Mt. Hotaka, one of the 100 Famous Mountains

Location:  Kawaba Village, Gunma

Starting and stopping point: Top of the ski lift at Kawaba Ski Area

Peaks bagged: Kengamine (剣ヶ峰) ~ Hotaka (武尊山) ~ Nakanodake (中ノ岳)

(First-time) peaks # 888, 889 + 890

Getting there/getting around:  I drove.  There are many bus tour/train options.  Check out the Kawaba Ski Area's information (in Japanese.)  Tour Information

Map: 山と高原地図16TANIGAWA-DAKE 谷川岳 苗場山・武尊山

Weather Information: Mt. Hotaka Weather  The Kawaba Ski area also has weather information about the suitability for climbing each day.  Unfortunately, they post this only on the Japanese side of their website.  Click on the bottom right of the screen to the right of "Kawaba Life" where you see "天気情報".

Total Time:  3:56 Break time: :36  Distance:  6.6 km

Elevation:  Lowest: 1,847 m Highest:  2,158 m Total Ascent: 670 m  Total Descent: 670 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  During the winter, you need spikes, and depending on the conditions, an ice axe or poles and maybe snow shoes.  I wore just crampons yesterday and was fine.  I did kind of wish I had an axe but not that often.

Facilities:  There is nothing on the trail.  The ski area, of course, has a lot of restaurants and shops.  The ski lift starts operating at 8:30 and the last chair down leaves at 3:30.  The ski area is open from December to April.  For hikers, the lift (in 2024) is ¥1,200 each way.

The lift opens at 8:30, but if you want to get on it right at that time, be a little early.  The ski area requires you to fill out and submit a paper hiking plan and to rent a Cocoheri, if you don't have one already.

What is Cocoheri you ask?  It's a portable safety beacon in case you get in a jam.  The name is a play on the words for "here" (coco) and "helicopter" (heri).  It's provided by a outdoors insurance company called JRO.  cocoheri link  When I was on the mountain and saw the potential for avalanches, I understood why the ski area demanded that you have a cocoheri with you.

I've carried JRO insurance for years.  Unfortunately, all of their paperwork is in Japanese.  Legalize is bad enough in English.  Seeing as it's Japanese legalize, I really hope I never have to put in a claim!     

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  I'm not usually a fan of using ski lifts or the like when hiking.  It feels like cheating and makes what I want to be a cheap hobby cost money.  Time available and weather conditions determined that the ski lift was the only possibility to knock this mountain off the list during this season.  

Enjoy the pictures.  Do check out the videos, too.

I'd love your feedback on what I'm doing.  I do this blog primarily for

myself so I can remember all these places I've been.  If I can make something

interesting for you, though, I'll be even more happy.

Look!

Two lifts to get to the trailhead.

Just off the lift!

That peak over there is called Kengamine, (Kenga Peak).  It is a little confusing because I took this picture from beside another peak of the same name.  There are so many Japanese mountains with the same name.

There is actually another mountain called Hotaka on the list of 100 Famous Mountains.  They usually call this one Joshu Hotaka as a way to distinguish it from its taller brother in Kamikochi.  "Joshu" refers to this area.

That is Mt. Hotaka

Looking west toward Niigata.

The top of Hokata

These cracks give one pause for thought.  If an avalanche started, hoo boy.

Have you ever contemplated the power of snow (ie, water) and gravity?  A cubic meter of water is a metric ton.  Can you imagine the volume of wet, heavy snow on the sides of these ridges?

The contours of the snow surface were also concerning in spots.  I'm told that when the snow surface is wrinkled, wavy or dimpled and when you can't guess the topography below the snow, the likelihood of avalanche is higher.

This filled the bill at the end of a beautiful day.  🤓

That's all for today.

Subscribe.  Tell your friends.  Watch my youtube channel.  All the cool kids are doing that--and you want to be a cool kid, don't you?

Caveman out.

Summer changed back into winter. No time for leaf-peeping in Nikko.

 

Hello cave crawlers.

This trek reminded me of the video above.  I had the chance for a fall overnight and scooted up to one of the most beautiful places in the world for fall foliage, Nikko.

I was a bit sad about my being too early for the fall colors.  They really haven't even started to change in Nikko yet.  

So I really didn't expect to experience winter.

My last overnight was to Japan's 2nd and 3rd highest mountains and I had been planning to do a few mountains of similar elevation on these few days off.  Logistically, it just couldn't make it work so I opted for the next nearest one of the 100 Famous Mountains; Mount Sukai on the border of Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture and Numata in Gunma.

I'd never even heard of the mountain before.  It was nice to go somewhere completely different.  Of course, I've been to Nikko before--I've even climbed there--but I've never been to this corner of it.  

Let's get to some pictures.  

I'll put this one first.  If any of you have been to my blog before, you probably already know that I'm mad about pictures of water.

My initial plan was to pitch a tent at a campground called Ginzandaira.  That is a municipally-run campground whose contact is through the Kokuminsokajikaso ("Kajikaso"), an onsen/lodge next door.  When I called to make a reservation and they heard my plan was to hike up to Sukaisan they told me a better plan would be to stay at an (un-manned) mountain hut they also run which is a few hours further up the trail.  That place is called the Koshinsanso.  Boy, I am grateful for their advice and for the existence of that place.  It costs ¥2,080/night and is a super-sturdy lodge with space for probably 20-30 people and futons you can use.  What a godsend.  Without this place, my initial plan really wasn't feasible.  These trails are not conducive to moving as quickly as I usually do so I would have been very hard-pressed to cover the distance I wanted to.  Also, since it rained on my first day, staying in a tent would have really made for a miserable time.  

To stay at the Koshinsanso, you first stop in at the Kokuminsokajikaso and pay.  Also, you must register a hiking plan with them.  

Info for all of the facilities is here https://kajikasou.info/

This is what the outside of the Kajikaso looks like.  

I took a taxi to this point from the station.  ¥3,000.  Ouch.  Because of the time of day after all the necessary changes of trains, a taxi was unavoidable.

The entrance to the mountain trail is right outside.  Do you know this handsome guy?

Day 1 was rainy, but it wasn't unpleasant.  There was a beautiful stream and some falls to look at.  

Bambi's family made a noisy appearance, too.

Did I mention I love pictures of water?  

A couple short hours up the trail and I reached the Koshinsanso.  

Home-sweet home

Not too shabby, eh?

I was up before three and out the door at 4.  

Even though it was a full moon, light wasn't reaching under the trees and the mountainpeaks.  It was pitch dark.  

I hit the first major mountaintop just after 5.  I'd hoped to catch a brilliant sunrise there but it wasn't meant to be.  The mountaintop was covered with trees.  The best I could get was a few glimpses of orange over my shoulder as I hiked along.

The early morning offered some nice views.  It wasn't akibare (crisp, clear fall weather), but it was nice.

That is Mount Nantai in the middle of the next picture.  If you have been to Nikko, you have probably seen this mountain.  It looms very large over the most touristy section of Chuzenji Lake.

After a few hours, I encountered this chain.  Yikes.

This is looking up the same chain.

Keen readers will note that you can't see the bottom from the top or the top from the bottom.  It's long.

It was an exciting few minutes getting down the chain.  I made a few notes to myself on the way down.  1.  My glasses fog up when I'm really huffing and puffing.  They needed to be removed.  2.  The palms of the ski gloves I was wearing have no grip at all.  They got changed out for my lighter work gloves.

To add fuel to the fire, just 100 meters or so in front of this obstacle is another similarly anxiety-inducing Rube Goldberg-series of chutes and ladders.  I could see it with the naked eye but the camera didn't pick up everything so I added a note or two to the picture.  I'm guessing it is about 50~75 meters from the bottom of the ladder to the top of the rope.

I got down the chain ok.  I got up the rope ok, too.  

This is what it looks like from the top of the rope.

Just then, everything changed.  I decided to call it quits for the day.  A minute or so after I took this picture, it REALLY started snowing.  I mean, Wonder Bread-level whiteness.   

I'm from New England.  I like snow.  I'm ok with being cold.  I don't mind physical exertion.--that's why I go to the mountains in the first place.  But I knew there were more chains and ladders ahead and I didn't want to try climbing a frozen chain or rope.  Not alone without climbing gear or at least a Sherpa to carry my carcass out in the event.  I like a challenge, but I don't want to become a statistic.

So, about 60 seconds after I completed my second obstacle, I was scurrying back down the rope.

When I got to the bottom, this happened. 

So, 10 seconds after I climbed down the rope I'd just climbed up 60 seconds before that, I was climbing up the rope again to restart my journey.

(In case any of you thinks I am an idiot and was unprepared, I'll have you know that I carry enough food and equipment to stay out overnight if need be.  I also carry rescue insurance and have apps on my phone to notify authorities in emergencies.  I also check 3 different mountain weather reports before leaving my door.  The problem is, the weather reports never seem to agree.  They certainly didn't this time.  One said it would be beautiful, one said partly sunny, and the last reported the apocalypse was coming.)

The rest of the way to the top was sometimes blustery and very windy.  Snow alternated with sun until about noon.  It was just below freezing all morning.  That was good.  The precipitation was nice, dry snow.  It could have been cold, wet rain.  Yuck.

I only mentioned one rope before.  There were lots and lots of other ropes, chains and ladders in this area.  I see why these mountains are graded 4/5 for muscular strength needed.

The last part of the journey was quite different than being up around the peaks.  Around noonish, I started to descend and got to see what couldn't be seen at 0 dark thirty.  On the one hand, it was a bit unnerving to realize how perilous a path I'd trodden.   On the other, it was cool because it was full of caves.  Big, big rocks and caves.  Very cool.

The next two pictures are different perspectives of the same thing.  It was really weird crouching down to squeeze through that in the dark.

A lot of the boulders are named.  I thought this one was interesting.

It's almost midnight now and I have to go to work tomorrow.  I would dearly love to keep blogging.  These are really fun things to relive but I need to get on with life.  I'll leave a pic of my route and leave it at that.  If you have any questions about this trip, or any questions about hiking in Japan in general, fire away.  Don't be afraid to ask.  It's intimidating for non-Japanese to start hiking and camping here and I'm happy to help pass on what I've learned.  

As Apu liked to say, "Thank you.  Come again."