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UPDATE
HAKKODA
by Simon Bernard |
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The spell of warm weather.....
On one hand, spring has reared it's ugly head.
But on the other, the snow has tightened up and
Hakkoda and all it's splendid expansive backcountry has opened up early. All
the steep chutes and long runs are waiting
to be relished!
Today, February 25th, was one of those dream
days. Slightly fogged and misty peaks in
the early morning gave way to sunshine and crystal views.
We started out walking about 3/4 of the way up
the northeast slope of Mt. Akakura (1550m) where last night's snow met the
wind blown steeps. From there we strapped
on (well... I stepped-in) and boarded out into fresh steep powder to a jealous audience of the Hakkoda Guide Club who were taking their
large group through the motions at the bottom of the valley. We
walked right by them up to the next mountain, Mt. Narasawa, while
they took another smoke break.
Simon kicking up on Mt.
Narasawa with the conquered steep run
of the northeast slope of Akakura right behind him!
From there we popped over the cornice into the
next bowl of virgin untracked sweet delicious powder. (Who needs more
adjectives and adverbs when you are doin' the dirty in the white stuff?)
Man I wish I could have gotten
just a little more air!
If I could just bottle this
and take it home with me!
It was so awesome that we decided we had to go
back up and do it again! Oh, by the
way, the customers of the guide club came through the valley just in time to
drool getting a second chance to cheer us on as they watched from afar!
We weren't sure we could snow shoe up
the steepness, but we gave it a go and just made it up without slipping too
much! (Japanese translation: giri-giri). The second time seemed even better than the
first, and after some high-fives it was onto the next mountain with no
name.
Looking back
from the mountain with no-name at our art work. The 4 fresh tracks we made on
the right and the zig-zagged ascent of the left!
Well, all good things must come to an end, but not
yet for us! We came flying through the trees for the last three kilometers of the run and although the temperature was rising, the shade of
the trees kept the boards slicing the snow like a hot knife through butter.
Then, all of a
sudden we came upon a serow (what the Japanese call kamoshika), a deer that
looks more like a mountain goat. It wasn't as happy to see us (as we
were it) and it took off down a valley - it knew that if we followed it, we
would end up walkin'out. Smart deer! We kept on course and ended up at the
Moto-Yuu, a mountain spring where locals come to fill up on the best-tasting water
in all of Japan. (I'll probably take some heat for that, everytime I say
"the
best... in Japan", somebody gets on my case).
After quenching our thirst, we drove back to the
Gondola to catch a bite before our next adventure! Ahhhh....
SPRING HAS SPRUNG IN HAKKODA
Went to Hakkoda today April 1st. It is in the transition between
winter and spring and the snow was pretty hard. The gondola was also not
running because of strong winds, so I ended up driving my tour to
Kasamatsu Toge 1040m, which just opened this morning and we climbed to the
Sennin mountain hut just under Mt. Odake 1584m. Even though it wasn't perfect
conditions it was better than just sitting around the hotel waiting for the
gondola to open! (It did finally open in the afternoon).
It should
snow tonight, so we are looking forward to some powder tomorrow. Looking at
the weather forecast, perfect spring snow should be right around the corner.
Last weekend was quite awesome. It snowed
on Friday night so Saturday we had powder and visibility except at
the top of the peaks. Still, we were able to go backcountry the
whole weekend.
Monday was the ultimate, as under blue skies we
climbed to the top of Mt. Odake 1584m and went off he steep east slope making
our way down the 7km-long Hokibaitai route stopping along the way
to have lunch in the middle of nowhere with a view of Mt. Takada Odake and
Hina dake.
Stopping for a Kodak moment
before heading off for
Mt. Odake 1584m (the mountain on the far right).
Today the Golden Line (the road between Sukayu
and Yachi Onsens that has been closed all winter) opened today. Got a first
hand view of the 7 meter walls of snow an each side meaning we
should be able to go boarding/skiing until the mid to end of May this year.
Simon
standing above the 7 meter walls on the Golden Line after
boarding down from the Sennin mountain hut.
