Mostly Japanese Mountains: Diamonds are a girl's--and a hiker's best friends. The sunrise behind Asama

Greetings cave kids and critters. It's one in the afternoon and my eyes are drooping as if it were one in the morning. I forewent some sleep last night in order to get up and go to see the diamond effect of the sun rising behind our local volcano, Mt. Asama.

As is often the case, before embarking on one of these adventures, I was wondering if it was a good idea. The weather forecast wasn't perfect. It was super hot last night and I couldn't sleep.

As is also often the case after one of these adventures, I AM SO GLAD I DID IT! The weather was perfect! We caught the diamond effect really nicely. We had great views of Mt. Fuji, Yatsugatake, the Northern Alps, Mt. Azuma, etc. The temperature was comfortable. What a great morning hike this turned out to be.

Let me give you the stats and then show you some pictures.

Location:

Gunma and Nagano

Starting and stopping point:

Takamine Kogen Visitor Center

Peaks bagged:

Toumino Kashira(トーミの頭) ~~ Kurofu (黒斑) ~~ Jakotsu (蛇骨) ~~ Sennin Dake (仙人岳)　~~ Nokogiri Dake (鋸岳) ~~ Yarisaya (槍が鞘) ~~ Kurumazaka (車坂山)

(First-time climbed) peaks #

xxx (none)

Getting there/getting around:

Free parking behind the visitor's center. There is a JR bus to the Takamine Hotel bus stop in front of the trailhead. It's 45 minutes to there from Komoro Station or 55 minutes from Sakudaira.

Map:

Yama to Kogen Chizu 19 浅間山軽井沢・長野原の山々ASAMA-YAMA KARUIZAWA-NAGANOHARA-MOUNTAINS

Weather Information:

Asama Weather

Time

Total Time: 6:23 Break time: 2:05

Distance:

9.9km

Elevation

Lowest: 1,970 m Highest: 2,404 m Total Ascent: 768 m Total Descent: 768 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:

A bit steep at times but there are no chains or ladders, just a few ropes for guidance. The ridgeline from Yarisaya and Nokogiri is not a place I would want to fall.

Facilities:

The visitor's center is well-appointed. The Takamine Hotel has a commanding view of the plains below. There is an emergency hut near Mt. Kurumazaka in case the volcano erupts.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:

What a great area this is. My recommendation? Go and hike there!

I found out about the diamond effect on Mt. Asama by coming across a flyer for a tour a few months ago. Armed with the date, time and location for viewing this sunrise, I took my friend Michael to see it on our own. In order to not get mixed in with the crowd, we started hiking earlier than the tour group. We got to the viewing point much earlier than they did. It was worth the wait, though. It was a great hike!

Today's listening:

My friend Michael talking.

The recon hike is here

Another one around Asama is here

We got to the viewing spot at about 4. Sunrise was 5:12.

Saku and Yatsugatake in the middle of the night

Mt. Azumaya, one of the 100 Famous Mountains. I got rained on a lot there earlier this month.

Near here, it started to smell like sulfur. We encountered a sign warning that we were about 2 km from the volcano and that we shouldn't stick around long.