As for the deconstructed hut – it is now all wrapped in sheet steel and cables, two neat square piles of wood. When the workers arrive in spring to re-construct they usually have to dig down over 5m to find it again. And that is after considerable melt. In mid winter the depth of snow – including avalanche debris – on top of the hut foundations is about 20m.

Daisekkei itself is missing a good 100m from its snout this autumn due to the low snowfall last season and intense rain storms in summer. Unlike a glacier it can be replaced with just one good winter. It changes every year.

damian

Project Hyakumeizan:
Thanks for Fukada’s description. He climbed the peak before the hut was built at the fork in the river. I think in his time it was definitely more of a ’sawa-nobori’ than it is now. There are actually paint marks that you can follow now.

I’m pushing for a visit to Odai-ga-hara later on this month. It’s time to get revenge on that plateau.

I hope your health improves sufficiently to do this, and continue from Hakuba to the Sea of Japan. That long snaking red line on the map is mightily tempting.

“Next morning, we set off with straw sandals tied under the soles of our boots. We were wading to and fro across the river right from the start. As the river was the path, wading was now the only way forward. At first, we tried to keep ourselves dry, but as the chilly waters soaked first our knees, then our thighs, then pretty well everything, we resigned ourselves to our soggy fate.

We ate our lunch at the second fork of the Niikappu headwaters. The river plain ended here and a glorious succession of rapids and waterfalls and rocks awaited us. Balancing and scrambling over boulders, we made our way along the stony sides of the river, taking reluctantly to the water when we had to.”

Seems that he too had to suffer the chill waters ….