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, 2006Backcountry 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.
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
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment