18 May 2009

Last week I skied 1000m or more off each of the 3 peaks above Hakuba in one day. The trio of peaks tend to be offered as an iconic image of the alpine town. It took 14 hours, however 30 minutes was wasted in the pitch black pre-dawn during very thick clouds when I couldn't see a thing and had to double back to remain on path.

In total I skied 3500m and climbed 4000m making it the biggest day I've had in the mountains. The route I took covered 40km of travel (climbing and skiing). I purposely chose to take the easiest routes on each peak with the focus being completion of a challenge/training exercise rather than severity of lines skied. During the course of the day I consumed 10 energy gels, 6 snickers bars and drank 2 liters of water. I went alone choosing not to take my dog as I thought such a big day would be unfair on him.

Hakuba 3 peaks in mid-May

I didn't take many pictures on the tour since my focus was not on photography, rather moving quickly.

After sunrise the valley clouds cleared and the day remained perfectly blue

I started at 3am from Sarukura, climbed 1600m to the top of Daisseke and traversed behind Shakushi to the summit of Hakuba Yari (2903m) in 5 hours.

23 April 2009

Whilst I was away on my recently reported 4-peak nirvana trip, Hakuba resident Matsumoto-san left a message on my phone asking if I would like to join him on his weeklong holiday to Hokkaido. Not long after I returned from camping we had loaded his van onto the 19 hour ferry ride bound for Hokkaido from Niigata City. Matsumoto-san works very hard as the local mountaineering shop owner (Rappies) and was in the mood for a very active vacation. It was a great trip.

Day 1:
Clear but windy and cold so good soft spring touring was not on offer. So we went surfing instead. I admit that I didn't end up entering the 6C water after being driven back into the car by blustery 6C winds. This is on the Pacific coast not far from Yotei San. After Matsumoto-san enjoyed a cold surf we camped off the side of the road near a nice lake.

Day 2:

10 April 2009

I just returned from a 5 day solo trip into Hakuba's deeper backcountry. It has superior touring terrain and snow quantity and was likely one of my most enjoyable tours outside of Europe. In fact, it reminded me of Europe.

I spent 5 days and 4 nights camped by a pretty and remote stream and didn't see another person for the entire time. The entire trip covered about 70km, a lot of which was skiing, the rest skinning. The itinerary targeted the following peaks, with my camp based in a central hub at 1300m:

- Hakuba Norikura (2450m) - northerly descent
- Yukikura Dake (2611m) - northerly descent
- Asahi Dake (2418m) - north easterly descent
- Gorin Zan (2253m) - easterly descent

Mini sized panoramic

Click here to view the full sized panorama taken from Hakuba Norikura. It's worth it.

The purpose of the trip was to gather detailed beta on this magic area. I was alone and so chose to ski everything more conservatively.

Here is the map of my new nirvana.

Day 1:

29 Jan 09

Eric and I went for a few days camping in the Sarukura area of Hakuba backcountry and enjoyed 6 great descents over two days. The terrain we were after included the northerly tree lines of Obinata Yama (1900m) and the ridge running from it towards Junction Peak at the foot of Shakushi Dake.

Our touring terrain is in the middle of this picture and includes the benched tree terrain on the left and the long concave slope running up to the right with various chutes from the long ridge. All terrain held great snow, although a bit thin, the powder was fast and fun. And stable. The weather was perfect. A great camping trip.

Choosing an entry was only hard because there were so many of them and only two of us. An overload of untracked choices.

Our main bowl and camp site far in the distance, out of a slide path.