Fuji Finished 5-1-2008

**kingofmyrrh** · 05-12-2008, 02:03 AM

After a failure to summit on a previous solo effort (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s....php?t=121133&), I was determined to get to the top this time. To this end I recruited Dan and Tsondaboy as my companions for the second attempt. We also planned out a new route that would not involve the unnecessary 1,000m bonus vertical climb that I had taken on last time.

Previous failed route

New improved route

We decided to leave the evening before in order to make as early a start as possible. Driving through Tokyo in the early evening was a pleasure, with Omotesando providing ample opportunities to view girls sporting the latest spring fashions. Sadly I was messing around with my camera and only ended up getting some random blurry shots.

We hit the access road early and were ready to hike shortly after six. On the approach I took a fancy to the S-shaped gully on looker's left. I imagined it as a giant halfpipe but needless to say my sense of scale was completely out of whack with it being much larger when we finally got there.

Peeping out of the forest

From the trailhead:

Traversing across we soon got to skinning, the icy surface providing some initial diffiulties before the morning sun did its good work. Knowing that Dan is a skinning and bootpacking machine, whenever we took a brief break I made sure to get going again a couple of minutes ahead of the others to give myself a little breathing room. I knew that I would be overtaken before long but it was a pretty good strategy for me to feel that I wasn't holding him up too badly. It was only Tsondaboy's second attempt at skinning (on a splitboard) but there was no hesitation in acknowledging that it was far superior to using snowshoes.

Start of the journey

Dan on my tail

I'm overtaken already...

Splitboard action

Just above 3,000m we began to encounter more icy conditions with some tiresome switchbacking across a chute bordered by rocky ridges. At this point we decided to switch to bootpacking. Tsondaboy didn't fancy his chances of an enjoyable descent after lugging his board around on his back, and decided to head down. I guess skis do rule after all.

Dan and I pressed on. I was a little unprepared for how tiring bootpacking would prove to be at elevation, to say the least. For the first hundred metres or so, it felt like my skis were being pulled towards the centre of the earth (well obviously they were thanks to our friend gravity, but you know what I mean), and I found myself scrambling on hands and knees more than a couple of times despite the relatively gentle gradient.

Clouds close on our tails

As the gradient began to gradually increase and the ice crust slickened, Dan attempted to buoy my spirits by informing me that the horizon ahead of us was the summit. I knew that this was not true, and he admitted that he had just been trying to encourage me later on, but I appreciated the gesture. There was no thought in my mind of turning around, but it's always nice to feel that you are actually getting close to the goal! At this point I was happy to be able to switch to boot crampons. The previous day I had wondered whether I really need buy them or if in fact I was just being a needless gear whore, but they turned out to be an excellent purchase. At points the ice became so sheer that I had to break trail for Dan (who had no crampons), although to be honest I'm not sure that the sparrow-like imprints left by my unsteady steps really provided much in the way of assistance. Anyway, we pressed on for the gap in the rock band that would be our next rest point.

So far...

Keep going!

Almost there

Upon arrival I was stunned to find out that we had both been wrong - it had in fact been the summit crater. I was pretty relieved as the almost 3,800m altitude was definitely starting to have an effect on my sea-level body, each step proving to be a serious effort. The last stretch had been much, much harder than aniticipated, but that just made the arrival all the more satisfying. Dan, fresh from a few weeks at altitude in Hakuba, didn't seem particularly bothered by the height and provided a further nice surprise by pulling out a summit beer.

Made it!

Cheers!

Beer on altitude sickness... not as tasty as it should have been...

As I really wasn't feeling so great we decided to head down sooner rather than later. It was amazing how quickly my vigour returned within a couple of minutes of starting the descent as we lost hard-earned altitude. The snow at the top was extremely icy and riding over the wind formations felt like taking a ride down a dirt road in a car with no suspension. Soon enough though things softened up with occasional pockets of wind-packed powder on the upper stretches and consistent perfect corn down below. The clouds that had been trailing us up the mountain had cleared as we summited, allowing continuous views of the distant Japan Alps as we descended. Submerged rocks provided a custom slalom course as we neared the end of the line, but serious damage was avoided.

Launch Dan!

Launch KOM!

Doing what we came to do, with views of the Japan Alps!

When we got to the bottom, we realised we had been making a huge mistake all along. Some people never learn.

Although it isn't the toughest mountain in the world it was big achievement for me and I felt great all the way home. Dan's energy finally ran out and he was quieter than me for once! Thanks guys for a great trip!

**P_McPoser** · 05-12-2008, 02:29 AM

Nice!!........

**Lone Star** · 05-12-2008, 03:18 AM

hell yeah!! glad that you were able to make it back and ski 'er from the top.

**neck beard** · 05-12-2008, 06:20 AM

Ah fuck yeah!

Nailed it on the second attempt, nice work not giving up and doing the hard yards all over again. I find that personally inspirational.

Thanks for posting that here. I'm stoked for you. Dan's a good guy to tour with (but really should own crampons at this time of year, and should get his ass back to Hakuba to enjoy this cold snap with me).

Anyway, KingofM, you should reward yourself with a nice lightweight mountaineering jacket. As in, you still wanna buy mine?

Tsonda - weak sauce man

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**telepow** · 05-12-2008, 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by kingofmyrrh

Some rules were made to be broken. Amazing TR, from a really cool mtn.

**tsondaboy** · 05-12-2008, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by Hohes

Tsonda - weak sauce man

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First day on the split and did 1000 vert + I was slowing down the guys.
If I didn't drop at that point they wouldn't make it to the top before the afternoon.

**neck beard** · 05-12-2008, 07:11 AM

........

**tsondaboy** · 05-12-2008, 07:16 AM

by the way, my home made crampons worked great! I reshaped them following your notes.

**neck beard** · 05-12-2008, 08:12 AM

Voile will have your balls.

**jbblacker** · 05-12-2008, 09:43 AM

nice TR. way to get back up and git sum.

**summit** · 05-12-2008, 10:08 AM

very cool

**Tippster** · 05-12-2008, 01:55 PM

Awesome. Most photographed Mt. in the world, supposedly.

**kingofmyrrh** · 05-12-2008, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by Tippster

Awesome. Most photographed Mt. in the world, supposedly.

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full4.html

I always liked this one. Japan's highest mountain photographed from its second highest. I have neevr been close to this one but will probably head up there this summer, apparently it has plant species indigenous to its slopes which is weird but nice.

LM · 05-12-2008, 10:10 PM

Great trip report KOM!
Looks like some pretty good conditions.
Very nice of Dan to haul that beer up for you. I've tipped back more than a couple beer with him in the mountains. A couple of which were on the mountain in your above link.

**kingofmyrrh** · 05-12-2008, 11:03 PM

It was nice. It was a great moment to see him pull them out the pack. It was a real shame that my guts were under attack from the altitude and I couldn't really drink it all :-(

Judging from the circumstances you must be the TGR incarnation of Toque! Hello there. Maybe you can help me out. 3 day trip to Tateyama. First day get up to Murodo and get an early night. Second day big hike all the way over to Tsurugi side, maybe with token mini line at end of day. Third day summit Tsurugi and ski back down in Tateyama direction, summit Tateyama (Onanji) and then ski back down towards Murodo. Leave that afternoon.

Ridiculously ambitious or doable? Any general suggestions? Remember, I am not a hiking superman like you are!

**gaijin** · 05-13-2008, 05:19 AM

Nice to see you pulled it off. I know you've been chasing it. Good job... and thanks for sharing KOM.

**SonnyBoy** · 05-13-2008, 06:11 AM

pretty cool, congrats on the descent.

LM · 05-13-2008, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by kingofmyrrh

Judging from the circumstances you must be the TGR incarnation of Toque! Hello there. Maybe you can help me out. 3 day trip to Tateyama. First day get up to Murodo and get an early night. Second day big hike all the way over to Tsurugi side, maybe with token mini line at end of day. Third day summit Tsurugi and ski back down in Tateyama direction, summit Tateyama (Onanji) and then ski back down towards Murodo. Leave that afternoon.

Ridiculously ambitious or doable? Any general suggestions? Remember, I am not a hiking superman like you are!

Sorry for the hi-jack here.
I am the old SJ Toque. Frickin police state they have going over there.

Very much doable. But I'd change a couple things.
Day I - Get into Tsurugi-zawa (Tsurugi camp area) Its not that difficult with maybe only 600 or 700 metres vert. The route is easy to follow as well. If you can't make this on Day I then camp at Raicho-zawa and still bag Tsurugi on day II. Just start earlier.
Day II - Ski Tsurugi. Get an early start and climb right up one of the couloirs that leads directly to the summit. Make sure its the right one as you want to get past a couple false summits. That will be a kick ass ski and I want pictures on here. Probably a first for TGR. I always wanted to ski off that summit.
Day III - Ski out to Murodo station and leave all your overnight gear in a locker. Go bag Tateyama skiing right off the summit back to Murodo.

I wouldn't leave both summits to the last day. That will make for a very long day and you'll probably miss the bus home.

**Rideski** · 05-13-2008, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by kingofmyrrh

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full4.html

Very cool site, is it yours?
Here is another nice shot, several worth looking at on the right hand drop down menu.

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen3/f13.html
(click and drag cursor)

**kingofmyrrh** · 05-13-2008, 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by Rideski

Very cool site, is it yours?
Here is another nice shot, several worth looking at on the right hand drop down menu.

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen3/f13.html
(click and drag cursor)

Not my site, just randomly stumbled across it. I didn't get the cursor dragging thing, that is pretty sweet!

**Rideski** · 05-13-2008, 05:32 PM

Well that's funny then, cause I thought you might reply something like "yeah no shit", when I was actually talking to other people that might click the link.
You can scroll up and down too by the way. There are fireworks above the one I posted, and some of the others. The one for Burning man is kinda cool.

Sorry for the highjack. Congrats on getting Fuji done. Come to CO and spend more time at altitude and you'll be able to chug beer with your buds on summits!

**kingofmyrrh** · 05-13-2008, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by LM

Sorry for the hi-jack here.
I am the old SJ Toque. Frickin police state they have going over there.

Very much doable. But I'd change a couple things.
Day I - Get into Tsurugi-zawa (Tsurugi camp area) Its not that difficult with maybe only 600 or 700 metres vert. The route is easy to follow as well. If you can't make this on Day I then camp at Raicho-zawa and still bag Tsurugi on day II. Just start earlier.
Day II - Ski Tsurugi. Get an early start and climb right up one of the couloirs that leads directly to the summit. Make sure its the right one as you want to get past a couple false summits. That will be a kick ass ski and I want pictures on here. Probably a first for TGR. I always wanted to ski off that summit.
Day III - Ski out to Murodo station and leave all your overnight gear in a locker. Go bag Tateyama skiing right off the summit back to Murodo.

I wouldn't leave both summits to the last day. That will make for a very long day and you'll probably miss the bus home.

Thanks for all this knowledge. It's reassuring to hear it from someone who's been in the area so much.

I thought you had skied Tsurugi quite a lot? Or maybe you never skied from the summit itself? Considering the fact that I am not by any stretch of the imagination an epic skier, do you think skiing the summit could still work? Since obviously you have no way of gauging whether I am good enough, let's put it this way - if you didn't ski the summit because of technical difficulties then it is definitely out of my league!

LM · 05-13-2008, 07:24 PM

It's a steep mountain but I'd gamble to say that it is getting skied more and more each year. I've summited it twice in the non-ski season and skied a couloir on it in late June with Dan and Jer. It's not a mountain I'd go into lightly. Probably 50 degrees just off the summit getting down to 40 in the big couloirs. But holy shit it is a beautiful sight. I'd at least attempt it if the weather was clear with a good melt freeze cycle going. It will be a crampons and axe climb.

Why did I never ski it?
Too many things on the list I guess and by the time I was at that level for ski-mountaineering my time was up. I also think I got pretty bored of the Tateyama area as I skied there way too much in my second year as a JET. And in my 3rd year I was ticking lines off in Hakuba and the Kamikochi area. And a last reason might be that I didn't have a partner willing to try. Fattwins didn't want to get into that area as he had Hakuba, a new lodge and it is expensive from the west side and Dan at the time wasn't at that level even though we had him on some steep stuff all that last spring of my last year.

I'll have to take a year off from teaching and head back to Japan with a tick list.

**neck beard** · 05-13-2008, 07:50 PM

> I'll have to take a year off from teaching and head back to Japan with a tick list.

It will happen.

KOM - When is this trip planned for anyway? Just come to friggin Hakuba. Like I offered, I'll go up with you. I'm skiing (not snowboard) these days so not doing anything difficult.

**kingofmyrrh** · 05-13-2008, 08:50 PM

Hmmm well if you only reached that level at the end I think it is something to file in the "future" folder. I don't try to hide the fact that I only got out of resorts this year and that I have probably only skied 60 or so days in my whole life, so although I get by just fine I am not really in the same league as you guys yet. I am certainly not as good as Dan so maybe I'd do better heading up there over the summer and seeing what introductory routes I might like to try next year. It's quite an investment in time and money to get up there and I don't really fancy taking it on if I have reason to believe tI'm not going to end up skiing what I planned. I guess a little more time in Hakuba is what's needed, what's actually left to ski now Hohes (or FT if you're lurking)?

I spent the best part of my morning at work stitching together topo maps and then drawing what I imagined LM's route to be in big MS Paint strokes. Had to shrink it (it was about 3 screens wide) so you lose some detail but here's the masterpiece. Red is machine, green is walk, blue is ski.