The cherry blossoms may be out, but that didn’t stop ole man winter from making an unexpected visit to the Kansai region. Another reconnaissance mission to a peak on my to-climb list for over half a decade. Full details coming soon….
Archive for March, 2009
Winter has returned!
Posted in Kansai hikes, tagged Kansai hikes, winter hikes on March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Aizu-komagatake – first guests
Posted in Tohoku hikes, tagged Fukushima hikes, hiking, Hyakumeizan, Japan, Mt. Aizu-komagatake on March 23, 2009 | 5 Comments »
With Golden Week just beginning, Kanako and I set out on a long train and bus journey from Osaka to the southwestern tip of Fukushima prefecture for my first post-op Hyakumeizan. Would the weather gods be kind to us, and more importantly, would the new ticker hold up?
We arrived at the trailhead a little before [...]
Mt. Kusatsu-shirane Chapter 1 – Botched Mission
Posted in Gunma hikes, tagged hiking, Hyakumeizan, Japan, Kusatsu-shirane, snowshoeing on March 19, 2009 | 2 Comments »
If there’s ever a maxim for hiking in Japan, then it must go something like this:
“The peaks with the easiest access are best visited out-of-season”
Hence, our latest challenge: a snowshoe stroll around an impressive volcanic caldera otherwise known as Kusatsu-shirane.
Fumito and I rolled into town just before dusk, checking into the cheap minshuku before having [...]
Mt. Tateshina Chapter 2 – Succulent Solitude
Posted in Nagano hikes, tagged hiking, Hyakumeizan, Japan, Mt. Tateshina, Nagano hikes on March 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’d climbed it before, but I couldn’t erase the image of the snow-capped 2500m volcanic mass from my daily thoughts. Fumito was keen on the idea, so one cold March morning we gave it a go: the northern face of Tateshina!
We pulled into the parking lot of Shirakaba-Kogen Kokusai Ski Resort on a stunningly beautiful [...]
Mizugaki-Kinpu-Kobushi Traverse – Day 2
Posted in Kanto hikes, tagged hiking, Hyakumeizan, Japan, Kanto hikes, Mt. Kobushi on March 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The night was long. Too long. Bitterly cold, I drifted in and out of consciousness, counting down the minutes until daybreak. Retreating to the hut to cook some breakfast, I pored over the map. Last night’s companions had already started the long slog to Mt. Kinpu, so I sat all alone, thinking about the big [...]
Mt. Ibuki Chapter 2 – The Search for Beauty
Posted in Kansai hikes, tagged hiking, Hyakumeizan, Japan, Kansai hikes, Mt. Ibuki on March 1, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Oscar Wilde once wrote that “no object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.” Could the opposite actually hold true for Mt. Ibuki, one of the ugliest, most overdeveloped peaks in Japan? cjw and I set out to test this hypothesis.
The rain fell in hard sheets on the [...]
