TR: Kita Alps Traverse

20 May 2011

This week I joined Matsumoto-san (owner of the local mountain store, Rapies), Touji-san (grower of rice and maker of fine sake) and Harada-san (Hakuba telemark skier) for a 3 day ski trip that took us from the west side of the Kita Alps to the eastern edge.

A poor quality attempt to depict the traverse using Google Maps. This image covers an area about 30km wide

Summary:
One day hiking in 9km into the mountain range with some skiing in the afternoon. Next, two days of great skiing as we edged our way to the east on the traverse. The second of these two days ended in a mildly grueling exit from the mountains that lasted 6 hours and consisted of boot-pack down-climb of 900m vertical and a 17km hike in ski boots on a summer road to our car depo.

Skiing towards the Tododaira Hut

The Tododaira Hut on the ridge with Yakushidake to the right

The hut

Day 1 - Hike in and ski:
Meet at 3.30am and drop a car at Nakakura Dam near Omachi, drive 3 hours or so to the Hietsu Tunnel on the south west side of the mountain range, just south of Lake Arimine. Hike for 9km into the range, to the western edge of the Kurobe drainage. This was a long easy 1000m climb to Kitanomatadake. We skied a short descent into the drainage then climbed to Tarodaira Koya (mountain hut) and spent the night there. The huts are still shut for normal business, but many have emergency rooms open all winter.

The shrine on top of Yakushidake

The contents of the shrine

Yakushidake from across the Korobe Drainage

Day 2 - ski and traverse:
Climb 600m vertical to the top of Yakushidake, ski a line into the one of the classic east facing bowls from the summit, ascend to the ridge again and ski another perfect corn run to the west. This combo of runs gave about 700m vertical skiing from Yakushidake (2920m). We then returned to the hut to collect our heavy gear and by midday were on our way east to continue the traverse. Along the way we skied another good run into the Kurobe Goro drainage then put in a long rising traverse towards Kurobegorodake (2839m), finishing the day with a great run from there to the Kurobegoro hut.

Some of the terrain we skied in the Korobe Drainage

Another aspect of the Kurobe Drainage. The first night's hut is at the far end

Our second night accommodation: The Kurobegoro emergency hut. It is a fantastic little hut in a perfect location

The view of Kasadake from the hut

The east aspect of Kurobegorodake that we skied

Good views all day of Yarigatake, the highest peak in the Kita Alps

More terrain that we skied

Day 3 - ski, traverse, ski and exit:
Continue heading east to complete the traverse, with a big day ahead of us. We started by climbing 500m vertical to Mitsumatarengedake (2820m) and skiing a great 400m vertical run to the north, passing near to the Mitsumata Hut and into a secluded basin. This descent and climb allowed us to by-pass the steep slog up Washibadake, a pointless exercise. Next, another ascent of 500m vertical back up to the ridge line and on to to the Suisho Hut perched on the edge of a steep face that skis directly into the main Kurobe Dam drainage.

The top of the run towards the Kurobe Dam headwater

This run of 600m vertical was the best of the trip and set us up for another climb of another 500m vertical, still tending east to continue the traverse. We gained Masagodake at 2840m and skied direct east into a great bowl of corn, then down into a horrible narrow gully that I would never normally venture into.

Matsumoto-san toured in leather boots and three pin bindings to keep it light. It was challenging on some of the steeper terrain

He is doing ok

Me

The canyon of a river was well filled with old avalanche debris, making it possible to ski about 800m vertical and reach the only feasible ascent route out of the trap. Our final ascent for the trip took us out of the canyon up 300m vertical to the top of Yumatadake at 2378m at 4pm.

Our last descent from Masagodake

It was a slow climb at the end of 1800m climbing for that day. What followed was the long exit of the mountain range: descend on foot 900m vertical to the Takasegawa (river), which took 1.5 hours of painful down-stepping on a steep uneven summer trail with no snow. Then a quick rest and some food, focus the mind, and off on a 17km hike to our cars along a hiking trail and into the night on a closed summer road. We finished at 10pm.

A parting shot of Yarigatake

That me. Starting the very long hike out

Comments

Submitted by sunrise 2 on 23 May 2011 - 1:27pm.

Looks like you've had a great season, good for you!

Submitted by George Baptista on 23 May 2011 - 4:08pm.

Damian, long time no see. We've been interested in the Yakushidake/Kurobegoro/Mitsumatarenge region after some friends did a similar traverse last year. Anyway was great to read your report and see more photos of the terrain there. Good one!

Submitted by paedde on 23 May 2011 - 6:44pm.

Hi Damian
Nice "little" trip. Great report and pics.
Not sure if I will ever do anything like this :-)
Have fun
Patrick

Submitted by pinky on 23 May 2011 - 8:11pm.

nice one dude. must be fun to spend time with matsumoto-san in the mountains. obviously everyone has a great amount of respect for matsumoto-san. after a few 17km+ slogs myself recently i'm tempted to pick up some literature on backcountry raft construction.

just curious how you come out feeling at the end of the day after a big slog like this. it's clearly a departure from your old format of hike a big line / ski a big line / wrap it up. More or less rewarding?

and just to annoy you. Yari takes 2nd place in the Hida. :)

Submitted by Damian on 24 May 2011 - 9:23am.

Thank your for the comments.

Sunrise - Nice to hear from you again. I had a pretty good season, though spring this year was not as good as last year weather-wise.

George - I'd hoped you'd make it to Hakuba this spring. Next year? The Yakushidake/Kurobegoro/Mitsumatarenge region is a good touring sector, with some steep terrain on offer as well. Seeing as the local mountain range has no shortage of steep dangerous terrain, I kind of like spending time in areas where good old fashioned touring can be enjoyed.

Patrick - I'll see you next season and drag you out in a tent when spring comes.

Pinky - nice to hear from you. Did you enter the 110km race yesterday? Matsumoto-san signed up, but it is now full with the 500 entrant limit (or what ever it is). As for knowing mountain names and heights, I am actually pretty slack in that regard, forgetting names and altitudes of peaks I've been on in the local range here it doesn't surprise me that I got Yari wrong :)

Slogging a lot of km's at the end of the day (or the start, or both) isn't really part of that appealing multi-dimensional 'skills package' I just described, but it is good on the odd occasion from a stamina and fitness perspective, because damned if I'm going jogging to build fitness.

I am enjoying my departure from the "format of hike a big line / ski a big line / wrap it up", as you accurate described it. I enjoy a mixed diet of every type of mountain experience on snow, except perhaps the most extreme where a mistake could be deadly or the exposure is high. I have a limited tolerance for fear. When out comes to creative descents, I'm no a mountain artist. I just like to ski and seem to smile just as hard after miles of 25 degree cruising that no one would ever hang their ego or reputation on. And a lot of trophy skiing is, in the end, not that great when it comes to ski quality unless you do it when risk is elevated. And it can be inflexible as well. Wider area and longer more cruisey tours like this one with a lot of options along the way call upon other hard and soft skills that need more exercise: clever route finding, rolling selection of the best mode of transport, judgement of time and space, linking terrain features and routes in the most efficient and fun way, countouring, ongoing demands on group communication skills... and... navigation! - a backcountry skill mostly un-needed in Hakuba with it's ridge hikes that dominate this sector (which is why I like to try and get lost in the distant terrain 'behind Tsugaike' in bad visibility).

So long answer to your question: more rewarding at this stage in my game, and will likely remain so until I find ski mountaineer partner that lives here for everything from gentle glade skiing to summit driven ski mountaineering, and is way more skilled and experienced that I.

Submitted by pinky on 24 May 2011 - 12:02pm.

that's a nice wrap up. i think it's a totally different style that often gets lumped in the same category w/ ski mountaineering, where route selection and navigation are more important than the line. i guess these grand traverses are never gonna be much fun on a split but i'd love to do the Haute Route and/or the Spearhead traverse one day if i get the time, i guess that's why i was asking.

no i didn't race on Sunday. We skied Shakushi on Saturday and i haven't got my head out of that space yet. Need to check the race calendars and get involved now...

Submitted by Damian on 24 May 2011 - 12:31pm.

You could do that style of tour on a split so long as you took ski-crampons and accepted the extra weight of your board when you we were humping in boot crampons. The biggest challenge would be to traverse like a skier. Most snowboarders cry and say that they can't traverse, but they can do well if they bothered to try and drive their board like a tool rather than a toy. Mind you, very long contouring moves across features and around undulations would be tough, and so the trip would take longer.

Nothing wrong with one-hit big descents at all (except for the genuinely dangerous ones or the ones that require a high level of skiing, which I don't yet have). If I ski them I tend not to mention them these days. No one loves me, but if they did, it should be for the 'boring' stuff' ;)

For my personal tastes, I think the three factors at play are:

- that this part of Japan has so much one-hit big/exciting/creative line options that I tend to crave the touring/traverse option a little more, because that style is a bit restricted by the terrain here. So I get enjoyment from taking part in it.

- I put myself through a reality check some time ago and assessed my true level of alpinist skill and experience. I decided, rationally, that the adventures and risks I was taking on exceeded my skill and experience level (competency). So I want to build a better foundation. I enjoy that aspect.

- I have only been on skis for 2.5 seasons now, and I do just fine, better than many, but when it comes to a very challenging descent, I am not nearly as confident as I was on a snowboard, which made many hard things much easier.

Submitted by wes on 24 May 2011 - 7:04pm.

I was wondering if you were going to have another multi-day back country outing before the rainy season. Good work.

Wonderful photos and extremely lucky with the weather. I did the Sugoroku/Kurobegoro/Yakushi traverse in pissing rain and cloud, so I'm quite jealous. I had better luck doing the Shin-hotaka/Kurobe dam traverse through Kasa, Washiba, Kuro, Noguchigoro, and Eboshi, with good akibare weather.

Did you run into any other climbing parties or skiers up there?

Submitted by Arnaud on 27 May 2011 - 10:34am.

Superb trip Damian. Always discovering and pushing further. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading about your next adventure.

Submitted by Damian on 28 May 2011 - 10:56am.

Hi Wes, bad weather up there would be a let down - not much going on. Although somewhat unique in the Kita Alps is that the Kurobe drainage has some lower altitude valley routes and huts (for walkers). At time the endless ridge routes in the mountains here can get a bit one-dimensional, particularly in poor weather. Around Hakuba in particular the hiking can be really one-dimensional - all ridges, very few rolling itineraries of discovery. I'll go back to the drainage in summer with my wife. Regarding crowds - we didn't see anyone else up there at all.

Arnaud - thanks for the comments, but it was not all that adventurous. It was fun to drive to the other side of the alps and then tour back towards home. And certainly there were a few much shorter exits we could have taken, for example down to Hotaka. But we had plenty of time to drag it out and also to throw in several good skiing diversions along the way. We were definitely there for the fun (as exemplified by the amount of food and booze the Japanese guys bought with them. My camping system is very much a lighter more streamlined affair!). When I was out I hardy used my camera as I had no intention of writing a report for this trip. In the end I decided to as it is an interesting route that others may use, though I recommend against the final ski down into the dangerous and very limiting narrow canyon from Masagodake. That was a very 'Japanese skier' thing to do that most mountaineers would not entertain.

Submitted by Yannis on 30 May 2011 - 6:58am.

Nice one D!
Good to see you are still after it.
I would love to try something like that next season.

Submitted by Damian on 30 May 2011 - 2:52pm.

Hi Yannis, no reason why you can't, but I'd just stick to the greater Kurobe drainage area with your in and out route via the same place (from the west).

See you round some time.

damian

Submitted by danZ on 17 June 2011 - 12:29am.

amazing tour as always...glad to read it

and love your ski philosophy...refreshing to read!

tschüss :)

Submitted by Damian on 20 June 2011 - 7:13pm.

Danz, my old pal, I don't have a ski philosophy, I just abuse my keyboard and anyone lonely enough to read it :)

Hopefully see you in AT one day soon.