Japan 09 - Hiking Mt Yari and Mt Tanigawa (part 1)
hiking a couple of mountains in Japan was part of itinerary for the 2-week trip to Japan.
three 30-year old foolhardy men decided to make an assault on Mt Yari as their first activity in japan.
after landing in Narita, we took the train down to Matsumoto where we spent the night before setting off early to Kamikochi where the hike starts.
my lunch/snack supplies for the next 2-3 days. onigiris are good stuff. 7-11 in Singapore should sell them...
the first 10km or so of the hike was relatively flat. the views were great of course. we saw a guy on a mountain bike carrying snow skis.... it was a sign which we failed to register..
very soon we reached the first mountain lodge - Yarisawa lodge. we continued from there onwards. afterall... only 6km nia... and we could see Mt Yari. it's that triangular peak/shadow (in 3rd pic) between the trees.
very soon it was 5km. and we caught our signs of snow... we had to traverse over it....
however... it was a slow affair getting through the soft snow (cos it was late afternoon already) and without proper equipment.
we turned back to Yarisawa lodge to spend the night and get more info on the way ahead
the next morning... we started our second assault, complete with cheap crampons we got from the lodge...
and we saw where the damn river on the map was.... it was under the snow....
it was a steep climb up. but the views were rewarding and definitely worthwhile.
very soon we saw Mt Yari and mountain lodge we were aiming for (it's just to the left of it in the 2nd pic)
energised by the sight of the peak.. we went on. soon we were at the top. the paranomic views were simply magnificent!
spent the night at Yari-sanso (mountain lodge) before making our descent. we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise the next morning.
so anyways.. some of you would have known I slid down an icy slope and suffered lots of cuts and broken skin. luckily that was about it. there was a fellow hiker who passed us on the way down. he was in the proper gear of course and had no problems going down the slope. he was rather concerned with our state (and lack of proper crampons!). thanks to him, our descent was faster since we just had to follow the steps his shoes made in the icy slope.
pic to show how steep that damn slope was... this was the bottom of that slope. i fell much further up where there was just snow, no rocks and no trees.
we then sought first aid at the next mountain lodge (Yaridaira). and surprise surprise. the helpful hiker was there. found out that he was actually a staff there. wonder why he chose to get to his workplace the difficult - climbing up Mt Yari and down....zzzz... but anyways. so he (Ichikawa-san) helped with the dressing of the wounds etc. so he was my hero for that one day. haha
the rest of the trek was easier. passed by more interesting views. had to do a river crossing though...
Part 2 will be on Mt Tanigawa. more pics on facebook...
three 30-year old foolhardy men decided to make an assault on Mt Yari as their first activity in japan.
after landing in Narita, we took the train down to Matsumoto where we spent the night before setting off early to Kamikochi where the hike starts.
my lunch/snack supplies for the next 2-3 days. onigiris are good stuff. 7-11 in Singapore should sell them...
the first 10km or so of the hike was relatively flat. the views were great of course. we saw a guy on a mountain bike carrying snow skis.... it was a sign which we failed to register..
very soon we reached the first mountain lodge - Yarisawa lodge. we continued from there onwards. afterall... only 6km nia... and we could see Mt Yari. it's that triangular peak/shadow (in 3rd pic) between the trees.
very soon it was 5km. and we caught our signs of snow... we had to traverse over it....
however... it was a slow affair getting through the soft snow (cos it was late afternoon already) and without proper equipment.
we turned back to Yarisawa lodge to spend the night and get more info on the way ahead
the next morning... we started our second assault, complete with cheap crampons we got from the lodge...
and we saw where the damn river on the map was.... it was under the snow....
it was a steep climb up. but the views were rewarding and definitely worthwhile.
very soon we saw Mt Yari and mountain lodge we were aiming for (it's just to the left of it in the 2nd pic)
energised by the sight of the peak.. we went on. soon we were at the top. the paranomic views were simply magnificent!
spent the night at Yari-sanso (mountain lodge) before making our descent. we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise the next morning.
so anyways.. some of you would have known I slid down an icy slope and suffered lots of cuts and broken skin. luckily that was about it. there was a fellow hiker who passed us on the way down. he was in the proper gear of course and had no problems going down the slope. he was rather concerned with our state (and lack of proper crampons!). thanks to him, our descent was faster since we just had to follow the steps his shoes made in the icy slope.
pic to show how steep that damn slope was... this was the bottom of that slope. i fell much further up where there was just snow, no rocks and no trees.
we then sought first aid at the next mountain lodge (Yaridaira). and surprise surprise. the helpful hiker was there. found out that he was actually a staff there. wonder why he chose to get to his workplace the difficult - climbing up Mt Yari and down....zzzz... but anyways. so he (Ichikawa-san) helped with the dressing of the wounds etc. so he was my hero for that one day. haha
the rest of the trek was easier. passed by more interesting views. had to do a river crossing though...
Part 2 will be on Mt Tanigawa. more pics on facebook...