mattlucas 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Start elevation - 1500 metres Highest point skied off - 3190 metres End elevation - 1200 metres Distance hiked/skied - 25-30km Well not really 4 days Day 1 was 6-7 hours of hiking/skinning into camp Day 2 - Dan and Toque skied off OkuHotaka direct route and FT skied a cool line off Karasawa dake Day 3 - All 3 of us skied a steep line between Mae Hotaka peak 1 and 2 Day 4 - Death hike and then scary ski decent to ShinHotaka making nearly 1900 metres of skiable decent Great time, great company and great skiing Amazing weather We bailed 1 day early because the weather was going to turn on Sunday which it did. I don't have many ski shots. Mostly just scenic stuff. But I'll add more later when I get Dan's pictures. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Looking forward to it. Post lots of pics! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Quote: Death hike and then scary ski decent to ShinHotaka Sounds pretty good, well as long as the Death Hike didn't live up to its name. Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Author Share Posted May 8, 2006 Day 1 Kamikochi and the start of the march into camp. I didn't let FT and Dan have too many breaks as we had a long way to go and not much time. It ended up taking us 6 hours to reach camp at the end of the Karasawa Valley at around 2200 or 2300 metres OkuHotaka is behind the bridge Day 2 Dan making his way up the final few steep steps to the summit of OkuHotaka. 3rd highest in Japan at 3190metres. Our run below is almost directly off the summit. We had to bypass the top few metres because they were too icy but skied from about 20 metres below the summit. Amazing run that I've wanted for a long time. Day 3 Left to right is Peak 4, Peak 3, Peak 2, Peak 1 (MaeHotaka) We skied the couloir coming down between Peak 1 and 2. Good and steep with an icy climb up. Waited in the windy col for around an hour for it to soften up and had an amazing ski right back to camp. Dan getting close to the top Just a few metres below the saddle. Left to Right behind is Karasawadake, KitaHotaka and Yari. FT skiing it like it's the bunny hill Day 4 After a great 2-3 hour climb from camp with all our gear we were at the top of our ski down to ShinHotaka. We started at 3000 metres and skied out to 1200 metres. It was a fun and at times thrilling ski. Interesting with heavy bags and a little route finding thrown in to make it interesting. We started around 7 and got to the bus station at 3:30. An epic of a day. FT probably remembers it a bit different. Our run behind and skiing out on the avy debris from the massive avy that came down some time ago. Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 nice one. Karasawa is definitely the place I most want to visit next. did you see much debris from the 4/27 snow? I guess most of the new stuff had slid by the time you were up there. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by Toque: . FT probably remembers it a bit different. do tell bandana boy! what did FT do? Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Author Share Posted May 8, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by montoya: nice one. Karasawa is definitely the place I most want to visit next. did you see much debris from the 4/27 snow? I guess most of the new stuff had slid by the time you were up there. The night that we got in there a large cornice dropped just next to the summit of OkuHotaka. It triggered an equally large wet slide that came almost within spitting distance of the camp. It stopped about 200-300 metres above on the flats. We were a little scared watching it flow towards us and I was trying to find my beacon in the tent while keeping my eyes on the slide. FT wore his beacon that night. Other than that there was just a little debris here and there. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Damn! Sounds scary Beanie! Looks like a sweet trip though Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Jer didnt go with you guys?? Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Author Share Posted May 8, 2006 He doesn't have enough gear for a trip like this Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 I will post pics soon, some with action shots of toque and Dan. Day 1 was hard don’t think that it isn’t. Just getting into the karasawa valley with normal packs is not easy. When you try it with 50 pound packs man it can be rough and demoralizing at times. After setting up camp I just slept. The valley was loaded with snow and we even got to wittiness a pretty big class 3 slide. A cornice broke off at around 6 and the slide ended up stopping 200 meters from camp. After seeing that I slept with my beacon on. Day2 climbing hotaka wasn’t that bad but toque and Dan are machines and I cant keep up. I choose an easier route. We set a cut off time of 11am and after reaching the saddle and seeing 50 climbers coming down and 50 climbers waiting to go up I got demoralized. I sat and thought for 15 minutes and decided to go after a nice steep line skier’s left of the hut. I was disappointed in myself for not trying to make the meeting with the boys but I also wanted to be able to ski something and if I didn’t make the cut off time I wouldn’t have known where to drop in. thus I would have had to down climb and do another easy line. Next year ill do that chute I have to! We had a nice lunch in camp and then Dan and I went to ski a nice steep line near camp. Its so cool cause when you drop in the whole camp goes nuts. You can hear the cheers and you just go balls out cause its like your in a arena with the crowd cheering for the guy to sink that game winning shot. I must say that you come down and have a big smile on your face if you have a good run. Day 3 started off before the boy’s cause I knew that they would catch up. I was slowed at the start by deep snow and they passed me within 30mins and the first hour. I did surprise myself though and I think I’m a pretty fast scrambler on the steep stuff cause I almost caught toque on the climb. I was only about 5 minutes behind them I think and for me that’s not bad. I usually average about 10 to 30 minutes behind toque but he is not human. I pass most people on the climbs but he destroys me on every climb. I could be that I really do not have a love of hiking though. I love to skin and ski more than scramble but if you want the steeps you need to scramble. Waited at the top and we all drank about 6 liters of water between us. The day before I told toque that I wanted to be last cause I wanted to rip down the face of the chute. We had a bit of running banter about it. He wanted me to admit that it wasn’t safe. I admit that it wasn’t safe but going last made it a bit safer in case the boys or I got into trouble. I agreed to ski down past the first safe zone and stop in the second zone but.... At the top of the run toque said man just rip down it dude. I was so stoked and it was by far one of the funniest runs that I have every done. Steep fall line, steep off fall line, little cut back area man it was a cool line. Got back to camp and I was pumped, I was still hungry to ski so I ate lunch and headed back up to the show place line area. Decided to try to skin most of the way. I made some nice tracks I was proud of the way I skinned. I was happier with my skinning than my skiing. Scrambled to a small perch and got ready to ski. Came down some very tough snow but did well I think, cause when I got to camp a group of climbers cheered and handed me a beer. Kompai-ed with them and skied back to the boys. We decided that the rain was most likely coming so we would head home the next day. I then got myself quite drunk and talked in my sleep. Day4 I got out of camp first but I wasn’t looking forward to the 2 plus hour with a 50-pound backpack climb ahead. I had crampon trouble right off the bat. 3 hours later at the top I was done. I’ve never in my life done something as hard as that. Toque said that he had faith but I almost didn’t believe in myself. The run down to Gifu was fun until the avie debris. The avie that tore through there was massive. At one point the avie was funneling at a height of about 7 to 10 meters. Folks that’s a class 5 and would take out a village. We named the run (toques ****ing living hell). Dan had to spend an hour trying to figure a way to down climb. I might not ever do that run again but I’m glad that I did it. Had a sweet onsen then got back to Hakuba at about 7:10. Talked with dizzy and ate Indian curry till I fell asleep in my lazy chair. Ill rate this trip one of my best ever but it is not easy. If you camp it is by far a hard trip. Go light I would go even lighter next time for sure. I would drop a few extra clothes even to lose 5 pounds of weight. Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 I think we'll never do Kamikochi with tents, it's just too long of a hike-in for us. by the way found an aerial-photo site recently, pretty cool. You can see the Karasawa valley from here: http://mapbrowse.gsi.go.jp/cgi-bin/airph...m=7&size=normal Overall J map is here: http://mapbrowse.gsi.go.jp/airphoto/indexmap_japan.html Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 pics will go up tomorrow actually busy today Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Author Share Posted May 8, 2006 Myself making the first of many turns to the valley far below. The highest Hotaka peak OkuHotaka is on the right with people pearing over. We couldn't ski off the summit as you can see it is very icy but we only had to traverse in a bit lower down to get on the run. This picture shows how steep our line on Day 3 was. FT cramponing up to the saddle between Peaks 1 and 2 of the MaeHotaka ridge. We skied this run an hour after summiting once the snow softened. Toque making a few turns before the snow turned to mush. We came from the upper right of the picture. Making the snow last on the ski out on Day 4. FT still has his jacket which he almost lost. Better thank Dan for picking it up. Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 just curious, from where were you able to skin up on the hike-in? from Yoko, or Tokusawa? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 That sounds like a great tour! Thanks for the details and all. Quote: Originally posted by Fattwins: 3 hours later at the top I was done. I’ve never in my life done something as hard as that. But you made it man! You will always make it up there. The only way down is up. Get fit FT, I'm planning on coming to see you next season (I might even bring some touring skis as well). Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 just before yoko i think. im not in bad shape i just hate hiking with 50 pounds on my back. i dont want to stay in the huts cause i feel that its a waist of money. if you include food, transportation etc the trip was only 10000 for 4 days that is pretty good. if we went light and stayed at the huts it would have been almost 40000 yen or more. my pics are ready but i have to work a bit first. Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Author Share Posted May 9, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by montoya: just curious, from where were you able to skin up on the hike-in? from Yoko, or Tokusawa? We started skinning about 1 or 2 km from Yoko hut It was just easier to walk up until then. And we were able to ski almost right down to ShinHotaka Pretty unusal year seeing as last year was also a big snow year and I didn't start skinning till much higher in the Karasawa valley at the same time of year. Link to post Share on other sites
dizzy 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 looks like a great trip. i like your guy's pics that show the incline of the slopes you're climbing sounds like a lot of work to get into camp, a good workout Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 how much does it cost to stay in huts? What do u get? Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Author Share Posted May 9, 2006 Usually huts charge: 6000 bed 8000 bed + dinner 9000 bed + dinner + breakfast The bed during busy times is just a portion of futon and a bit of blanket that you'd have to wrestle from the 65 year old man spooning right up next to you Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by Toque: The bed during busy times is just a portion of futon and a bit of blanket that you'd have to wrestle from the 65 year old man spooning right up next to you nice description maybe wear less cologne next time Toque! Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 toque did try to spoon me the first night! thank god i was in my own bag. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Sounds like a pretty typical camping trip with a mate to me! Link to post Share on other sites
eskimobasecamp 0 Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 cough... brokeback mountain... cough... Link to post Share on other sites
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