. . . about Jonendake
This is one of the 100 Famous Mountains listed by Yuyu Kukada. Jonendake is on the Panorama Ginza Trail that has spectacular views of the other mountains of the Kita Alps. Nearby is Mt. Chogatake, which is also on the Panorama Ginza. Both mountains are served by lodges during the green seasons. These mountains are fairly accessible year-round unlike the rest of the Kita Alps which are only accessible during non-snowy seasons without a *lot* of walking.
Area:
Jonendake, Alps, Azumino City, Nagano
Location:
Map: ***The Caveman is giving up on posting links to Yama to Kogen maps. They go out of date after a year or so and the links die. If you want a link to their latest map, comment and I'll get you a link to their latest map of the area.
Online printable topo map of Jonendake
Starting and stopping point:
Peaks bagged: 前常念岳(Maejonendake) ~ 常念岳(Jonendake) ~ 蝶槍(Choyari) ~ 蝶ヶ岳(Chogatake)
(First-time) peaks # 976~978
100 Famous Mountain # 46 Jonendake
Getting there/getting around:
I drove. The closest parking is at the 三股駐車場トイレ (Mimata Parking Lot Toilet), about 15 minutes walk from the trailhead. There are two other parking lots further away down the road if that one is full.
This is a real-time camera of the parking lot.
If you're coming by public transportation, the nearest train station is Toyoshina (豊科駅)Station on the Oito Line(大糸線). A taxi will take 40-50 minutes from there. You can also get there by taxi from Hotaka Station (穂高駅). The rate schedule is here. That taxi company does have an English page but the rate schedule is in Japanese.
The road from the Holiday Yu to the Mimata Parking Lot closes at the end of November. It is possible to hike to these mountains from the Holiday Yu but it is an additional 8 km. I don't think that would make a day trip feasible at tall. Taxis are available to the Holiday Yu by the same taxi company linked above. It's much cheaper to go only to the Holiday Yu.
Helpful Info
Weather Information:
Time and distance
Total Time: 11:00 Break time: 1:04 Distance: 16.5 km
Elevation: Lowest: 1,278 m Highest: 2,857 m Total Ascent: 2,086 m Total Descent: 2,086 m
Technical considerations/difficulty:
It's steep. There aren't too many ropes, chains or ladders but there are a lot of boulders and there are many places where you need both hands and feet to climb. Much of this hike is above the tree line so it's imperative to have protection from the wind.
It's not easy to make time so be prepared for a long day. I generally move faster than most people but I still averaged only about one mile per hour on this hike. It is tiring too, so I rested longer than usual.
The majority of people come to this area for a two-day trip and stay at one of the local lodges such as Jonen Goya Lodge or the Chogatake Lodge (蝶ヶ岳ヒュッテ) . If you want to do the whole Panorama Ginza (from Mt. Tsubakuro to Chogatake), it's a 3-4 day trip.
Facilities:
Toilets at all the parking lots. Bring water (not for the toilets, for drinking. 😉)
Thoughts/observations/recommendations:
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. It is true in this case. I was thwarted in my first attempt at Jonendake but I was able to get my revenge in the snow.
I am so glad I was able to bang this out on the last weekend the road was open. I was able to get some great views of the Alps and play a little in the snow before it gets too deep.
I had tried shooting for Jonendake a few months ago but turned back at Maejonen. I had camped at the Susado Campground the night before and it just poured all night long. I got a late start in the morning after cleaning up my wet camping gear. On the hike, the weather went bad again so I turned back. I realized from that experience that an early start was imperative for this hike. The funny thing is that this time I started from home and was on the trail 2-3 hours earlier than I was in the summer. Of course, that meant getting up at 3:30 am. 😔
This is about 6 minutes long. That's a lifetime in our ADHD world.
Here are some pictures.
So, in the middle of the night, I bent over to look at my foot as I slipped it into my pants leg to see this situation.
Don't tell Mrs. Caveman. She'd be scandalized if she knew I still decided to wear these pants for the day. In the dark, it didn't look this bad. Also, I was not anticipating seeing more than 5~10 people at most all day, anyway. And besides, I wear bullet-proof underwear.
Speaking of Mrs. Caveman, she really does have woman's intuition. She's been asking me for the past few weeks if a new pair of hiking pants wouldn't be a bad Christmas present.
I had been telling her that I was ok on the hiking pants front. On this particular morning, I starting thinking I should change my mind.
On top of the draft in the rear, I managed to rip a hole in the knee on the trail that day, too.
That settles it. I know what I need to ask Mrs. Claus for Christmas.
Enough about me. I'm sure you'd rather see some pictures of the mountains.
I was worried about the weather. The weather forecasts I'd looked at all conflicted. Even though it was a crisp, clear starry sky at home when I left, I encountered clouds and rain on the way. Thankfully the mountains had only gotten snow.
What a pleasant start to the day.
The first peak, Mt. Maejonen.
I think these are from Ptarmigan. (Thunderbirds)
Looking down on the Jonen Lodge
The top of Jonen
From Jonen to Chogatake, I was almost alone. There was another hiker close behind me (I hope he wasn't looking at my butt) but nobody had preceded me. It was nice to walk on fresh snow.
The ridge to Chogatake
Mt. Choyari
Choyari means butterfly-spear
🎵The hills are alive 🎶
The top of Chogatake
Campsite by the Chogatake Lodge.
This was 2 pm. It was 20 degrees f (about -5 degrees C). I imagine these people had a long, cold day and night ahead of them since all their hard work was already done for the day.
I finished about 5:30--after sunset. I got to use my headlamp.
That's all for today.
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If you want to see more of the Kita Alps, check out my hike around Kamikochi and Hotaka.💯💯💯
