Climbing Mt. Asakusa

This weekend I headed to Koriyama on Friday afternoon to spend some time with Tracy. I've been trying to use the afternoons off on Friday as best as I can, and it's good to be able to leave reasonably early to go to Koriyama as it takes over 3 hours to get there. We had a really nice relaxing evening and I made some awesome salmon pasta (if I do say so myself) Unfortunately I had to head off on Saturday afternoon as I wanted to get back to Tadami for the opening day climb of Mt. Asakusa.

Mt. Asakusa is the largest mountain in Tadami and it is right on the boarder of Nigata. It's only about a 10 minute drive from my apartment and I have been meaning to climb it since I got here so I figured the opening day of the season was as good a day as any.

I'm not quite sure how it works but in Japan most of the bigger mountains have official opening days. Sometimes it is because it is too dangerous to climb them before this date because of the snow, but often it is actually possible to climb before the opening date. Personally I think it is more of a cultural thing, as in Japan everyone seems to want to do things all together. So mountains have to have an official opening day so everyone can turn up at the same time to climb it. The opening was supposed to start at 6:00 am, I was told that it took about 3 1/2 hours to get to the top and about the same time to get down which was the reason for the early start time.

Rich (The ALT in Tateiwa) and I turned up a little late and it was nearly 7 by the time we started. When we got to the start there were lots of cars in the car park but very few people. We had obviously missed the opening ceremonies, but they would have probably been a bit dull so we weren't too worried. We were given a free glass of sake to start the climb and also a free commemorative badge. Upon seeing that I was climbing in shorts the lady also gave me some insect repellent which I was very grateful for. We started the climb at almost exactly 7 and it was very quiet and tranquil as we started.

Me and Rich at the start of Mt. Asakusa.

After about 5 mins the path turned into a stream and we had to walk up it for about 10 minutes.

After about 20 minutes Rich and I caught up with different groups of people. There were a lot of people on the mountain and we were overtaking a lot, but then most of them were a lot older than us. I was actually quite surprised, the majority were probably upwards of 60 and it wasn't a particularly easy climb. We were stopped by lots of people wanting to chat to the only gaijin (foreigners) on the climb. I was wearing my Tadami Ekiden t-shirt and there were lots of comments made about it. Many of the people climbing had come from a long way away as it is such a good climb.

About half way up the views started getting really impressive. We had to walk along a few ridges where you could see the lakes and rivers below. It was really humid and I was sweating like a beast, but when we hit the ridges and got above the tree line it was a lot cooler.

Me and Rich about half way up, near the ridges!

Me on one of the ridges

The view looking down!

Still plenty more to go to the top though!

Towards the top the path got very busy and it was quite narrow so it was difficult to pass people. To be honest my idea of hiking and climbing is to get away from the masses of people but that doesn't seem to be how they do it here.

When we reached the top section there were a few paths to take. We saw one path heading to the peak and another heading to some snow sheets. Even though it was June and at the bottom the temperature was about 25 degrees, at the top of this mountain there were still huge snow and ice sheets. Rich and I decided to head to these first before going to the summit.

To get to the ice sheet you had to go down a very short but steep little bank. I pretty much slid down on my arse and straight under the ice!

We then climbed up to take some posing photos, one of which you can see at the top of this post!

Me climbing the snow sheet.

Rich is really into Karate so was doing some poses on the ice - Not as good as mine though!

This was my "Cliff Hanger" impression! - Sly Stallone has nothing on me!

Me and Rich on the Snow sheet!

We then headed towards the summit. There were loads of people everywhere, far too many for my liking really. When we got to the top we were a little disappointed to find out it was only 1585 metres high. It had actually felt like further because the climb takes quite a long route, still it was a new highest peak for me!

Me and Rich at the summit!

Don't we look pleased!

It had taken about 3 hours to get to the top and we arrived just after 10 am. We spent about an hour and a half walking round the top, admiring the views, and taking lots of photos. We had a very small snack (As I had forgotten to bring anything and Rich and I had to share!) and then headed back down. I actually found going down a lot harder than going up. The path was quite slippery at times and my trainers didn't really have the best grip. There were lots of places where I was very pleased there was a rope to climb down with!

We got down just after 2pm and near the bottom we stopped at a little river to have a drink and wash our feet shoes. It had been a really enjoyable climb but I was pretty knackered and very hungry!

Me looking pleased at what we had just climbed!

Afterwards we headed straight to Urari for a well deserved onsen. It was lovely to completely soak away any aches! Then we headed to a little restaurant in Tadami. Lunch was never needed more!