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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 27, 2008 - 11:06am PT
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I was fortunate to hit a good weather spell in Japanese Northern Alps. It resulted in three October days of excellent scrambling, hut hopping and fun mountaineering experience.
A couple of photos... let me know if you'd like me to post more or if you have any questions about the area.
Sunset from Yariga-take, one of the most popular and good looking peaks in Japanese Alps
Yariga-take (3,180m) and its namesake hut (sanso) from Obami-dake
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Oct 27, 2008 - 11:09am PT
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Those pix are sort of surreal. Nice Misha.
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nita
climber
chica from chico, I don't claim to be a daisy
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Oct 27, 2008 - 11:48am PT
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Wow.. wow.. wow.. Beautiful photos, do you have any more?
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 27, 2008 - 11:51am PT
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Wow..wow..wow...
MORE MORE MORE!!!!
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Oct 27, 2008 - 12:18pm PT
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Damn it quit teasing us with only two nice pictures. Post up some more.
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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2008 - 12:55pm PT
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A few more (work in progress). I will be posting additional shots here over a few days.
Dakesawa valley on a rainy day. We came down that way three days later after finishing Yariga-take to Hotaka-dake traverse
Japanese Snow Monkey on the approach. This is their alpha-male. He was hanging around next to us, making sure that we don't make any moves on his ladies.
Japan is famous among foreigners for its fall colors. Kamikochi and Northern Alps are famous for their fall colors among Japanese
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Dragger
Mountain climber
Bay Area, CA
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Oct 27, 2008 - 01:27pm PT
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Wow, that Snow Monkey is well endowed!
Oops, nevermind -- that's part of a branch. ;^)
Sooooo cool Misha! What an excellent trip you must have had. The hut-to-hut system is sure nice there. You are making me "natsukashi" -- nostalgic.
C
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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2008 - 03:30pm PT
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Hehehe, C. I know what you mean about that branch.
I tried calling you while feeding deer in Nara Park but I heard that you were pre-occupied hehehe
Anyway, a few more photos for your viewing pleasure
The summit block of Yariga-take (aka Half Dome of Japan) from its namesake hut. I counted 19 climbers in this photo. The standard route follows several attached chains and ladders. Without them, it would be 5.4-5.7 on slippery rock. With them, it is merely 3rd class
Sunrise from near the summit of Yariga-take. Looking over its namesake hut (where we spent the previous night) and our day's traverse to Hotaka-dake (3,190m) some 9km away. Supposedly, this hut can accommodate over 350 people. When we were there, it had about one hundred
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Oct 27, 2008 - 03:48pm PT
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Those red buildings highlight the exotic feel of the landscape.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Oct 27, 2008 - 04:46pm PT
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Beautiful. Keep them coming.
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GDavis
Trad climber
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Oct 27, 2008 - 06:16pm PT
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Freaking unreal.... wow..... wow! What an awesome place.
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Bazo
Boulder climber
Ky
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Oct 27, 2008 - 06:49pm PT
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Damn...brings back memories..
Japan's mountains are pretty much only good for peak bagging....But what great peak bagging..
Great photos..
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perswig
climber
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Oct 27, 2008 - 06:49pm PT
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"chains and ladders"
Do you mean like via ferrata routes - harnesses etc? Or just aids for scrambling?
Beautiful pics, though. Thanks for sharing.
Dale
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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2008 - 07:37pm PT
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>"hut" ??? more like "estate" :-)
Yeah you can say that. Yarigatake-sanso can fit 350 people relatively comfortably, which will include private rooms, not so private rooms and a few general areas with bunk beds. They serve yummy dinner, breakfast and can provide a bento-box lunch. All inclusive, ~$90 per person per night. Not cheap for most but it gives you an option if you want to go light/fast and leave your sleeping bag behind. They have a library, a TV/DVD with climbing movie screenings, etc. We stayed in another hut (Hotakadake-sanso) the next day which was even better but a bit cheaper since it is not as popular.
>Japan's mountains are pretty much only good for peak bagging....But what great peak bagging..
There is also a great deal of winter mountaineering when easier scrambling routes get a lot harder with some verglas or snow coating on them. There is SOME rock/alpine climbing. I will try a technical route or two next time. I am not sure if I love that rock though... it is generally solid but a lot more slippery than even Yosemite granite. I had troubles with "sticking it" in my La Sportiva Exum Ridges. What seemed obvious for friction, wasn't.
>Do you mean like via ferrata routes - harnesses etc? Or just aids for scrambling?
Aids for scrambling. I went down a few steep walls hanging onto the chain instead of downclimbing or rappeling. It is a rather odd experience. From what I understand, chains and ladders are missing from less popular / more technical routes which make them more worthwhile climbing objectives. With popular routes, they install gear to keep difficulties to 3rd-4th class.
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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2008 - 10:39pm PT
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A few more for your viewing pleasure. I will post several more tomorrow...
Early into our Yariga-take to Hotaka-dake traverse. Enjoy a rather typical Japanese climbing graffiti
Fall colors in Japanese Alps
How about this lunch break? We scrambled over a 1000’ of Class 3-4 to pull onto the summit of Kitahotaka-dake to this view. There were cute hostesses serving yummy ramen, and of course an ever-present vending machine with soft drinks and beer. I could not resist and had a bowl of ramen too before we continued into the crux of our day’s climb. Elevation is slightly above 3,100m above sea level
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 27, 2008 - 11:15pm PT
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What great pictures!
I'll keep looking at them if you keep posting them.
Thanks for taking me off the continent.
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Dragger
Mountain climber
Bay Area, CA
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Oct 28, 2008 - 10:59am PT
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"I tried calling you while feeding deer in Nara Park but I heard that you were pre-occupied hehehe"
I have no idea what you are talking about. ;^)
Did you find many elderly Japanese climbing along side of you? I found that a lot when I lived there. Generally, it was an elderly Japanese man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth that would go speeding by me. 8^0
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boognish
Trad climber
SF
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Oct 28, 2008 - 12:11pm PT
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I ended a week back pack trip on Yarigatake '95. I rained most of the trip, and as a broke college kid those huts looked even nicer than in your pictures. A few took pity on me a let me stay inside out of either kindness or surprise as a young wet blond Japanese speaking kid rambled out of the fog and rain alone.
Thanks for the pictures and bringing back memories.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Oct 28, 2008 - 12:13pm PT
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Really great shots! wow!
thank you for posting up, looking forward to more....
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Misha
Trad climber
Woodside, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 28, 2008 - 12:47pm PT
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>Did you find many elderly Japanese climbing along side of you? I found that a lot when I lived there. Generally, it was an elderly Japanese man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth that would go speeding by me. 8^0
Oh yeah. I was blown away by how many people over 60 were on the trail and then scrambling up 3rd-4th class. Smoke breaks a top summits is something I haven't seen yet either :)
I have to say that most of the Japanese climbers/hikers are rather slow. We were far from being in our best shape and we kept passing people on the trail. Perhaps, it has something to do with us wearing trailrunners and light packs as opposed to standard Japanese climbing ammunition of heavy (winter!) boots and packs that weight at least 30-40lb. I could not figure out why everybody is wearing big winter boots when there is no snow in sight.
As we topped on Karasawa-dake, right before our second night stop in Hotakadake-sanso, we witnessed a Brocken Spectre. This is the 2nd time I encounter this awesome optical effect. A few more photos of this soon:
Somebody asked about the chains. Here is an example where it protected some of the more fun sections of the ridge... probably 4th-easy 5th traverse without chains.
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