The most desirable line you have ever seen

[bushpig 0]

Yeah, all class Beanie!

[damian 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by ianbc:
here a better view of this zone


on return to this zone, when everyone was claiming the spine, we were digging a pit and the whole face went from the summit about arm pit deep. in the bottom left corner theres a lake and the snow rumbled all the way down to it, eye opening day.

ian, is that spot near this spot

http://www.team13.com/pemb-avie.mov

It easy to be a post-fact internet commentator, but this is a pretty good example of nasty windloaded and corniced ridges. Hit pause as the camera zooms in: see the cornice and the load. Suddenly, its all gone.

(I found the footage on the TGR forum, they said it was Whistler back country)

[dizzy 0]

it was clear on the first two days of my hike. But sorry, spud, by the time i got over to Karamatsu/Happo One, it was cloudly

 

[damian 0]

Take your pick:

 

a) No worries man, at least you had a few days good weather and enjoyed the peace and solitude in nature.

 

Thanks for nothing man. Didn't it occur to you to hike the Sock Monkey when you first arrived with good weather?

 

Just trying to keep everyone happy.

 

Did the jellyfish help?

[dizzy 0]

I'm just messing with ya

You don't think I would've missed it?!

 

Bottom half of this is Kaerazu, or "The Gully of No Return" aka the sock monkey line, the rear peak is called Tengu:

 

They are both from Happo-One. This one is looking down a chute on the North Face of Happo-One and directly across is Kaerazu:

[eskimobasecamp 0]

if u dudes actually ski that line..... i'll umm... eat my hat and buy you a beer

 

gnarrrrrrly

[damian 0]

Ahh, good man! But I'm afraid to say I cant make out the Sock Monkey in that pic.

[dizzy 0]

And here's what it the vegetation/terrain looks like from one of the peaks, down into the Gully of No Return:

 

[dizzy 0]

re-posting for comparison.

 

[SerreChe 2]

How skinny is the ridge line from Happo to the SM? Can be done in winter?

[eskimobasecamp 0]

Dizz i can understand your first pic in relation to the SM line -but the other 2 could be anywhere just looking at them, it's hard to tell from the angles in those pics - explain where you took them from a bit more for people who don't know those names or the peaks you are talking about.

 

Not that i'm going there, but yehhhhh how skinny is that ridge? And if you've got time give us a review of what your think of the SM line having looked down into it. Would you try and do it? Do you think it can be done in winter, like SerreChe said, in terms of hiking into it?

[Fattwins 0]

it can be done but the blue might have a cliff in it. it needs to be reconed more from happozawa or guriguri.

 

Its not a first desent people, it has been skied before. The roll over shows signs of slides in every picture but this one ie the sock monkey pic.

[eskimobasecamp 0]

i might go up happo if the weather is good later in october and take photos

[NoFakie 45]

Looks like you had a good trip dizz. No blisters I hope.

 

Some locals have done every line on that face (Kaerazu II) in midwinter. Its only maybe 300 vert to Happozawa, but steep as. Pray for no debris once you hit the valley. Or slides obviously.

 

No offence ebc but I doubt you'll get any better pics from Happo. You only get the angle dizz got. There's a high chance of great weather in October though so its worth planning to head up there. Is the road to Otari Onsen still down? If it is, it'll keep the weekend crowds away from here for you too.

 

[eskimobasecamp 0]

I don't wanna ski the Sock Monkey line so i'm not really going up there to take photos of that, but if it's clear and i can get some good shots i will - i just want to go up to A) hike and look at other areas further down i want to ski.

 

Mr W - are ya in the UK now? Dude let me know how much

[eskimobasecamp 0]

Is the Otari onsen road closed? That is such a sweet spot for Autumn colours, i was up there last year

 

Does anyone know prime time for Autumn colours around Mount Fuji?

[dizzy 0]

yeah, cheers had a great hike. blisters are fine. the only one i was worried about was the gouge on my heel but second skin takes care of that

 

yes, those two peaks are the other two peaks.

 

i can't imagine any line in the valley that is a first descent. i first got interested in Kaerazu reading an article in a ski magazine called FALLLINE (2005).

 

it featured Sasaki Daisuke doing Kaerazu

 

 

ebc sounds good. if that hike'll help u recover, great. just take it easy on your bum i mean leg.

 

bootsy collins/wiggles is right, you're not going to get to view the same angle as in the SM line picture until you can walk on top the snow. the summer hiking route is more on the south side of Happo Ridge

[gerard 6]

Sasaki Daisuke's a real dude! But the pic is a bit of a tease. Plus, on the other pic, Dizzy's friend is in front of the line that Daisuke took. I want to see more.

[Fattwins 0]

ok thats all i needed to open my eyes wider, i need to look for a few more spines like that or that spine

[dizzy 0]

there she goes. i wonder if there was any wind on that particular day ian.

 

if you look at the skier in the photo, yes he's behind Sock Monkey, whom for the record, i've never met.

 

The important thing is where that guy is skiing--pretty much along the ridge, what you would consider one of the safer routes. yeah, the pic is grainy it's a picture of a B/W copy of the magazine. if i find the magazine i'll put up a better photo. CB may have the same one....p. 62, CB!

 

i just re-read the article. i'm not a translator of newspapers and magazines, but the main points were:

several dozens of people besides the poineer of Kaerazu, Tonegawa Tomohiro, have skied it

this line is 50+ degress, with sections of 55+

you can't see your first several turns from the top

kaerazu's slope is similar to what Sasaki has experienced in Valdez Alaska, but there aren't terrain traps in a lot of AK mts., if you get caught in a slide here you'll come to a deadend

they dug a pit at the Karamatsu Summit

He had "AK Rocket" skis, but he wished he'd had his "Pocket Rockets"...skiers please help explain...

they had a beer at Uncle Steven's afterward to celebrate

 

lastly, i tell you that Sasaki did this line in Feburary. And February is an inmfamous month for avalanches in Hakuba

 

the conditions will have to be just right

[gerard 6]

Has that line made any martyrs?

[montoya 0]

you can see more pics of that line on Tonegawa's guide-site:

 

唐松不帰二峰

http://www.valley.ne.jp/~color/indexstaff.htm

 

1999

http://www.valley.ne.jp/~color/indexfukinihouhokuhou.htm

2003

http://www.valley.ne.jp/~color/indexfukinihoukyokushin.htm

[mattlucas 0]

Amazing

That second picture is kind of a different angle

[gerard 6]

Nice pics montoya and dizzy too (from the hike, etc.) That would scare the sh*t out of me.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by dizzy:
yes, those two peaks are the other two peaks.

i can't imagine any line in the valley that is a first descent. i first got interested in Kaerazu reading an article in a ski magazine called FALLLINE (2005).

it featured Sasaki Daisuke doing Kaerazu

The new Fall Line comes out this Fri Dizzy

That was an interestin article - that also had the Hakuba feature? Will go home and pull it out and have a look again. If you got the 1st issue of Bravo this year theyve really put time into getting new faces out who are raising the bar here in Japan. Some sick crews out there riding.