Back number Vol.95 Mt.Tsurugi in fall

This story was written by Chiharu Hoshino in September 2017
             
                                                                                                    Translated by Yumiko Mori


The snowy weather finally announced the arrival of the winter in Hokkaido. And it's time to wear winter tires. The sole process of changing tires helps me to understand new season's arrival and this makes me excited about the possible adventures that come with winter.


Recently, I have been on a trip to Mt.Tsurugi 2999m. It is one of the mountains in the Tateyama mountain range that sits in Toyama Prefecture. This mountain is also considered to be one of the sacred mountains.Close to the station that locates at the outskirt of this mountain range, there is a facility of the national institute of mountaineering training.  Therefore, it can be called a center of Japanese Alpinism.



As a person living in Northern island in Japan (Hokkaido), I have made a plan of going for at least one scrambling trip to the mountains in the mainland of Japan every fall. The objective of this trip was the Left pinnacle ridge of Mt.Tsurugi. As the name states, it was a gorgeous scraggy pinnacle ridge.

Day 1.  Approach

Route:Leaving Murodou passing through Bessann Nokkoshi and going into Tsurugisawa

Even though it was in September and considered to be a summer season,  there were remaining snow and glacier.

 Ascending up along the Chyo-Jiro-Tani(Tani=Valley) leads you to Kuma no iwa which is a popular base camp in this area.

And here is a campsite of Kuma no iwa. Surrounded by glaciers and scraggy ridges reminds me of Applebee in Bugaboo (Canada).

Day2
We started in the early morning with a headlight.  Soon after the departure, the sunlight came into the valley.

Bumping into friendly people from my hometown and exchanges pleasant small conversation. This really gives me smile to think that this route is really worth a visit and how small and great the climbing community is.

With a great amount of exposure and altitude, this route definitely satisfies you.

The absolutely beautiful weather lasted throughout this trip, we were completely satisfied with the results.

Since we had a little extra time to spare, we decided to aim for the peak.


Lastly, let me insert a picture from my world trip as usual.

As I mentioned in the story, Kuma no iwa reminds me of Applebee so here it is.
This is such a gorgeous campsite that attracts climbers from all over the world. The best season would be July and August.


Thank you for reading.