Tateyama - Adventure in the Alps Part 1 DISCUSS THIS FEATURE HERE

The first thing that goes through your mind when you arrive at the Tateyama Murodo terminal is where did all these people come from? The next and more pertinent question is, ‘Where are they all going?’

  
You would expect them all to be in the classic flannel wear that is the norm in the Japanese Alps or in Gore-Tex and carrying skis or boards, yet most of them are in street wear with ladies in heels - and of course they are all toting cameras and shooting a roll a minute of the walls of snow. Or if they can get a shot of the freaks in snow gear with big packs, who are the minority by 1 to 20 and not the other way around.... well that seems to make their trip all the more complete.
  

Tateyama has long been the goal of the devout Shinto pilgrims as it is believed to be one of three great holy mountains, alongside Fuji-san and Haku-san. Today, Tateyama is a pilgrimage of a different sort for the tens of thousands of people who visit the awe inspiring beauty of this high alpine realm every year. Most come to witness the amazing engineering phenomena of the Kurobe dam and the Tateyama Alpine Route that carries thousands of people in one day from Omachi City in Nagano to Tateyama Town in Toyama through mountains, across the gigantic Kurobe dam, up 35 degree tunnels by cable car to a ropeway that seemingly goes from nowhere to nowhere; to board another electric bus that carries the visitor deep into the heart of the Tateyama mountains; to emerge in the basement of a four story building that seems more like Tokyo station than the 2400 meter high mountain view point that one would expect before descending by bus to the Sea of Japan. Most of the sightseers do not venture more than a hundred meters from the Murodo Terminal which is a good thing for those who are there to explore the multiple peaks within hours of hiking from the terminal.

More than 15 meters of snow deposits in this alpine bowl and as proof, the road that is cut through from the Toyama side of the Alpine route up to the Murodo terminal has walls of 15-20 meters of snow on either side. The tourists are here to snap pictures of this marvel but we, and the minority of others, are here to ride on top of this snow that has so graciously blanketed these holy peaks.
  

  
We leave Murodo Terminal behind and ski, walk and slide on our boards towards our destination, Raicho Daira (Thunderbird Flats) camp area in a thick fog that does not allow us to take in the sheer scope of the huge alpine bowl that we are in. After a half hour walk with 20kg plus packs we arrive at the slope above our camp site to look down on the 30 or so tents below of others here to hike or ride these peaks shrouded in cloud.  We ride with our heavy loads to an area at the far side of the grouping of tents and start to dig in preparing for the strong winds. After setting camp and eating lunch around our beautifully crafted snow table we finally gear up for an hour hike up Tsurugi Gozen ridge for an afternoon ride to warm up in advance of our full day out tomorrow. The snow was soft yet not mush and was easy going for the hike and sweet spring butter on the ride down. What was an hour getting up was only five minutes coming down, but the smiles on our faces at the bottom were the reason we all came here.

Back at base camp we start to prepare a dinner of salmon pilaf and chili ebi (spicy shrimp) for dinner that goes down well with the red wine brought by Steve and the cheese and baguette prepared by our in-house French chef. After dinner a few of us decide that a trip to the Raicho Heute for a hot spring bath is in order, and so we treat our selves to a soak in the warm waters from Jigoku Dani (Hell Valley) before heading back to our tents for a much needed sleep.

We wake at 6:00am to blue bird skies and a dusting of fresh snow. It was a chilly start to the day but we soon warmed after some hot tea. We were slow around camp and did not depart until 8:30am.
  

Already there was a line of climbers heading up Raicho ridge towards Tsurugi valley, which had been my original destination for the day.  However, it was decided that we would be better to climb the less busy Masago ridge. We skinned and shoed towards the base of the ridge to be slowed by the firm crust that made traversing the 35-40 degree ridge virtually impossible, so I kicked in a staircase for a boot pack to the top 400 meters vertical above us. It was slow going as I had to kick 5 or 6 times against the firm slope to get a step large enough so the others would not slip to the valley below. Below we had company and the members of a couple of groups that followed caught up to us and passed us near the top. I was a bit tuffed that they did not even thank us for the great set of stairs we had etched in to the hard pack that allowed them to breeze up the ridge and reach the summit before us. However, there was no race for powder, and a nice steady pace placed us at the saddle between Masago peak and Fuji no Oshitete peak for a break. We decided that we would gain a tad more vertical on the North face of Fuji no Oshitate before descending into valley.

Moving out on the slope we found that because of the cool wind and slight shading from the towering peak above, the surface was much harder than expected. I took the video camera from Steve so I could shoot the crew from the valley below and gave him my digi-cam to take some footage of me. I had only made five or six turns on the firm, slightly dusted slope before something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.... it was Steve sliding on his back down the icy surface with no sign of slowing down any time soon. I tried to stop his ski from hitting him.  He spun himself around and dug in the edge of his remaining ski and came to an abrupt stop as Luarent came cruising down from above in shock and disbelief.

Steve, and the camera that was still clenched tight in his bare hands, was still in one piece and none the worse for wear other than being slightly shaken after the hundred meter slide. Apparently, as I had gone by he had followed me with the finder and lost his edge on the steep ice where it was hard to get a good edge in, and thus started the slide. Luckily, the slope was wide open and there were no rocks or cliffs in his path. Once the dust had settled we all had a relieved chuckle at the sight and made some sweet turns down to a lower crest on the slope to watch Sano and Tani come screaming down from above on their boards.

The turns once in the valley were heaven as the snow had just warmed up to perfect consistency. With big smiles on our faces we stopped at a bare ridge for lunch on the rocks, overlooking Kurobe Dam about 600m vertical below us before the trek back up to the saddle. 

The ride down Masago ridge and into the North valley was sheer bliss and everyone sped down their own unique line, Luarent finding a tight line to skiers right and Tani put his 176 Winter Stick Swallow Tail rocket board to work with huge arcing carves through the guts of the valley. Coming out the bottom of the valley we all headed back for camp and Steve with the fastest skis made it up the short slope to camp.  He finally stopped just on top of a deep crack in the snow pack, finishing off a great day with a burst of tentative laughter as he straddled it - indecisive on whether to go to the up or down side of it.