waterfall that I hadn't done yet so I went out to do it. When I got there the trail was closed due to typhoon damage but I went around the barricade and started hiking up the trail but it soon dropped me on a road which had a nice viewpoint of the waterfall. Pretty cool. I reached the highpoint of the trail where I would go back down the river but decided to keep going as it looked like I was near a pass. Kept on trucking. The road turned from pavement to gravel to rough logging road and soon I reached the pass. Not really exiting hiking but nice to explore some new areas. Headed back down to the waterfall and onto the trail. Pretty cool waterfall. It was 30 metres tall. The trail fallowed the creek crossing here and there to look at cool features. At some point in time a huge boulder had rolled down the hill stopping against another huge boulder. It left quite a gap underneath which the trail went through. An interesting archway. Then a few interesting water carved features and I was at the end. A nice little walk in the forest.Sunday October 31st - Nagareha ski hill has a run that we call Adventure Pillow because it is in the Adventure run area and then there are obviously some nice pillows to jump off. I have always wondered why this natural cut in the forest was there so left my place to hike to the top of the ski hill and then bushwack down the pillow run. I started hiking around 1:00 pm and quickly made it to the top of the hill. It has 650 metres vertical. Not to shabby. I went on a bit to make the last few metres and the highest point around which sported a nice little viewing area. I called my brother as it was his birthday and talked to him for a few minutes before heading down as the clouds had come in. At the right place I jumped into the bushes for my first Japanese bushwacking experience. It's really not to different from Canadian bushwacking. Same types of thorns to watch out for. Same branches to hang onto and lower your body over cliffs on. And the same curses when you trip or get tangled in the thick shrubs. A fun time out. I quickly realized how spoiled I have been this past year and a bit. lso realized that the pillow run is an area that was cut many years ago for a lift. Good thing it was never put in as it is a nice area for us to get fun turns. Finished up the day with a nice onsen at the hill.A good time out on the weekend.

October 24, 2004

I wasn't planning on hiking anything on this weekend however after breaking up with my girlfriend had sunday free and decided to join Bill on his hike into the Karasawa Valley. He was wanting to get into this area to look at the fall leaves which the Karasawa Valley is very famous for.So he picked me up at 8:30 and we where on our way to Hirayu to catch the bus into Kamikochi. We started hiking right away as our time was very limited. The last bus out was at 5:00 pm and we didn't start hiking till 10:30am. It's a long flat 11 km hike to the valley's entrance but we managed to do it in a speedy hour and a half. Along the way we were stopped by a troop of monkeys crossing the trail. Pretty cool sight. At first we only saw one as it crossed the trail however after standing around for a few minutes it was easy to see movement in the open forest where there was about 20 more. Bill got pretty close to one and it shook a bush and angrily showed it's teeth. Kind of scary. But after a few pictures we were on our way again. We saw one more monkey sitting on a bridge. I got a picture of the monkey and Bill took a picture of me taking a picture of the monkey. Saddly after seeing Bill's picture of me taking a picture I realized that I have the startings of a nice bald spot. Very very sad. I'm only 25 for crying out loud.At the valley's entrance we motored up the trail gaining elevation fast but we quickly realized that we were about 3 or 4 weeks late and all of the leaves in the upper valley had long since fallen. Looking at my watch I also noticed that we would have to turn around even earlier than our latest turn around time because we were really moving on the way in and would be a bit slower on the way out. So we turned around at 2:00. We hurried out and tried to catch the 4:30 bus. When the clock hit 4:25 we were only 10 km into the 11 km one way trip. So we started running. I had a really tough time of this as I was wearing my hiking boots and my backpack kept riding up. But we made it right at 4:30 but the bus had just left. Had to wait an extra 30 minutes. Oh well. At least we made it back. All in all our hike lasted about 6 hours and I think we covered close to 30 km. I havn't really been sore after my hikes lately but this one kicked me in the ass. And now I'm going bald:(

October 16, 2004

Friday the weather cleared and I got a glimpse of the first snow of the season dusting the north alps. With clear skies forcasted for the weekend I woke up really really early Saturday morning and got on my way. After a brief pitstop in the dark at a disgusting bathroom in Kamioka the sun came up and I found my way to the road I was going to take into the mountains. The road started out paved but very narrow, really curvy and with a sheer cliff on the side but the Legacy kept on going. Further on the paved road turned to loose gravel but still the legacy went on. Further and further up into the mountains. At one point a rock slide appeared on the road and the legacy had to be stopped. I got out looking at the rocks which where pretty big. At first I thought that I would have to turn around and find another way to the trailhead however I pushed a few of the "smaller" ones aside and made a narrow path through the rocks. Back in the car I got through the slide and was on my way. Going around a ridge I came to nice little farming area with a few cabins and barns. The houses all had beams supporting the overhanging rooves to help support the massive amounts of snow this area receives. By the end of winter this area probably has 3-4 metres of snow piled on the ground if not more. I finally made it to the pass where I was surprised to find a manned gate and paved roads. After an 1800 yen toll I entered Toyama and got my first view of 2926 metre Yakushi which I was on my way to climb. I had traversed over this mountain in August with Dan Neutel however the weather had been cloudy and we where too tired to really enjoy it. I took some pictures at the pass, turned up the music and floored it along the paved road leaving the horribly slow gravel road behind. The hike started pretty low at 1300 metres however it was easy to be distracted by the leaves which where already turning red. I quickly made it into the alpine surprisingly passing the first little patch of snow as low as 1500 metres. The first 500 metres of vertical was quite steep and I hurried up it however when I got to the flat ridge I pretty much crashed as the cold that I thought was on the way out came back with a vengance. A quick rest however and I was on my way although at a much slower pace. I reached the area where I would camp in a low pass and after setting up my tent crawled in for a little nap at 11:30 am. I couldn't sleep however as the sun's rays were intense reflecting off the snow. So I got ready to go and with a light pack set off up the trail. I still had 600 metres to go and not feeling to swell just took it easy. I finally made the summit and was amazed at the view. It was pretty much 360 degrees and very clear. Clouds where coming in off the Sea of Japan to the northwest filling the big valley of Toyama and to the east it was clear. Beautiful. I even spotted Fuji poking over a ridge near Yari. I didn't have anything to do back at the camp so after the summit shots I layed down in a spot out of the wind but fully in the sun and fell asleep on the summit. I probably slept for an hour before I heard the footsteps of about 20 people coming up in a tour. So I got my stuff together and headed down the mountain to camp. I made my dinner of rice, corn and trying something new SPAM which was to salty. I think I will stick to Tuna. As it was cold and I was bored I jumped into bed early and fell asleep only waking up a few times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. Being outside my sleeping bag was difficult as it was probably -5 but the stars where amazing and I wish I had brought my Bivisac instead of my tent. It would have been nice to watch to stars. It was cold enough that the tent froze on the inside and out. But I woke up after 12 hours of sleep when the sun came up around 6. As usual though I always place my tent in the spot furthest away from the morning sun. So I got out of my tent and sat in my sleeping bag watching the sun get closer and closer to the tent. I slowly got packed and finally got on my way around 8:30 getting back to the car a few hours later. A great trip.The way back I went a different way going over a pass far above Kamioka. After seeing where the pass went I had to really ponder why they would put a road out here. It pretty much dropped off on a really steep mountain. The road in was logical going up a valley but this was just crazy. I made my way down the switchbacks and ended up in an interesting little valley. There where thatched roof houses, a cattle and horse farm and nice beautiful fields. I got lost here though and made a wrong turn ending up at another high pass which would have taken me to Hirayu onsen. So I turned around and went back and after going to through a tunnel I cam out on an even steeper hill than the one before but I could see Kamioka far below. So on I went finally getting into Kamioka and the onsen at Nagareha.

Hiking – South Alps - Kitadake

October 10, 2004

On the heels of the 22nd Typhoon Bill and I headed to the southern alps to climb Kitadake which is Japan's second highest peak at 3192 metres.We left saturday night with plans of sleeping in my car and getting an early start sunday morning. The southern alps are quite different from my normal mountain area of the northern alps in that the southern alps are far less accessible. When we reached the southern alps area we were just behind the typhoon and there was a big electric sign stating that the road into the south alps was closed because of the rain. We went past the sign as there was no gate and drove up the valley. The driving wasn't to bad although at one point coming over a hill all of a sudden the road turned to loose gravel and the shoulder was in a state of extreme errosion. I slowed the car down getting a little worried and realized that the river had washed part of the road away. Scary. We must have made a wrong turn somewhere. Doing a u-turn in a station wagon is no easy feat however after 25 back and forths we were going the other way and away from the danger. We found our mistake and made our way up the road reaching a manned gate shortly after. They informed us the road was closed and they didn't know when it would open. So we found a flat spot and curled up in the back and fell asleep. The back of the car was spacious enough that we could both lay on our backs and our shoulders wouldn't be touching. Pretty much like in a tent. Up really early the next morning we drove back to the gate and were directed to a parking lot where other hikers where waiting. It was 6:30. We were told that at 10:30 a bus might be permitted to get to the trailhead. We later found out that private cars are not permitted into this area as the road is quite dangerous. An older Japanese fellow had come over to talk to us while we were waiting in the parking lot and he informed us many many times that the trail we were doing was very nice. He would always say "Nice course. Nice course. 6 hours. 6 hours." At what seemed to be the numerous rest areas along the road whenever we could escape the mans presence we would hear him telling other people our intended route and we would always hear "Nice course. Nice Course. 6 hours. 6 hours." He later told us he was going to hike with us. Not wanting to be rude we didn't say anything. Back to the road now. It was most certainly one of the scarier roads I have ever been on with a shear cliff rising above the road and a shear cliff dropping for hundreds of metres on the other side of the road. I remember saying outloud sarcastically that the driver didn't need to go any faster when he floored it on a straight part. But we safely made it to the trailhead at 11:30. The sun was out and we were in good spirits. We quickly got ready and started up the trail older Japanese fellow in tow. We had to cross a nice bridge which would have made a nice picture but I was leading and wanted to loose the older Japanese fellow so we bolted off with him behind us. A few minutes into the the hike he was falling behind and we heard him say "You can go on. I'm going to have a rest". We chuckled to eachother sarcastically thanking him for letting us go on ahead. We slowed down the pace now that we where ahead and alone. But we had to or we would have died. It was very very steep with little to no switchbacking. But at least we were able to gain the alpine faster. The clouds moved in later on and it started to drizzle but it wasn't bad and we didn't have to get jackets out. We made it to the hut and camping area in just over 3 hours and 30 minutes. Not bad for gaining 1500 metres with overnight bags. In fact pretty good. We found a nice campsite and unloaded our stuff. We had brought Bill's REI tent along as he hadn't used it yet and we were eager to get it set up to see how it looked. It started out easy enough however just as we attached the fly a super strong gust of wind came out of nowhere and picked up the tent and pretty much everything in our camp. We both grabbed the tent which was acting like a huge sail however we both saw that numerous other possesions where rolling and flying away. I told Bill I had a good grip on the tent and he went to find anything he could. After the gust died down I looked at the tent and realized that what I was seeing was not good at all. One of the poles was bent at a right angle. Bill came back holding my backpack and a few other things. My backpack had all my clothes, wallet, keys, cell phone and down sleeping bag inside. It probably weighed about 7 or 8 kg's. I was happy Bill had been able to find it however I realized that it was soaking wet. It had landed in the hut's sewage pool and was covered in a white cottage cheese looking substance. My sleeping bag was just damp however the backpack had been full of water and Bill had had to dump it out. Very gross. Luckily I had bagged all my clothes except for 1 shirt which was sopping. The water was not clean at all however I am pretty sure it was just waste water from cooking and the white cottage cheese substance was fat. It would not have been bathroom sewage water as they where all outhouses. But we got everything back from the steep hillside and finally set up our camp. We used some huge rocks to tie it down however the bent pole made the fly touch the main body of the tent. At least it wasn't raining. Every strong gust of wind we both watched in horror to see if the tent would fly away.We had an early dinner and got into bed right after. I don't even think it was 6. The rain started around midnight and was pretty heavy a few times. Mixed with the strong wind and early hour we went to bed we didn't get much sleep. After what seemed like the longest night ever the alarm went off at 6:00 am and I looked outside. It was kind of drizzling but I could see a few mountains so we sprang out of bed and packed up. We bolted to the summit under clearing skies although we were pelted for about 10 minutes with what I think was freezing rain. It was very painful as it would sometimes hit our faces. It was a nice winter feeling though. The wind even seemed to be coming from west and felt cold enough to have originated in Siberia. But the summit cleared when we got up there and we were happy to be standing on top of the 2nd highest peak in Japan. There were a few other people on the summit and we were all happy when Fuji started to slowly appear. At first we could only see a brief outline however after an hour the mountain was showing nearly it's entire self except for the top little bit. It was quite a site being this close to the mass of the highest peak in Japan which both Bill and I had stood atop just 2 weeks before. After about an hour on the summit we started down descending a different route to complete our little circit. The bag of prunes I had been consuming started to do there job a little to well and with no toilet paper around and being in the high alpine I had to drop my pants and use the carboard from a pringles container. It was either that or a piece of shale. What an experience.We made it down to the bottom of the mountain happily. What a good hike. With all the experiences it will be a climb to remember for sure.

Hiking – Gifu - Norikura

October 7, 2004

Last May Bill, Erik and I hiked up from Hirayu Ski Hill to the top of a 2400 metre peak. We were fortunate to have completed this route mostly on the snow. While on the summit we spotted a hut a short distance to the north and a nice ridge running to Norikura to the south.Wanting to get out and stretch my legs in October I set off with on a variation to this route. I would bus up the 2700 metre Norikura Skyline Pike and then traverse out to Hirayu Onsen. Sunday had originally looked like the day to go however Friday night the weather report stated that Saturday would be sunny turning to rain while Sunday would be rain. So I bailed on Angela for drinking at Red Hill and got into bed. Up at 6:00 I caught the 8:00am bus from Honoki Ski Hill and was hiking by 9:00am. On the drive up I was treated to some great views of the many summits and different vallies. I even spotted a nice natural lake which is an oddity in Japan. As fate would have it when I stepped off the bus the clouds rolled in. The tempurature was also very cold at 5 degrees with a good wind dropping that down quite a bit. All my clothes were on and I started to wonder why I was still hiking in my summer long sleeve shirt. As I have already been to the summit of Norikura I bailed on that and headed down the road to the start of my ridge. A little bushwacking and I was on the ridge which amazingly had a trail. Lucky as the bush in this country is so thick. The low alpine (2300-2800 metres) is covered in a really thick low coniferous shrub. It reaches heights of 2 metres in the lower elevations. The ridge was really cool. The leaves were turning making the view spectacular but what was really entertaining was the litte blue berries just on the side of the trail. They were just becoming rype and I gorged on them for a few minutes. This is quite amazing for me as I would be eating the same berries back home in Canada at the same time of the year.I made it to the 2400 metre summit at 11:00 but kept on trucking to the hut which I arrived at at 13:30. On maps it is shown as an emergecy hut however a club seems to run it and it is stocked with sleeping bags, fuel and cooking utensils. There were 5 people in the hut and they gave me a nice hot cup of coffee which was good as I was getting cold from the over grown trail, wind and fog. Using gestures, my basic Japanese and their basic english I learned that they had come up from the Nagano side. They were all amazed that I had come from Norikura and as I showed them the route I took on my map they all said it was very dangerous as the map shows no trail. They were even more confused by the exit route I would take joining up with Hirayu Ski Hill. Feels good to know more about these mountains that the locals. But after warming up I had to say goodbye and was off into the now lightly falling rain. Rain wasn't what got me wet though. The trail although cut like a tunnel through the coniferous shrubs was overgrown with thigh deep sasa soaking me within minutes. Back at the summit I took the obligatory summit shot and then headed down the ridge to the ski hill. The first part of the trail was quite obscure and I was beginning to think that the Japanese people were correct however within minutes it turned into a straight cut running along the top of the ridge. Great for going down but I wouldn't wish going up this trail on anybody. When we did this in May it was under 2-3 metres of snow covering all the sasa and small trees so we could go wherever we wanted. I was quickly down the mountain and waiting for the bus to take me back to Honoki ski hill and my warm car.A great day out in the mountains.

Hiking – Tateyama - Tsurugi

September 11, 2004

On my vacation hike in August with Dan we where shut out from climbing Tsurugi due to time constraints. That mountain laughed at us for the entire trip making things much more difficult than they should have been. Well that's what we told ourselves at least.So we planned a return to Tsurugi to get the monkey off our backs. We also invited Erik who is a first year in Gifu from Colorado. Both of them eventually cancelled and I was left alone for the trip. The weather didn't look good but I had to get out of town so I packed my tent, book and a tonne of food expecting to lay in my tent for the weekend waiting for the weather to clear.Friday I left Takeyama by myself and amazingly made it to the Tateyama train station with little difficulty. I really had no ideas of where I was going but knew the general direction. I had brought my futon along and slept in the back of my car. It was actually very comfy although I might have to build something to make it more level. But I was able to stretch. This will be a certain option for the winter ski season. Up at 5:00 I was the first person in line to buy tickets to the Murodo Plain. I was the 1st in line because of the reason that the ticket window did not open till 6:00 and the first train was not till 6:40. Silly Matt. Tateyama is an amazing place however the cost of getting here makes this trip far less frequent. This area is a National Park although from the built up areas and thousands of people you would think you are in Tokyo. For over 10,000 yen you can travel by train, trolly, bus, electric bus, gondola, and then bus again all the way through the North alps from Toyama in the west to Nagano in the east. The electric trolly is in a tunnel cut right through Tateyama. It's a really amazing although very sad site. The only good thing about this transport route is that it stops private vehicles from getting in limiting the access a bit.But anyways. When I got up there I quickly got ready and motored up the hill to the pass. I made it to my camp below Tsurugi in less than an hour and a half. After setting up camp and having a bite to eat I set off for tsurugidake. I took the lid off my pack and sinched it all up making a surprisingly good day bag. It was quite comfy. The route to the sub peak was nothing new as Dan and I had completed it 1 month before but after that it got really interesting. The final part to this climb is blocked by a vertical wall standing about 100 metres tall. There is both an up and down route to ease bottle necks and chains and foot pegs to help those along. I don't really trust the chains so climbed it all without touching them. It was by far the steepest and most exposed climbing I have ever done. I really loved it. The top was cloudy although I was happy to meet my Japanese friend Kijiro and his University friends. I had met Kijiro last year on the top of Yari and then hiked the dreaded Daikiretto with him and another gaijin. He told me he was going to be in the area before but I didn't think we would meet on the summit again. His group was from a University in Kyoto and it had taken them 5 hours to get to the top from the tent area. I had done it in 2. After a few pictures we all packed up and left. I went on ahead descending the tough part which was even more airy than the up part and lots of fun. I made it back to camp had my dinner and fell asleep laying on the rocks. A nice end to a great day. Kijiro's group came into camp nearly 6 hours after leaving the top. Very very very slow. A long day for them. While they were cooking dinner I went and talked to a Japanese girl I had met on the climb. She was from Nagoya and spoke pretty good english. It is really rare to see women in the mountains alone so I jumped at the chance to talk to her. While we were talking Kijiro came over with his Ukulele and Harmonica and played songs for us while the stars came out. I guess this is how it works seeing as I just started seeing a different girl in Takayama. But she went to bed shortly after and I joined Kijiro's group while they chatted after dinner. They quickly brought out the liquer which was Russian and 96 percent. Ouch. I tried a few sips straight. Far to strong. They were blowing fireballs with it. I could have run my stove off the stuff. But it was fun talking to them and I didn't get into bed till after 10.I decided to sleep in and managed to stay asleep till 6 when I got up. It was very cold and I had to wear all my clothes and have a nalgene full of hot tea to warm me up. I finally got going around 8:30 and was down the mountain and on the bus out arriving at my car around 12. A really good time in the mountains.

Hiking – North Alps Traverse – 6 Days

August 11, 2004

First of all I have to apologize for the length of this entry. When I started I never meant to write this much but it all just started pouring out and soon I was listing days and trip times and it became the long entry that follows. I hope you can make it through but if not don't fret. Probably doesn't mean anything to you if you havn't been here. Good Luck. Gambatte!!!!!!On August 11th Canadian Dan Neutel and I set out on a hike covering nearly 80 km from Tsurigidake in the north to Kamikochi in the south. The route traversed the north alps in a north south direction as that is the way they trend. We completed the route over 7 days taking in some very spectacualar scenery consisting of everything from big mountains, future ski lines, little flowers, beautiful women and the inside of our tent.Day 1 had us starting really early in my apartment followed by a 2 hour train ride and 3 hour bus ride to the high alpine area of Murodo at around 2500 metres near the Holy Mountain Tateyama. It is both Holy because it is said to represent Heaven and Holy because there is a tunnel running right through it. We quickly geared up and where on our way making a number of wrong turns but finally finding the correct trail amidst the hoards of tourists. It really was hoards. There was so many of them. Seeing our first obsticle we regretted having to carry everything which amounted to 20-24 kg each. But we quickly made it up to the ridge passing many people with tiny little day bags. Coming over the ridge we were faced with the impressive Tsurigidake. The most popular alpine climb in Japan. We had told a few Japanese climbers we were on our way to to climb this mountain only to be told "Impossible. You need at least a day to do this" It was 2:00 when we started out from camp but we had high hopes. We made really good time up the easy slopes only having to scramble up a few easy sections. Within an hour and a half we were on the summit. But wait this wasn't the summit. Just a sub peak. The summit was still way off with much harder scrambling. Talking to some gaijin they told us it would be another hour and a half to the top which would have put us there in daylight but would have been dangerous descending as it would get dark quick. We admitted defeat and returned to camp Tsurigidake laughing at us the entire way. Our nemisis for the entire trip.Day 2 we were up and optimistic putting our failure of the day behind us. We were on our way to the next camp at Goshikigahara far along the ridge. We made great time to Tateyama where an evil looking barb wire fence had been put up to stop cheap people like us from getting to the summit. They actually charge you 500 yen to go the last 5 or 6 metres. Screw that. That is a first for me for sure. And I really hope it is the last. NEAR the summit of Tateyama we could see Toyama Bay and the Sea of Japan to the North and then far off in the distance Mount Fuji towering over the Pacific Ocean to the South East. Although I love Japan and it is very beautiful this sight was difficult to take in as it really puts it in your face how small this country is. We could also see our entire route to the south with Yari just poking its sharp head over the mountains probably 40-50 km away as the crow flies. Wanting to get on with the trip Dan looked down to the hut below and said that we could easily be down there in 15 minutes. I was up for the challenge and quickly started jumping down the steep, loose and very crowded trail. It was like skiing down a really busy run at Whistler where you have to watch what people are doing to predict where to go. Lots of fun but saddly it took me 20 minutes. Of the hundreds of people I passed on their way up the trail almost all of them were daytrippers. There were many many cute Japanese girls hiking up. Even though it was only Day 2 I was already getting a stink up so settled for just looking at all the eye candy. Dan followed up 15 minutes later. Downhill wasn't his strong point for the trip. In fact uphill wan't either. His strongest ability was that he could on and on and on and on. Never tiring, never quitting. We ate lunch at the hut where we had a good time watching all the day tripping tourists and 1 or 2 actual backpackers. This would be the furthest extent for 99 percent of the people visiting the Murodo plain. It was quite a contrast leaving this area as we were pretty much alone after lunch only seeing a few people every once in a while. It had been funny hiking with Dan so far as he would always say hello or Konichiwa to everybody we saw which was hundreds and hundreds of people while all I would do was laugh under my breath at his foolishness. But now that we were out in the true wilderness I too started saying hello to the few people we actually saw. I find that it gets quite annoying saying hello to everyone you pass. A simple nod is all I need although even that is to much if your in a super busy area. But in Japan everybody insists on saying hello or goodmorning. But we were now on our way with our beautiful views quickly being obstructed by the clouds coming off the Japan sea. Can't have blue sky all the time. We made it our camp with the promise of an onsen however when we inquired about it we were quickly shot down and instructed to walk 10 minutes away from the hut to the campsite far down the hill. Can't have paying customers seeing mangy backpackers like us. We showed them by taking most of there clean drinking water. Hah take that!! Getting things ready in camp a girl under a huge backpack came trotting in. We watched her as we did our stuff and were amazed in that she was fully unpacked with camp set up and food made, eaten and then into bed in the time it took us to change our clothes and take our boots off. Very organized almost the point of militeristic. Was even funnier that she was up and away before we poked our heads out of the tent and we were up before the sunrise.Day 3 we were up really early as this going to be a very long day. The distance was only 14 km but the amount of elevation change made for a difficult time. Even though we were up really early we still didn't get away till 7 am. I was happy on this morning as I was sporting my other pair of underwear already changed after only 2 days in the other pair. As much as I tried though the smells of travel and sweat just got worse. Everyonce in a while throughout the trip the wind would change a bit and I would get a wiff of different parts of my body. Quite entertaining playing name that smell. We quickly made it up to the high point of the morning and saw our huge objective for the day way off in the distance. We had already climbed up to 2700 metres and would drop down to 2300 for lunch before having to climb back up to the 2926m summit of Yakushidake with camp being another 600m below and beyond. But we put our heads down and marched on. The true aspect of ridge walking showed its ugly side on day 3. Having to constantly go up and down drains your body like nothing else. But we finally reached the summit in the late afternoon only to be clouded over. Tsurigidake was at us again. Getting to the subsummit of this mass of mountain was fairly easy however the traverse all the way around the huge bowl was both mentally and physically exausting for me. I was beat. But we still had about an hour and a half of downhill to do consisting of loose scree and huge river boulder jumping down a trail that in the spring time would be a fast flowing river. Boulder walking is my favorite thing so my spirits did come up for a bit of the last descent. The camp at the bottom was finally reached however it was sadly very very busy with many tents. There is an easy entry/exit here of about 4 hours so many people come up to easily climb the peak we had just spent the day traversing. Including breaks we had been on the go for 11 hours. A really long day.Day 4 started with me ditching most of my snack ffod as I had far to much of it. I can only eat so many peanuts, banana flakes and raisins. Just as we were getting ready to go it started to drizzle but as we are real men we went without jackets for sometime. Getting to the high country though the wind picked up and jackets were dug out of our bags. I have always hated hiking in a jacket as I like to have something dry to put on after hiking but the wind and rain was just to much here. Descending into a beautiful alpine bowl the rain let up and as it was lunchtime we had our best meal yet. We got the stove out and had hot rice, canned corn and tuna. It was excellent. Like our snack food we had to many dinners so we started having nice rice dishes for lunch. There was a ptarmigan walking around just beyond where we were sitting and a nice english speaking older Japanese couple to talk to. The clouds lifted a bit and we were able to see big granite cliffs carved out by an ancient glacier long since melted. It looked very much like the coast mountains in British Columbia. Packing up we were at our camp in the very early afternoon with time enough to dry stuff out. This camp was pretty low so the wind wasn't so bad but I would just get settled outside relaxing with my book when it would start raining again. So I would move everything into the tent and lay in there for 5 minutes and then it would stop again. So out I would come only to be thrown back in 20 minutes later. The Japanese people in this camp were like all other Japanese people and vanished at 6:00 to there tents to get to bed. Dan and I dragged the night out a bit till 7:30 standing in the rain eating our dinner and trying to make as much noise as possible. It was only 7:30. When we got into the tent for the night the rain really started. It rained hard all night but we were lucky as we stayed warm and dry. I love my tent.Day 5 and we awoke to pouring rain. Back to sleep. Awake. Still raining. Back to sleep. Awake. Still raining. I had actually managed to keep sleeping till 7:30 when Dan feeling restless wanted to get going. We devised a plan in which Dan would get out and run the 500 metres to the hut with all his stuff and pack it there. I would get all my stuff packed while he was at the hut. Just as I was getting out of the tent the rain stopped and we quickly packed up. Nice. The clouds lifted a bit and we saw blue sky all along the horizon to the north where the weather comes from. Also with the clouds rising we were able to see that we were really close to Kasagatake. The trip was starting to come to a close as we were in our backyards now. But we were up and away and on the ridge to Yaritake. This was a new angle for me and was very nice as the ridge is mostly solid rock instead of the normal scree field that most climbers hike up. Stopping for lunch along the ridge Dan proceeded to put way to much fuel in the little cup on the stove and we had a 15 minute fireball. It was scary as we couldn't get it to go away. We both kind of hid behind a small berm thinking that it might explode and what a story it would make. But finally it stoppped and we had our great lunch again of rice, corn and tuna. So tasty. The base of Yari was quickly reached and we picked a great camp high on the ridge but behind a big rock wall out of the wind. The door of the tent was pointed in the direction of Fuji so we would have a great morning view. Wanting to bag Yari right away we geared up for the quick scramble to the summit. My last Yari summit was in September 2003 during a really vicious typhoon. So this was a real treat getting a good view. We could see Tateyama way to the north where we had started and Fuji to the south just about out of sight. It is pretty rare to see it in the afternoon so we were really lucky. Back at the hut Dan and I both enjoyed a draft beer which tasted so good. Very nice end to a great day.Day 6 started with a very cold morning being up so high and on a narrow ridge. We were very lucky though to have placed our tent behind a large rock wall as we were out of the wind all night. The huge tent above us however was not so lucky and kept me awake most of the night flapping away. Must have been horrible inside. I had been looking forward to this day for the entire trip because it would be a lot more than just hiking. After the first 2 hours of ridge walking we were upon the dreaded Daikiretto. We would have to drop 300 metres of cliff faces, scramble 500 metres across a really narrow ridge and then climb back up 300 metres through vertical walls arriving at the north Hotaka for lunch. This was lots of fun for both of us. Just something different. We made it through it all not having to pass to many people. We did have to stand around for 1 very slow Japanese hiker who was in way over his head. He was going very very slow and looked to be near death he was so pale. Even on the flat parts where you would have to try pretty hard to kill yourself he was crawling along not looking up at all. But we made it through the Daikiretto just fine had lunch and continued on to Nishi Hotaka. I splurged for lunch and had bought a great bowl of Ramen with real beef and a nice glass of water. I didn't want to be responsable if Dan lit the whole place on fire with his stove lighting skills. I find the 2nd part of this climb to be the most fun as it seems there is more scrambling and exposure in this section. It proved to be great fun and we even slowed down a bit to get a few pictures. Arriving at the Hotaka Hut at 3:00 Dan ran off to bag Nishi Hotaka. I didn't want to climb it as I have already completed it 3 times and my feet were really hurting with my toes looking like ground beef. Dan amazinly was back in 45 minutes. He ran the entire route and was super stoked to have seen the view from the summit. It is quite impressive. As this was our last full day we wanted to lesson the final day and planned on camping low down in the Karasawa valley 800 metres below. We set off and I quickly got ahead of Dan as I had had an hour to rest. Coming to a nice trail about a third of the way down I started to run. The trail was beautifully built through a boulder field with flat rocks for stairs. I was able to run the entire way to camp with my now very light pack probably only weighing 10 kg's. I fealt so great coming into camp that after dropping my bag in a camping spot I ran to the bar and bought myself a tall can of beer and finished it really quickly. Very good. I quickly realized however that my body isn't meant for running as my knees started to complain. Dan eventually made it into camp and we made dinner and got into bed. We didn't really put to much effort into setting up the camp and only used little rocks for tying the fly out. During the night the weather changed and wind started barreling down the mountain side hitting the side of our tent really hard. Heavy rain started shortly after. I had to get out of the tent two times to fix things although I wasn't sleeping much as it was very warm and my face and hands were a bit burnt from the previous days sun. It was a tough night for me and I barely slept.Day 7 we were up early to rain and really strong wind. The rain stopped for a few minutes though and we were able to pack up really quick and run for shelter under the hut's awnings. We didn't have the want to cook breakfast so just got going. We were both really happy to have camped low as we saved ourselves about 2 hours hiking and an even worse night had we stayed up high. The rain was really heavy for the walk out and we were both happy that we were not amongst the dozens and dozens of people we passed hikng in to start there vacation. The rain didn't stop for quite few dys after. We were out of the mountains by 10:00 and with a closing picture of the 2 of us on the Kapabashi bridge our trip was completed.So my thoughts on the trip. -I love a good workout and this didn't let me down. It was tough. 5 of the 7 days were more than 8 hours of hiking at a good pace with huge bags. I don't regret going at all though. I loved every moment of it. I was really worried at the start of the trip about my knees as the last multi day trip I did back in 1997 (6 Days on the West Coast Trail) my left knee locked up for the last few days. Other than a few aches and pains my joints and muscles fealt alright. I was surprised with my boots though. They have never given me blisters before but this time the tops of all my toes were scabbed up. Pretty sore when going down hill but it never stopped me from running on the 2nd last day.-Food - I don't like trail mix, musli or cheap salami. Bagels are my friend as are instant rice, tuna, corn, hardboiled eggs and expensive salami which Dan bought. I had a great time with Dan on the trip and couldn't have done it without him. Thanks Dan.

Hiking – Gifu - Yakedake

July 31, 2004

Not wanting to much excersise but still wanting to get outside I hit up Yakedake. I brought a newbie Jet along from Colorado named Angela who lives in Takayama. And as I now own a car I was able to drive to a hike. What a concept!!Last time I did Yakedake was in April and we had to drive through the Abo tunnel because there was to much snow. But now that it's August the snow is long gone and we were able to drive up and over the pass. The road goes into a huge bowl behind Hirayu Ski hill where I had trouble paying attention to the road as I was eyeing exit routes for future backcountry skiing trips. But we made it safely to the trailhead and started hiking. The trail was a welcome change from all the trails I have hiked in Japan as there was still soil on it and even in some places mud which was great fun to walk through. But we soon broke from the trees and entered the big bowl. It was amazing to see that there were huge boulders lying everywhere. It was a nice smooth run before. This is good as it means that the run is well anchored in the snow. We made it to the top and had great views down into Kamikochi and ShinHotaka. Looking into the bowl where we had skiied the chutes it was funny to see that all the lines were cliffs in the summer. We must be pros. Hahahahaha. We headed back down quickly as it was pretty windy on the top and had a good onsen at the bottom before heading back into the Yama-shi.

Hiking – Nagano - Ontake

July 18, 2004

With Erik and Matt are on their ways out of Gifu (Erik is going to Med school and Matt is going to language school in Tokyo) we wanted to get out on one more backpacking trip together. So after many emails all week trying to pick which day on the long weekend we finally settled on Sunday/Monday. We were going to hike Ontake from the Nagano side staying in the Emergency shelter near the top. We had picked the Nagano side as the trail is quite a bit shorter with only 800 metres gain compared to 1200 on the Gifu side. So after nearly 3 hours driving on very narrow, curvy country roads we finally arrived at the trail head. We were getting a late start and didn't get hiking till 3:00.This side of the mountain is interesting as the trail is very basic. It just goes straight up the mountain to the summit. Hiking from Ninogorio in Gifu you get to traverse the entire mountain so it is a little more aesthetic and far less crowded. By going up this way however you get to the summit quicker and you get to see monks hiking the trail in white robes. The weather was not cooperating and we had to put our jackets on near the top not because it was raining but because the wind was so strong and it was cold. This was the strongest wind I have ever experienced on a hike. Along the top rigde it would nearly push you over and you had to lean well into it. A few times it sucked all the air out of my lungs which is a wierd feeling. We safely made it to the hut however we bipassed the summit hoping to get better weather the next day. The hut was packed. This was totally not expected as it is very un-Japanese to camp illegally like this. But there were about 20 people in it. They moved all their stuff to make room for us however they left a nice damp area where they had been sitting. They warned us that they were going to get up early and then at precisly 6:30 went to bed. That seemed a bit to early. We were cold so hit the hot sake right away. It fealt so good in our bellies and warmed us up nicly. We finished our dinner and got ready for bead however we tried to make noise till about 9:00 before falling asleep as well. It was a rough night as it usually is when you go to be so early waking up every 15 minutes but eventually the morning came.When my alarm went off at 4:30 however nobody was awake. I sat up and then all of a sudden everyone in the hut was up and doing stuff. The old people beside us jumped out of their sleeping bags and were mostly packed in under 5 minutes. The breakfast they were eating was amazing. They were grilling whole fishes. Wouldn't be a Japanese breakfast unless you are eating fish heads. We had plain oatmeal which had the consistancy of glue and tasted even worse. I have to figure out how to make it taste better. Maybe brown sugar and a bit of salt. But we were on our way before the old people at 5:30. The summit was cloudy but super busy with a few monks lighting candles and saying prayors. But after the summit shots we were on our way down amidst the throngs of people from all walks of life hiking up. I guess I have been really lucky on my hikes this season as I have not yet experienced this many people since my hikes last summer.But we were soon at the bottom and cleaning up in an onsen before driving the 3 hours back to town where I returned my movies. Only a day late and they charged me nearly 20 dollars cdn. But that is the 3rd time I have climbed Ontake. Maybe it will be the last but most likely not as Matt and want to ski it next winter or spring. Would be a great ski and even better story.

Hiking – Kamikochi – Karasawa Valley

July 16, 2004

Happy Birthday to Me!!Happy Birthday to Me!!Happy Birthday to Matt!!Happy Birthday to Me!!25 years old today. I'm getting up there. Half way to 50. But really that is so far away. If I live the next 25 as much as I have lived this year then the next 25 are going to be truly epic.

July 3, 2004

The weather looked good for the weekend so I was determined to get a hike in before all the Good-bye and Welcome parties begin lasting into Mid August.I called the usual's however they were all busy except for Matt B. Matt isn't a big fan of hiking however after this hike his opinion changed. The original plan was to get up Yari again however on the hike in we thought we might change it and bag Hotaka via the Karasawa Valley. I had already done both Yari and Hotaka so I didn't really care. Matt had already climbed Yari so wanted to get Hotaka and this way we thought it would be a good idea to check out the Karasawa Valley for next spring ski touring. So we headed up the valley after 2 hours of nice mellow flat hiking. We had to gain 1500 metres with over night bags. We were both carrying the same weight however my bag was much smaller than Matt's. I had stuffed all my clothes and a tent into my little day bag which looked like it would burst at the 1st possible moment. We finally made it to the end of the Karasawa Valley and saw the headwall we would have to surmount still 800 metres above. There was lots of snow left here and there looked to be a few good ski lines. To bad the approach is so long. After a quick snack we started to hike up to the saddle. I left Matt about half way up just before it got it got scrambly and made it quickly to the top in just under 2 hours. I bought some beers at the ridiculously high hut price and put them on snow to keep them cool. They were so good with our dinner. Food always tastes better when your in the mountains. I have never ate so much spagetti. I put a block of cheese in with it and that most certainly didn't help the Dutch Oven effect later on. The sunset was amazing. It set over Kasagatake where I had climbed just a month before and was interesting to see the route I had hiked from a different angle and a new perspective. After the sunset we went into the hut where the widescreen TV was on. Are we in the mountains? A least we were able to find out the weather. We finished off Matt's flask of rancid whisky and that was the that. After experiencing Erik's flappy tent in the wind on Hakusan 2 weeks before I was determined to make sure my tent would not flap and keep me up all night. I strapped it down nice and tight. A tornado would not have flapped it at all. Up at 4:30 for the sunset I was amazed to see most of the hikers at the hut already packed up and starting to hike out. The sunrise was amazing. It was nice and cold out probably 5 degrees so I had all my clothes on but it quickly warmed up. We started hiking around 6ish and made the Hotaka Summit shortly after. What a view. From Japan's highest summit (3190) we could see so far. Even Fuji was poking out way off int he distance. It was probably 300-400 km away. What a sight. An even bigger sight was looking down into Kamikochi where we were going more than 1700 metres below. This was interesting as the last time I did this route it was cloudy. We delayed the descent as long as possible but soon started out. Last time I completed route I vowed never to descend it again. The first half is lots of fun involving a really steep descent using ladders and chains for help however the trail eventually just turns into a loose rubble pile for the last 2-3 hours. Near the top I rolled a large rock down the hill. As it picked up speed it hit a solid part and exploded sailing way into the air. It was pretty cool. Also made you think what would happen in you ever slipped. I spotted the only wildlife about half way down. Looking over a sheer cliff there was a nice snow couloir and near the bottom a Kamoshika. I love seeing those things. The snow line looked really nice. To bad it ended in a big cliff. It was about 2 ski lengths wide and would have made a great descent. We finally made it to the bus loop around 2:30. Matt was in a sorry state and for most of the last bit and was cursing everything. His opinion of hiking is now even worse than before however at the mention of a hike in 2 weeks he seemed to be interested. Just no more death marches.

Hiking – Gifu - Kasagatake

June 4, 2004

So my original plan was to go up to Tateyama to ski for the last day of the season. But my friends had better things to do so looking at my maps I saw a great peak that has been crying for a climb.Kasagatake at 2897 towers over the village of ShinHodaka. Everywhere I go in Hida I can see this mountain. School, Skiing, Driving...this mountain is always there. But the steepness of the mountain has held me back. Looking at the map however I saw an easy although very long aproach to its summit. Friday night June 5 - I arrived in ShinHodaka and started hiking. I made it an hour up the trail before it started to get dark and I found a camping spot. I got some water from the creek and set up my stove to boil it. But there was a problem. My pump wasn't doing its job of pumping. I couldn't get any pressure into the bottle. My stove was useless. So I just drank the water. Tasted fine and was clear. What I can't see can't hurt me. It was fine down low though as there was lots of water but what was I going to do up high on the ridge. Figure that out when I get there I guess.Looking at the map in my tent I saw a number of routes I could do for saturday. Option #1 - Hike to the end of the valley. Gain the ridge and then backtrack all the way to the other end of the ridge to the summit. Map time 10 hoursOption #2 - Hike to end of valley and stay at hut making sunday an epic death march of unequal preportions. Map time 4 hoursOption #3 - Backtrack down the trail and take the ultra steep trail directly to the summit. Map time - 6 hours.Option #4 - Gain the ridge and hike over to Yari - Map time 8 hoursOption #5 - GO HOMEAll of them involed considerable amounts of elevation gain (1600-1900m) except numer 5.Saturday June 6 - Morning I was up at 6:30 and after drinking 1.5 litres of water to really get my belly swishing I was on my way. A few minutes into the hike 2 minibikes past me exaust spilling out. Not what I signed up for. But I kept going and at the turnoff could see the mountain where I would gain the ridge. Not to far. So I started up the trail. Passing the only hiker I saw on the entrire trip I looked up and saw an amazing ski line decsending all the way to the road I had hiked up along the valley. Next year. Every creek I came to I drank half a litre of water and filled up my small water bottle. 4 hours from camp I made the ridge. Exausted already I contemplated camping right there. But it was only 12:00. I had 8 hours till the sun set. Looking along the ridge I saw a peak that was half way. So far away. But filling up my big water bottle with snow and finishing my little one I started going. Under normal circumstances I love ridge walking. This ridge was very evil though. Up and down. Up and down. Most of the time having to gain and lose up to 200 metres. Not very fun. On the way up each hill I would stop and rest every 100 metres or so. Getting to the halfway point of the ridge I came to a big snow filled bowl. The bowl emptied into the a steep last run of the day chute. The crux. Numerous thoughts entered my mind. Thinking of tumbling down the chute bouncing off the rocks, easily hiking up the snow, tumbling down the chute bouncing off the rocks and tumbling down the chute bouncing off the rocks. Taking my time I kicked steps up the snow slope finally gaining the ridge and proving to myself that I wasn't going to die. Getting to the top it was almost 2:00 and I could see finally see Kasagatake. What a huge mountain. But it was still so far away. Map time showed it at only 2 hours away though. The trail looked really easy. Not as much up and down as the previous section but so far away. So I set off. Each hump I came to I hoped the trail would just traverse across it but they all seemed to stay along the top of the ridge. Finally after 2 hours I could take no more. I had made it the base of the summit. The hut was only a short hike above me. But I collapsed on some grass and my body refused to move any further. I had been hiking nearly 9 hours. It was all I could do just to get my tent set up but finally I did and crawled in. The clouds had come in so I forced down 4 crumbled donuts and a bit of water and read The Great Gatsby. Good book. I woke up around 10:00 Pm and it was light out. The clouds had cleared and a near full moon had just come over the rocky Hotaka ridge to the east. Looking at the hut above me the windows were shining like there were lights on. Back to bed.Sunday June 7 - Up at 4:30 am I jumped out the tent for the sunrise. Yari and the rest of the Hotaka ridge were inbetween me and the sun and made a beautiful blind for the sunlight to come through. Half a sleeve of crackers later I started hiking and was on the summit of Kasagatake at 6:30. I had the entire mountain to myself. Very rare in Japan. I could see my route to the bottom with a map time of 6 hours. I quickly started and finally made it to the bottom at 10:30. Exausted. Sunday night I replenished my energy by eating an entire package of bacon with eggs and 2 tall beers.So my thoughts on the hike. Numerous times throughout saturday I wanted to sell all my gear and never go hiking again. I have never been this demoralised on a hike before. I was so exausted. I had been reduced to Japanese hiking times for the ridgline portion of the hike. Maybe even slower than Japanese hiking times. I was so exausted that my appetite was gone as well. From Saturday morning I only ate a grilled cheese sandwhich, sleeve of ritz crackers, 4 donuts and a salami sausage. Not very much food. I had much more in my backpack. Just couldn't take it down. The mountain and ridgline were amazing and would be a good 3 day trip. I was surprised to not meet anybody on the mountain for most of the trip as upon reaching the summit I realized that Kasagatake has the most beautiful view of all the mountains I have climbed in Japan. But the huge elevation gain turns many people away I am sure. But now as it's monday morning and even though my legs are very sore I am ready to start planning the next mountain trip. I am glad I finished the hike and even happier that I made it back in one piece.

Hiking – Gifu – Above Hirayu

April 30, 2004

Looking at 1 of my many maps I noticed a nice ridge running from the Hirayu Onsen Ski Hill towards the mass of Norikura. Wanting to check this area out for future winter trips I got most of the crew together for what I thought would be a hellish bushwack. Bill and Erik had signed on for it and we started out nice and early. It only took an hour to reach the top of the ski hill. We were all looking for loot. Bill found 100yen and I found a ski patrol radio. Maybe I can get a charger and listen to them next year while they are trying to catch us. We reached permanent snow just above the hill and kept on trucking along the ridge. The snow was great for walking and we made good time. We arrived at the 2500metre summit a quick 4 hours after starting. The views were amazing. Looking south to the main peaks of Norikura and behind that the huge stand alone Ontake. To the north was Yakedake with all the Hotakas and Yari. A glider flew over a few times dipping its wings for us. They are so quiet. You can just hear air going over the wings. After the obligitory summit shots we were on our way down pausing to let Bill try and kill himself on the really steep top snowfield. He bounced accross a few rocks and bushes laughing the whole way. On the way back I nabbed the Ski Patrol sign from the top hut. Will look nice in my gear room after I repaint it. All in all the trip took 7 hours. We headed back to my house and got some beers and all passed out after cackling to the Southpark Movie. Actually very funny.