Monday, July 23, 2007

Climbing the Hotakadaka

Japan Alp Kamakochi 32


The plan was to trek the entire way from Murodo to Kamikochi, the classic North Japan Alps traverse, but many elements made us change our mind. With typhoon and earth quake happened just before we started our walk, we had not idea what the 6 day routes will be like. Also the snow patches have been very resilient this year, due to short of rainfall. The trek may not be too enjoyable for Martina. Maybe a project for future years. So our hiking trip became a two parts affairs, we did a one day walk in Murodo a plateau at over 2o00m attitude then transported to picturistic Kamikochi to climb the highest mountain on our original route, Hotakadake at 3190m.

To do that Martina had to walk up an one hour long snow field to get to a beautiful mountain hut in the Karasawa valley. Complain of the harshness of the condition as she may, she did find the valley to be incrediblly beautiful, with towering peaks cradling three sides of the snowfield. The hut, Karasawa Hutte sits right in the middle.

The next day, I went up the peak on my own, over an interesting rock scramble to another mountain hut that sits at a saddle point on a ridgeline. Climbing up ladders and chains, I finally got to the top. On a good day, I will be able to see every single peaks from Tatayama to Hotakadake, the journey that we planned to have taken. But the cloud rising from the valley, I have to be content with the sea of cloud beneath my feet.

Hiking in Japan is an enjoyable experience, the mountains are beautiful of course, but the huts located at the remote mountain top and alpine meadows provided us with comfort and good food is what impressed me the most. Got to come back some other time.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

oh my lord!!! the picture is beautiful!! yes, i read the news about the earthquake and wonder what happened to you two. don't worry, i will do the trek with you. sometimes in the future. have fun man.

Unknown said...

by the way. thank you for the post card, got it this friday. absolutely beautiful. cheers mate.

Gabs Lau said...

yeah, let's do this trek in 1-2 years time, it is probably as good as hiking can be.

Anonymous said...

combat the fat -
conversationalhypnosis -
conversational hypnosis -
cure angular cheilitis -
directory of ezines -
dirty talking guide -
dish tv for pc -
dog training online -
domain sales machine -
driver robot -
earth4energy -
earth 4 energy -
easy tech videos -
eatstopeat -
eat stop eat -
error killer -
error smart -
evidence eraser -
evidence smart -
fatburningfurnace -
fat burning furnace -
fatloss4idiots -
fat loss 4 idiots -
fitnessmodelprogram -
fitness model program -
fit yummy yummy -
flattenyourabs -
flatten your abs -
flat to fab -
forex derivative -
gas 4 free -
get better grades -
golf swing guru -
governmentregistry -

Anonymous said...

easy backup wizard -
eatstopeat -
eat stop eat -
error fix -
error killer -
error smart -
evidence eraser -
evidence nuker -
ex girlfriend guru -
fatburningfurnace -
fat burning furnace -
fatloss4idiots -
fat loss 4 idiots -
final uninstaller -
fitnessmodelprogram -
fitness model program -
fit yummy yummy -
flattenyourabs -
flatten your abs -
flat to fab -
forex grid bot -
get google ads free -
get paid to draw -
get this off my chest now -
governmentregistry -
government registry -
heartburn no more -
homemadeenergy -
home made energy -
honest riches -
learn photoshop now -
linden method -
malware removal bot -
marketing on the fringe -

Anonymous said...

maternityacupressure -
maternity acupressure -
meet your sweet -
musclegainingsecrets -
muscle gaining secrets -
my online income system -
negative calorie diet -
no adware -
one minute cure -
one week marketing -
online pickup secrets -
partenon -
pc on point -
perfect optimizer -
perfect uninstaller -
pick the gender of your baby -
power cash secret -
profit lance -
publicrecordspro -
public records pro -
push button marketer -
quit smoking today -
registry easy -
registry easy download -
registry fix -
registry winner download -
reverse mobile -
reverse phone detective -
richard mackenzie direct -
rocket spanish -
rss power plus -
sem business blueprint -
silent sales machine -
spam bully -