Saturday 29 December 2012

Strava Rapha Festive 500






502km between 24th and 29th, during which 26th was a complete rest day, including some good climbing and some horrendous weather.

I am in a whole world of pain right now. And it feels great.

More soon!

Tuesday 25 December 2012

Rapha Continental: Assynt

Merry Christmas, everyone!

With the Rapha Festive 500 challenge underway (more on that later), I just wanted to showcase a gorgeous piece of cycling filmmaking from the folks at Rapha Continental.

This literally captures everything I love about cycling in 5 minutes. I highly recommend watching in HD and fullscreen for the full effect.



The Rapha Continental: Assynt from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Sunday 16 December 2012

Gearing up (Hieizan Cat 2)

After a week or so of rides that had to be cut short due to ice on the road (including one particularly hairy descent from Kumogahata last Sunday), we seem to be enjoying a brief period of warm weather (double figures!) which means an excuse to get back into the hills rather than sticking to flat routes...

Cycling in early morning snow on Tuesday morning!

This weekend's group ride took us up Hieizan - a Category 2 climb with an average 5.1% grade over about 7 km for a total of about 350 m elevation gain - then back to Kyoto via Otsu and Yamashina (and two more Cat 4 climbs, naturally). Cracking ride and it was so warm I didn't even need leg warmers (did go with good ol' embrocation, though)!




Quick shot next to a bizarrely made-up tanuki statue in Otsu, after the descent from Hieizan

Of note was that this was my first time on a geared bike since, well, I don't know. But I've been riding solely fixed for a year now. Climbing on fixed has given me wicked sprinting power but apparently absolutely awful endurance on longer climbs. I was truly dying halfway up this Cat 2. Definitely something to work on...

Saturday 8 December 2012

A challenge appears!

Time for a new Strava challenge...



























Ride 500 km across an 8 day period that includes Christmas - how hard can it be?

Probably very, but I'm up for a challenge!

Monday 3 December 2012

Kizugawa group ride

With my knee slowly recovering from whatever I did to it during the BMC challenge, this Sunday proved a good opportunity to brush off the cobwebs a little and put in some nice 'easy' flat miles.

With snow beginning to fall in the hills and my knee still not in good enough shape to take them on anyway, we made the decision to run a long, flat ride to Kizugawa and back. It's a ride I'm quite familiar with now - it's where I got hit by that Prius and it was 75% of the BMC challenge - but it's nice nonetheless.

Our little peloton.
Left to right: Grecia, me, Cory, Jamie, Kory, Ross

I definitely felt it in my legs - I was beginning to ache pretty hard with about 20 km left to go. It's amazing what 2 weeks more or less off your bike will do to you. Hopefully it'll come back soon, since we have some great things planned for the first half of next year.



Wednesday 21 November 2012

Strava BMC 79mi Challenge

As a fairly keen Strava user, I take note of their 'Challenges'. As a mortal human being and a fixed gear rider, most of these are frankly absurdly 'challenging'. However, last weekend they made a more reasonable demand:
This September, 79th running of the UCI World Road Cycling Championships was won on a BMC teammachine SLR01. 
To honor that huge accomplishment, BMC is challenging you to go out and complete a ride of 79 miles (or greater) in one day
Pick your favorite long training ride, prep your bike, fill up some bottles, maybe even sport a little bit of Belgian red/yellow/black, and push yourself to make it happen! 
Note: The Challenge is to complete a single ride of 79 miles (or greater) in one 24 hour period. You have a three day window to make this happen and can make multiple attempts. Manual entries will not count towards your Challenge effort, nor will trainer rides.
Why not?

Sunday traditionally being group ride day, I thought I'd combine the two. So, on Sunday morning, I met up with the group and set off up to Takao (where I visited last Tuesday). The hill felt much easier this time (probably because I was fresher) and we were soon at the top and enjoying some quality autumn leaf viewing.


Our little peloton at the top of the hill leading to Takao.
Left to right: Rafael, Grecia, me, Iago, Jamie, Alexander. Photo by Cory.

With a couple of hours of momiji under our belts (bib shorts?) and followed by a brief lunch stop at a convenience store, I set off accompanied by Rafael and Grecia... this time, to complete the challenge. I thought I'd ride to Kizu and back - about the right distance and relatively flat, so fairly appropriate for a track bike. Grecia and Rafael had to turn back about 1/3 of the way to Kizu due to prior commitments at home, leaving me riding alone save for my iPod (I never usually ride with one, but this time I'm certainly glad I brought it along... and glad I chose a route where it was safe to listen to it!).

I should note that Cory, Jamie and Iago set off on a separate mountain route to complete theirs. They all have geared road bikes! Their route took them on about 4000 m total elevation gain, which is frankly insane. Of the three, only Cory completed the challenge - Iago got a puncture and didn't have a spare tubular, so had to get a lift home, and Jamie was 10 km short when he got home and too tired to seek out what was left! Well done, Cory!

The ride to Kizu and back was less eventful. The weather initially looked threatening and I got one or two bursts of light drizzle, but it soon cleared up. I had a wicked headwind for the last part of the return journey into Kyoto, which wasn't really what I wanted, but I pushed through that ok.

Oh, and naturally I stopped for the obligatory mid-ride cake in Kizu...


Sure beats another bottle of electrolyte drink!

I arrived back in Kyoto about 15 km short of my goal, so I rode up to university and back. It was at this point that it decided to rain quite heavily. It was also dark. And I was pretty tired. Consequently, I can describe this last section as "less than pleasant".

However...







Total distance 127.7 km (79.3 mi) - CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

I think on a road bike it wouldn't have been particularly special and I think Cory and crew's decision to liven it up with a pretty horrendous mountain route was probably a good one overall. On a track bike, wholly unsuited to long-distance riding, I think one climb was enough and I don't think I'd like to ride much further!

Fixed gear means your legs are perpetually in motion and that certainly wears you down. My legs were feeling it for a couple of days afterwards and I've definitely tweaked my knee slightly, which means a week or so off from riding (the horror!).

And after all that, what do I get? A virtual badge on my Strava profile and a feeling of satisfaction. Worth it? Most definitely!

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Gearing up for a Challenge

The Strava BMC 79mi Challenge is coming up this weekend, 'challenging' me to ride 79mi (about 125km) within a 24 hour period. On a geared bike this would be easy. On a fixed gear, probably not so much. I forsee much pain.

The route I've planned will take me up to Takao (with a group of friends) for some momiji (autumn leaves) viewing, then back down and along the rivers to Kizu and then back to Kyoto (the route I took when I was hit by that Prius last time). In other words, it starts off with a nice long Cat 4 hill climb, then provides about 90 km of flat terrain which I should be able to drag myself along no matter what, even if it gets dark before I finish (it probably will). I think one or two people will be joining me for the entire ride - Grecia and Cory, probably - but they'll be on geared road bikes so I'm sure they'll be laughing at my condition towards the end. Oh well, company is company, I guess...

Since I'm supposed to be leading this group to Takao on Sunday, I rode it alone yesterday to check it out, after an early morning run up to Ohara (this is becoming a regular thing now, and I'm worried that I may be in danger of becoming a 'morning person'...). Mainly to see if most of the rest of the group can make it, to be honest. Strava log below.





The hill to/from Takao is steep! In fact the return journey back out of the valley begins with a kilometre of 8.2% average grade, which is nasty with only one gear. Still, a beautiful ride and the scenery when you get into Takao is incredible at this time of year. I went to check out Saimyo-ji temple but saved the rest for Sunday.

It's stuff like this that makes the pain and suffering of climbing hills so entirely worthwhile...








Incredible!

More to come after Sunday, hopefully... although I can't guarantee I'll have any energy left to update this blog when I get back!

Wednesday 31 October 2012

'Crash Test Dummy'

Remember those socks from the past post? The bright orange ones with 'CRASH TEST DUMMY' written on them? I pulled them on yesterday and went for a little ride. I hoped they'd provide me some kind of ironic protection against mishaps while riding, but no, it was not to be...

(My phone battery cut out with about 5-10km left to go, hence the incomplete Strava track)


I set off in late morning with a friend, Cory - we set a good pace aided by cunning drafting and soon made it most of the 45-50km to Kizu despite a bit of a headwind. With about 5 km left Cory had to turn back due to time constraints and despite this being my first ride for a week due to having a cold, I decided I might as well press on and finish the ride to Kizu proper.

I got there and soon realised that amenities are... lacking. There isn't even a convenience store in Kizu. Having just ridden that distance on a single 500 ml bottle of electrolyte drink, I was in need of something.

There are however several vending machines, including one with the ever-present Pocari Sweat (a stranglely-named Japanese sports drink). And a cake store.

It was obvious what had to be done...

The ultimate mid-ride nourishment

After enjoying the fine slice of chocolate cake you see above and refilling my bottle, I set off back home. 

Then, but 100 metres down the road, I got hit by a car at a fairly blind junction. Side-on. At probably 20 mph.

The impact knocked the rear wheel out from under me, so I went down pretty hard. Luckily I hit the ground on my side so save for a few scrapes and some utterly trashed gloves, I was pretty much OK. Thankfully, save for a slightly bent rear wheel and misaligned brakes, so was the bike. The car - a Prius (I hate Priuses) - was totally unscathed.

In the end I took the guy's plate number, refused medical treatment or the police (I was in a hurry to get back before it got dark, really) and accepted a token cash gesture (80 quid or thereabouts). Not how I'd have handled it in an ideal world, but like I say, it was getting late. Oh well.



A bit of road rash and bruising  on my hip and a few scratches on my legs - not too bad, all things considered...

I pushed on through the return leg (45 km or so again, back to a slightly different place). The adrenaline wore off at about the halfway mark, so I bonked hard and was pretty much falling asleep on the bike by the end. I didn't have the opportunity to consume extra sugar to fend off shock, so I'm sure that didn't help.

Anyway, I got home and both myself and the bike are more or less fine, so that's the important thing.

The lesson: Shit happens. No matter how careful you are, sometimes other people's stupidity will unavoidably find you. Deal with it and move on, and don't let it taint your enjoyment of things.

Personally, I'll be back on the bike on Friday. I have a Strava Challenge to get ready for in a few weeks.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Strava, socks

As autumn ramps up, so too does my road mileage. I'm currently riding 2-3 times a week so rather than post about everything here, you can track my riding on Strava here:

http://app.strava.com/athletes/1109295

You may need to be a member of Strava to get all the juicy details - I'm not sure.

I am particularly happy to have apparently topped 50 mph on a downhill stretch this past weekend...



On a fixed gear bike where the cranks are directly linked to the rear wheel, on a relatively low gear, this was frankly terrifying (in the best possible way). I'm not exactly sure how correct Strava is here but I know I was going damn fast (must have looked ridiculous, spinning my way down the hill, nearly being thrown off the bike) and I did pass several cars on the descent, so it's probably not particularly unrealistic.

In related news, I bought some new gear. Some 'Sock Guy' cycling socks. Which are bright orange and read 'CRASH TEST DUMMY'. I couldn't not buy them, really...


I can only get away with these on my 7am Friday morning ride, I think...

Climbing season shouldn't be far off now. Stay tuned... that is, after all, the original topic of a blog called 'Vertical Japan'...

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Kyoto - Nara - Kyoto (via Typhoon Jelawat)

Had a little cycling trip lined up for a few weeks now - nothing too intense, just a nice little cruise out to Nara with a few friends. About 60 km each way, with a night in a little guesthouse in the middle. Pleasant enough, right? Well... kinda.

The ride kicked off nicely enough. The weather was glorious on Saturday, giving a beautiful ride into Nara via a few little sights: 'most notably' what is apparently Japan's longest wooden bridge.

We were 6 people total but to reduce frustration we elected to split into two groups - one 'fast' and one more relaxed. Grecia and I made up the fast group, with the other four tagging along a little later (although still in a very respectable time!).

The ride was made more enjoyable by a bunch of new stuff - some Rapha Classic Bib Shorts (more on these in a future post, possibly - you've been warned!), some Sidi Genius 5 Megas and the always-lovely Rapha chamois cream (possibly more on this, too...).


Japan's longest wooden bridge, just before the halfway point of the route

Bikes in Nara-koen (the deer park)

Good job!

Upon arrival (and finally finding each other) we checked into our guesthouse and went to find food. What followed was the most enormous curry-rice ever... for 600 yen. That's absurdly cheap. The menu in this place consisted of: coffee, curry-rice, orange juice. Nothing more.


Someone every single one of us finished this...

Chilling in the guesthouse - really nice old tea house, all wooden construction with tatami floors, etc.

After a few token celebratory beers (possibly a little ill-advised) in the evening, we elected to get a reasonably early night because, well, we knew what was coming up. With no chance of changing the guesthouse booking, we had to come... and that means we had to go home, too.

Meet Typhoon 17, aka Typhoon Jelawat:

JMA course plot for Typhoon 17
Here she comes!

After a hasty breakfast we set off at about 8am...

What followed was one of the more interesting rides I've been on. Being chased towards Kyoto by a typhoon (our average speed was around 20 km/h; Jelawat was hitting about 55 km/h...) conditions started off fine but rapidly deteriorated. We were soon riding into stinging rain and gusty sidewinds which nearly knocked us off a few times. This soon became a steady headwind, resulting in about 45 km of what felt like constant uphill riding. Needless to say, calories were burned. Added to the fact that we barely stopped, we were roundly destroyed by the time we somehow got back to Kyoto.


Getting hammered by the rain

Grecia trying to keep going through appalling conditions - props to her, and indeed everyone, for making it!

By some miracle everyone arrived back safe. Grecia and I, again making up the 'fast' group, actually made it back in about the same time as our outward journey despite the hairy conditions. I'm not entirely sure when the others got back to Kyoto but by that point the conditions were utterly foul as the full might of this Saffir-Simpson Category 1-equivalent typhoon came to bear on the Kansai region, so they did well!

The damage to my right calf. I'm not even sure how this happened...

A few days later and I'm still knackered. So is everyone else. Quite an experience!

In case you're wondering what happened to the Fuji trip... it never happened. The timing just didn't work out. One for next year, I guess. Still, I think this last excursion more than made up for it...

Friday 21 September 2012

End of summer - logging the miles!

So the long, hot days of summer are drawing to a close. Can't say I'm sorry to see them go. That means more amenable temperatures for riding, which I'm certainly happy about.

Yesterday's effort was a good 52km bash up into the hills north of Kyoto, taking in a Cat 3 climb to Kumogahata followed by the greatest descent ever, then another Cat 4 climb up to Kurama. About a 1000m total elevation gain through some beautiful countryside.

On Sunday I'll probably be doing the same route again (fun!) and next weekend will bring a return trip to Nara - doing it with a group we'll be splitting it over two days, so it's only a relatively flat 60km per day. Sure to be easier than the last time - the full 120km return route in one very hot day 2-3 weeks after my crash!

Monday 3 September 2012

Coming soon: Fujisan!

Well, with an end to the nightmare that is the swampy Japanese summer finally in sight, it's time to get back into fun things like climbing and riding...

First up will be a crack up Fujisan (Japan's highest mountain, of course) in about a week's time (weather-dependent). By all accounts it's a pretty dull climb so I'll be spicing it up with a bivi on the mountain. Photos to come when I come back.



Also looking forward to getting a bit of (rather mediocre) rock/gym time in and some quality biking, including another trip to Nara which I have planned for early October.

Following that, well... bring on the winter season!

Monday 16 July 2012

Kyoto to Nara

Last week I decided I'd finally ride the route from Kyoto to Nara. A nice 45 km... apparently.

In reality it was 60 km. Which makes for a 120 km return journey. Combined with low-30s temperatures, burning sun and high humidity (i.e. typical Japanese summer conditions) it was quite a ride!

In Nara-koen (park) with the infamous (and very insistent) sacred deer.

Route info for the way to Nara can be found here:
http://kineticgps.com/route.php?r=cd44341cdb32bf1ead6770cbfbdcd5c2/120710-1013-Shijo-Omiya---Nara.kmz

Sadly my phone battery died on the way back so I don't have a GPS log for the whole trip, but you can essentially double the above.

I think 120 km on a fixed gear track bike (designed for racing at the velodrome) is pretty good going. Possibly a little stupid, but good fun* nonetheless.




* The three types of fun can be summed up thusly:
 - Type 1 Fun: Fun at the time, fun to think/talk about later
 - Type 2 Fun: Not fun at the time, but fun in retrospect
 - Type 3 Fun: Not fun at the time and not even fun in retrospect


I think this was somewhere around Type 2, so it fits in with a lot of winter climbing. Maybe I just have a penchant for suffering.

Sunday 8 July 2012

Back in the saddle!

In a slightly more upbeat follow-up to my last update, today was a lovely day (finally, it stopped raining!) and I took the opportunity to get back on my bike and get riding again.

Today's trip - the first since my little accident - was a 'gentle' 35km to see how things felt. Turns out things felt great - I could have gone and done it again when I got back, but it's probably wise to ease my broken body back into things...

So, 35km of gorgeous forested roads, surprisingly sustained climbing and putting geared roadies to shame on the aforementioned sustained climbs. And the destination was the beautiful Buddhist temple Kurama-dera, located up in the hills north of Kyoto.

Not a bad way to spend a few hours and I'm confident that I can get back into longer rides soon. Feels good!

Friday 6 July 2012

We interrupt this transmission...

Just having a small break at the moment, mainly because my face decided to get into a fight with a road. As you might expect, the road won.



Result: A broken nose, split lip, four busted front teeth and a bunch of facial lacerations. Fun!

Thankfully two weeks on I look a lot better than this - pretty much back to normal, aside from some bruising and redness where things are still healing. Should be back climbing in a month or so (just have to be careful not to hit my nose for a few weeks, so it's probably not a good idea right now).

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Rokko-san - May 2012

Managed to take a trip up to the Rokko-san climbing area near Kobe today. The idea was to do a little teaching, take a friend on their first ever outdoor climbs and, frankly, get back into climbing on rock myself (not since last July, unless you count a little winter mixed!).


View along part of the central section, looking out roughly towards Kobe

Taught A LOT and put it into practice on a couple of nice gentle routes (IUAA Grade III) which went really smoothly. Feels good to get back on rock, even at the easy end of the grade spectrum. I don't mind a nice gentle reintroduction, anyway!

First route was a corner/face route (the obvious large corner in the first photo below) and the second was a really rather nice crack for the grade, with actual real handjams to be had (second photo - the obvious feature!).

Also tried a III+ face route to the immediate right of the aforementioned crack but it was totally blank and unprotectable and not really ideal introduction fodder so I traversed across into the crack and just ran that route again from about halfway!


First route was the obvious large corner - grade III

Second route was this stunning crack, excellent at the grade (III) I thought. The III+ face route to the right is way blank and should possibly be bolted - looks like decent climbing though.


The day was notable for two particular reasons in addition to some good climbing. First was the excellent view of Kobe and the Osaka bay area, which was visible as the sun set (see the rather poor photo below).


View from the top of Rokko-san across to downtown Kobe (Sannomiya area in the centre).


The second reason was the presence of 'suzumebachi', or Japanese Giant Hornets. We had to deal with these devil-beasts a couple of times. There's nothing like having to freeze rigid in the middle of building a belay to save from getting stung by thumb-sized, lethal hornets. Note that the helpful gent in the videos below recommends running as fast as your legs will carry you if you disturb one. I wager this is not really possible while tied in at the top of a crag...

If one decides to sting you, it will inject a venom that can potentially kill you even if you are not allergic. In addition, the hornet releases a pheromone which attracts more angry hornets to your location, as if one of the bastards wasn't enough.

Suzumebachi kill more people every year in Japan than all other animals combined. These things are horrible, horrible creatures and should not exist.









You wouldn't get these in Snowdonia!

Friday 27 April 2012

Not dead!

Just a quick post to say I am here, I'm not dead and I haven't forgotten about this blog. Rock climbing season is upon us and I've had the chance to do... almost no climbing.

I headed up to my most local outdoor climbing area recently - Konnpira-san - but the sum total of that effort was walking in a perfect loop over 4 hours and finding not a single climbing rock area (we were in the wrong place, it seems). We gave up and went to CRUX Osaka, an indoor climbing gym that I've been to before. It may have both bouldering and indoor leading, but it's just not the same!

I'm hoping to head up to Rokko-san soon, out near Kobe. Access is apparently much easier so hopefully there'll be some climbing to be had there!

Meanwhile, summer is well and truly upon us here. Spring finished as quickly as it began, only marking its presence with a burst of cherry blossom for about a week. Daytime temperatures are now up to mid/high-twenties most days... only another 10 degrees to go before the peak of summer. Thankfully the unbearable humidity isn't really here yet...

Since I've not been able to get much climbing in, to get out and about I've been doing a lot of cycling instead. As well as just bumming around town in my free time, I'll commute to campus every day by bike (about a 7 mile round trip). On Wednesdays I have a good ~30 mile round trip to get to my office at the DPRI in the afternoon, which is a really good run (unless it's raining)! I've managed to build up a really nice fixed gear, mainly by scrounging parts here and there and just getting really lucky on occasion, so riding all of that distance fixed makes it doubly fun (and doubly tiring!).

It is a bike.


Alas, that 30-miler and the rising temperatures have pushed me to invest in a pair of bib shorts and a jersey - for that full on 'lycra road warrior' look - things I vowed I would never buy. I feel dirty...

Saturday 10 March 2012

Sounkyo - February/March 2012

Apologies for the delay, but I now have photos in hand so here goes...

At the end of last month I took a trip up to Hokkaido to get in one last lot of climbing before the winter season draws to a close. I headed up there with Chris (of the blog i, cjw - see the 'Stuff you should check out' sidebar) who I'd been looking forward to climbing with for some time. He turned out to be an excellent climbing partner as well as a superb photographer. Many of the photos in this post are his, so thanks Chris!

 
View Larger Map

It takes a day to get to Sounkyo from Kyoto. I flew out of Kobe airport early in the morning and via Sapporo New Chitose airport, Sapporo city and Asahikawa I eventually made my way there. I arrived late afternoon and met up with Chris at the hotel.

The hotel was, as promised, completely insane. Being the off-season, prices are absurdly low but the quality of the room and service isn't. 7,000 JPY per person per night gets you a huge traditional room (with bathroom, toilet, fridge, A/C, etc), two buffet meals per day and access to the onsen (hot spring baths).


The room...

That night we wandered into the (tiny) town to check out the Sounkyo Icefall Festival. I'm sure the novelty value was lower for ice climbers but it was still pretty neat. Good firework display, too, plus cheap amazake (weird drink containing rice and hot sake that looks a bit like chunky vomit and doesn't taste a whole lot better).


An ice shrine.

A shot across some of the festival area.

Chris, risking his life for the shot. I'm actually fairly sure this place wouldn't be allowed under Health & Safety in the UK...

One of the many ice sculptures.

Fireworks!

Day 1 was a corker. Of course it was started off with a buffet breakfast - makes a change from instant ramen! We walked down into the gorge from town and within 15 minutes or so we were at a big car park - this is about as far as the tourists get! Across the river we could see our first climb... but if course we had to get to it first.


Not a bad way to start off a day of climbing

Cue taking off our boots and socks, rolling up our pant-legs and wading across a FREEZING cold river. Agony! If anyone is wondering if you can get the hot aches in your feet, the answer is yes, you can.


Chris having an existential crisis halfway across. Note the Japanese guys who brought Wellington boots!

My turn - not fun!

After a short walk in we were at the base of our target for the day - Ginga-no-taki, WI4, 120m, 4 pitches. Spectacular!


Ginga-no-taki, WI4.

What followed was 4 pitches of superb climbing in a stunning position. Beautiful. It was bitterly cold (they were saying -16C in the morning - "feels like -32C with windchill" - and I don't think it climbed much above that all day) and there was a strong wind which hammered us with spindrift at regular intervals.

Pitch 2 began with a snow ramp which became a steeper ice section. After daggering my way through the snow I got onto the ice and as my hands warmed up I got the worst hot aches ever (despite my absolute best efforts), which was an unpleasant surprise. After 5 minutes of swearing like a trooper while my calves burnt up from resting on front-points and smashing my fists into the ice, I set off again. Ah, the joys of winter climbing...


The only other party on the climb setting off up Pitch 1.

Chris leading up P1.
 
Looking happy at belay stance 1.

Coming up the snow ramp on P2 while getting hammered by spindrift.

P2 again.

P2 again...

Chris on P3.

Finishing up P3.

Chris having far too much fun at the third stance.

View from stance 3.

Topping out on P4 (final pitch) after pulling the crux moves.

Abseiling back down the route.

Looking back up.
After coming back down and sorting things out we crossed back through the river (joy!) during which time I managed to drop a boot in the water (double joy!) then headed back to the hotel to clean up, warm up and eat up.


Buffet and a beer - not a bad end to the day either!

Day 2 started off much the same. This time we elected to bag our feet on the river crossing to stop water ingress, which was a total failure and just resulted in damp boots and humiliation...


Failure.

Double failure.

The day didn't really improve much from there. We couldn't find our chosen climb (most likely it was just completely banked out with snow) so we went back to the start of the gorge to try out luck there. We ended up back on Ginga-no-taki for a bit of messing around on the first pitch - top-rope step-cutting and the like, which was a terrible idea. Moving on, the falls next to Ginga-no-taki had water absolutely pissing down underneath the ice, plus large holes in the structure, so they were a no-go as well.


Chris enjoying some old-fashioned step-cutting on Ginga-no-taki...

Not in condition!

Chris struggling his way up a snow bank. Snowshoes were a huge help but conditions were still nightmarish.

Deflated and, frankly, completely knackered from a day of snowshoeing through powder, we decided to head back. Then we made one or two poor route-finding decisions and it took way longer than it should have done. To add insult to injury, the river level had come up a lot during the day, making the crossing back quite hairy.

Eventually we staggered back to the hotel and resolved to make the last day a better one...

For day 3 we decided to head down to the far end of the gorge and see what lay there. We did this by taking a taxi ride, during which we nearly got totally ripped off by the driver - a rarity for Japan! Oh well, we got there eventually...

This end of the gorge is phenomenal. Huge basalt columns on both sides, overhanging the gorge, capped with precarious-looking snow mushrooms. Really stunning.

Snowshoeing here was much easier going due to the easier terrain (we were walking on an abandoned road surface). However, the snowpack got worse as we went on. Inches of wind-blown slab overlying loose powder snow. Perfect avalanche conditions - not ideal for us!


Snowshoeing in.

Traversing a nice avalanche-prone slope.

Incredible scenery! I'm bottom-right, for scale...

I really think the gorge is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. No exaggeration.

Alas, disappointment struck again when we saw our chosen climb for the day - Raiman-no-taki, WI4 (apparently). The bottom half was banked out with snow (probably avalanchy, too) and the top showed clear signs of a large collapse. Brilliant. Clearly that wasn't in so we set our sights on neighbouring Kinshi-no-taki (WI4, maybe) instead.


Fresh avalanche debris. Not the best place to be!

Raiman-no-taki. No way is that top pitch WI4 - it looks like the entire right side had recently collapsed.

Kinshi-no-taki, WI4 and absolutely gorgeous.

Kinshi-no-taki again, looking steeper from here!

Chris on P1.

The view from the base, showing all the looming snow mushrooms...

Our time on Kinshi-no-taki didn't last long. As Chris set off up the first pitch, we heard a loud boom. Not a good sign. More and more avalanches started pouring off the cliffs around us - mostly snow mushrooms collapsing as the temperature increased. One minor one poured down our line and that was it - we bailed before completing a single pitch. Going was slow because the ice was bullet-hard and this wasn't a good place to linger, so we called it and moved on. A shame, but a climb I'd love to come back and complete sometime. Next year, maybe!

Keen to get something done (aything!) before our time ran out, we moved down the gorge some more (keeping as far away from avalanche paths as possible!) and soon came to a low piece of ice with varied lines ranging from WI3 to perhaps WI5, with some funky (loose...) mixed stuff to one side. We threw up a couple of top-ropes on here and had a good mess around on some lovely plastic ice for the rest of the day. Perfect. A good way to practice, unwind (aside from a brief bear scare) and at least climb something!


Checking out the potential of our little 'ice bouldering' spot.

Some of the steeper lines.

The spectacular views continue down this end...

Pretty incredible.
Walking back out towards Kinshi-no-taki.

And, well, that's it. After a relatively uneventful walk out, we got the taxi back to the hotel for a final buffet dinner (and breakfast, naturally), an opportunity to sort out and dry kit and relieve our aching muscles. And then came the whole-day return journey...

The first day was clearly the best. However, the second day was interesting in that we worked out what works, what doesn't and where things are. And hey, a day in the great outdoors is never wasted! The third day was scuppered somewhat by the warming conditions but we still got some decent climbing in, just on much shorter lines (lovely ice though).

I'll be back next year, for sure. I want to climb Ginga-no-taki again (it's fantastic), I want to actually climb Raiman-no-taki and I'd like to finish off Kinshi-no-taki as well. So there's three aims already!

Alas, that's the end of the winter season for me, I think. No more ice until next year (unless I can get a trip in somewhere outside of Japan - we'll see about that!). Now to look forward to several months of hopefully fine Japanese rock and alpine climbing...