Trip Report
mizugaki, japan. trying the winter walls
Wednesday February 25, 2015 4:50pm
cross pollinated from iceclimbingjapan.com

Japan's not known for it's alpine walls - which is a good thing as it means all the +10 pitch granite across the middle of the country is quiet over winter. access is hard, beta is zero and things are cold, but it doesnt take long to see where Japanese climbers get their attitude from.

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Credit: pop.risk
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deep winter needs to be revelled in, not avoided. so when things get cold its time to hit the ‘winter only’ projects, and for a few years now that means mixed walls. mizugaki is the slightly esoteric sister to japans well known ogawa-yama rock area, all the routes are big, the granite spires high, relatively few routes done and much, much quieter. and whilst ogawa-yama sees climbing year round, mizugaki retains just minimal bouldering interest as the temps plummet to the -20s, the roads close and the snow gets deep.

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not giving much away: japanese topos are notoriously anaemic on beta. ...
not giving much away: japanese topos are notoriously anaemic on beta. we got on the route numbered 10
Credit: pop.risk
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records of winter ascents of the big routes are near non-existant. which makes it exactly what spikes iceclimbingjapan’s interest.

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the deep freeze: mid-winter conditions on the way out to Mt Mizugaki
the deep freeze: mid-winter conditions on the way out to Mt Mizugaki
Credit: pop.risk
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after succesful failure in china/tibet last year Dan was back for more suffering as part of the process for future trips* in the pipeline. cold walls requiring a lot of unknowns and a lot of motivation and character to overcome them are the nature of these trips and mizugaki never failed to deliver. with a good weather window, 4 days and a mountain of supplies it was time to put ideas into motion.

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from the start things were overwhelming: turning 4 days of winter wall...
from the start things were overwhelming: turning 4 days of winter wall gear into (barely) carryable loads.
Credit: pop.risk
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thats what 35kg looks like.
thats what 35kg looks like.
Credit: pop.risk
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the boulder chute: littered with randomly sized granite boulders and t...
the boulder chute: littered with randomly sized granite boulders and the excised darker parts of the psyche.
Credit: pop.risk
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the base of the wall: icy, cold and unstable. a good place to move upw...
the base of the wall: icy, cold and unstable. a good place to move upwards from
Credit: pop.risk
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cold walls are dry walls: smashing 3 days worth of ice to carry upward...
cold walls are dry walls: smashing 3 days worth of ice to carry upwards. mizugaki is so cold and dry that deer chewed at the ice for liquid
Credit: pop.risk
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a tough approach by headtorch got us to the well frozen base of the walls, carrying loads of 35kg each and pushing thru waist deep snow to the cave we knew so well from summer. a few hours sleep and more slog for a few hours and we finally got off the ground onto the first of up to 11 pitches over 400m height gain. pitch one usually goes at 5.11d mid-summer, but in mid-winter it became an A2 blend of bolts, nasty ring rivets and small gear that became sketch A3- onto a face of thin cracks, tiny pro and snow melt. as the sun went and the temps dropped, A3- became A3+ as the melt refroze that made for scary stuff. by midnight we’d hauled the gear, set up the ledge and melted ice to settle in for a frozen night on the wall.

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finally getting off the ground: the 5.11d first pitch aided easily and...
finally getting off the ground: the 5.11d first pitch aided easily and brought us up into the warm sun…
Credit: pop.risk
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…until day became night, everything refroze and the hard, cold work co...
…until day became night, everything refroze and the hard, cold work continued
Credit: pop.risk
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living on the ledge: by midnight wed hauled 70kg of gear up a bould...

living on the ledge: by midnight wed hauled 70kg of gear up a boulder chute, aided 2 pitches and hauled everything up to our first bivy
Credit: pop.risk
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getting above the trees was a crucial factor for being above the shade...
getting above the trees was a crucial factor for being above the shaded frozen base of the wall. up in the ledge the sun could reach us, and nothing beats a clear view across to peaks as the first espresso of the day gets milled.
Credit: pop.risk
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mornings up high are always memorable, especially in winter where i...

mornings up high are always memorable, especially in winter where it brings you into the sun. the view across to Kaikomagatake, Yatsugatake and the central alps
Credit: pop.risk
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with a full day on the face before us Dan geared up and set off on what the topo noted as a series of 5.7 and 5.9 cracks…..which no doubt in summer they are. several hours later after a few heartrate-raising falls, multiple hook moves in a row and a heroic battle across granite slicked by snow melt Dan pulled onto the first belay stance, a gradually melting patch of ice on an smooth slab of granite. the transition wasnt prolonged as he headed into a foot crack that outside of winter is a jaunt, but in winter requires lots of digging. the next stance was mostly free of snow but the sun was going fast so another quick transition lead out onto an exposed face and up a perfect hand crack on good gear, arriving just as things got dark.

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Dan heading off on a crash course about hooks, marginal gear and high-...
Dan heading off on a crash course about hooks, marginal gear and high-stepping: from V12 bouldering to winter walls via high altitude expedition climbing, Dan’s progression curve with climbing is impressive
Credit: pop.risk
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the belay stance above pitch 3: probably quite nice when the snows not...
the belay stance above pitch 3: probably quite nice when the snows not melting and sliding off
Credit: pop.risk
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Dan leading off onto the steep hand crack that for a change wasnt chok...
Dan leading off onto the steep hand crack that for a change wasnt choked with ice.
Credit: pop.risk
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a long rap back to the ledge got us in tired and trashed, realizing that our window was far too short for the route. inverting the summer grades, the short easy pitches were terrifying efforts across iced slab, whilst the hard stuff became long aid pitches on thin techy placements – neither of which went fast, only compounded by days still only short with most of that below freezing.

happy with what we had, knowing wed attempted something with almost zero beta it was time to go. the weather was crashing anyway as the next morning showed us, with gusting winds howling across the spires and faces – as it usually does out there. retreat was long and grinding, with Dan arriving zombie-like with a thousand yard star after grim exploits deep in a gully and getting by on a damaged knee from a fall the day before.

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retreat: exhausted but happy we were beaten by the clock and condition...
retreat: exhausted but happy we were beaten by the clock and conditions and started the long haul out
Credit: pop.risk
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aching and frazzled we resorted to dragging the haul bags thru the fla...
aching and frazzled we resorted to dragging the haul bags thru the flat sections….
Credit: pop.risk
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…or simply threw them down anything step enough
…or simply threw them down anything step enough
Credit: pop.risk
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before we had time to cool down was Dan was flying out, trashed but not succumbed, with a haul bag full of dirty gear, a damaged knee and plans already forming for the next chapter.

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turns out Dan had climbed, slept and walked out with a 30kg load thru ...
turns out Dan had climbed, slept and walked out with a 30kg load thru waist deep snow with a torn medial cruciate in his right knee
Credit: pop.risk
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  Trip Report Views: 2,138
pop.risk
About the Author
pop.risk lives in japan and climbs all over asia

Comments
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
  Feb 25, 2015 - 05:53pm PT
Cool and different. Thank you for it.
Chugach

Trad climber
Vermont
  Feb 25, 2015 - 06:01pm PT
Very cool.
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
  Feb 25, 2015 - 06:10pm PT
Glorious failure! Which is not failure at all.

This is what it's all about.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  Feb 25, 2015 - 08:04pm PT
thx for bringing in the good flavor of suffering from parts further afield!
Jan

Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
  Feb 25, 2015 - 08:15pm PT
Impressive for sure and hard to believe that you could spend three days out in Japan and not encounter other people. Way to go Gaijin!
johnboy

Trad climber
Can't get here from there
  Feb 25, 2015 - 08:26pm PT
Proud suffering there guys.

TFPU
kaholatingtong

Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
  Feb 25, 2015 - 08:30pm PT
" enn teee " ( nt ) = nice try. thanks for the share.
Brian

climber
California
  Feb 25, 2015 - 08:36pm PT
I'll bet the onsen felt good after that!
Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
  Feb 25, 2015 - 09:01pm PT
Terrific! Wonderful seeing another, untrampled part of the world that, frankly, I'd never heard of. Thanks for sharing.
Marlow

Sport climber
OSLO
  Feb 25, 2015 - 10:10pm PT

Cool, different and real. Great!
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
  Feb 25, 2015 - 10:22pm PT
A+ for thinking outside the box.
D for not going for a soak with the monkeys. ;-)
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Feb 25, 2015 - 10:29pm PT
Awesomeness has descended upon you!

Very very different. Two thumbs up!!
Roxy

Trad climber
CA Central Coast
  Feb 26, 2015 - 08:02am PT

that was an awesome TR man, something different.


I dig it!
this just in

climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
  Feb 26, 2015 - 08:22am PT
Thanks for the look at your world.
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Mar 1, 2015 - 02:54am PT
A full on adventure,
Thank you!
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
  Mar 3, 2015 - 01:19am PT
This was a Fun read thanx for posting
Going for it !! Not choked by beta.
less info, helps to maintain the adventures spirt
The quite way, just, Quest, Journey, Grow, Receive Enlightenment through doing!
On the spiritual path!!

Also that,
I was just looking at summer time! ridge enchainments in Japan. The best examples were, joe six pac trac videos, the kind that ends at the good stuff. So it was great to see hardcore climbers on it!!
It was just days ago on the flames thread, I'm looking at it for dreams but you never know!
alannamal

climber
B.C.
  Mar 3, 2015 - 06:24pm PT
Good one!
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
  Mar 3, 2015 - 06:29pm PT
Nice....way to hang in there!
OlympicMtnBoy

climber
Seattle
  Mar 3, 2015 - 07:17pm PT
Cool, thanks for posting!
briham89

Big Wall climber
santa cruz, ca
  Mar 3, 2015 - 08:45pm PT
Dang...suffer fest. TFPU!
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