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

Hiking: Kasagatake – 1 day circuit

15th July 2006

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

Hiking – Gifu - Kasagatake

4th November 2005

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

Hiking - Tateyama

15th October 2005

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

Hiking – Gifu - Norikura

16th October 2005

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

Hiking – Toyama – Tateyama Park Area – Yakushi Summit

23rd September 2005

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

Hiking – Gifu – Yari and area

20th August 2005

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

Hiking – South Alps Traverse – 5 Days

27th July 2005

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

Hiking – Tateyama – Tsurugi Summit and out to Japan Sea

16th July 2005

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

Hiking – Gifu – Norikura Traverse

2nd July 2005

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

Hiking – Nagano – Nagano side of Norikura

11th December 2004

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

Hiking – Gifu - Kasaga

13th November 2004

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

Hiking – Gifu – Kurobe-goro

6th November 2004

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

Hiking – Little Gifu Trips

30th October 2004

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

October 24, 2004

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

October 16, 2004

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

Hiking – South Alps - Kitadake

October 10, 2004

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

Hiking – Gifu - Norikura

October 7, 2004

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

Hiking – Tateyama - Tsurugi

September 11, 2004

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

Hiking – North Alps Traverse – 6 Days

August 11, 2004

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

Hiking – Gifu - Yakedake

July 31, 2004

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

Hiking – Nagano - Ontake

July 18, 2004

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

Hiking – Kamikochi – Karasawa Valley

July 16, 2004

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

July 3, 2004

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

Hiking – Gifu - Kasagatake

June 4, 2004

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

Hiking – Gifu – Above Hirayu

April 30, 2004

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