16 March 08

After two previous unsuccessful attempts we have managed to ride the steep flutes leading to the long gully that runs beneath the north face of Tengu Yama behind Hakuba Goryu.  Corey and I went early to avoid the dangerous sun-weakened snow that comes with each day of this unusually hot spring.  High clouds and wind kept the face reasonably cold.  The large facets that caused previous problems were gone and in its place was a dense and solid base.  The top 10-20cm was very soft and heavy, which caused some problematic sluffing due to the density and weight of the moving snow.  This heavy top layer made fast fluid turns difficult and so too keeping ahead of the sluff on the main face 45-50 degrees with steeper roll-overs for about 150m vertical).  The long snow gully that followed ( average 30 degrees for 400m vertical) was full of avalanche debris, so too the feeder slopes on either side. Not perfect conditions, but good to add another uniquely featured face to the list of descents.  We have some distant video footage shot by Mio which I will edit later. We were home by 12 noon and enjoyed a bowl of pasta and beer with the window open and comfortable breeze blowing through the house.