Adventure Travel Japan Jan2011

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Hike it: Japan

What: The Kamikochi – Yarigatake – Hotaka CircuitLength: Three days Total ascent/descent: 2,300mLook out for: Rusty ladders, sheer drops

Perched sweating on a narrow ledge 1,000m above the valley floor, my clammy fingers gripped

on to a length of rusty steel chain bolted into the near-vertical rock face, the words from an internet message board that drew me here come echoing loudly back:

“The goal of hiking the Daikiretto is very simple,” they say, clouds swirl-ing far beneath my feet. “Do not die.”

The Daikiretto would be an easy

place for it, a high and wandering knife-edge ridge complete with un-roped 100m scrambles and bent and rusting ladders installed sometime during the Thatcher administration. But carefully clutching the chain as I skirt a sharp prominence in the rock, I understand that it’s not the what of the Daikiretto that surprises me most, but the where. This could easily be Nepal, I think, the high mountains of Alaska or the Peruvian Andes. But where I am is a land

better known for bullet trains and acres of neon than long, vertiginous drops and moments of extreme personal danger. I pause, looking out to the vast, empty spaces all around me, amazed I’m in Japan.

Isolated and exposed with the sharp wind cutting through my sweat-soaked shirt, this moment seems antithetical to everything I thought I knew about this place – silence and solitude in a land of sprawling mega-cities, genuine

Along the knife’s edgeMatthew Crompton takes on Japan’s most notorious trek

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Hike it: Japan

danger in a country known above all for its safety. There on the ledge with blood thudding in my ears, I look up at the chains and ladders bolted into the moun-tainside, and begin to climb once more.

Funny thing about this trek: for something that kills an average of a dozen people a year, it’s awfully easy to get here. The North Japanese Alps, the setting for this three-day circuit topping Japan’s third- and fifth-highest moun-tains, drew over 250,000 people in 2007 alone, a testament to Japan’s fantastically

efficient bus and rail system, which can shuttle a visitor from Tokyo to the base of the mountains in little more than five hours. And it’s here, from the tiny town of Kamikochi in Nagano Prefecture, that I head off at sunrise on a morning in August, deep into a conifer forest flanked by the famous Asuza-gawa river – a blade of silver and mist running alongside the trail as it gradually winds its way east and then north.

The climbing starts in earnest a few kilometres north of Yoko, the day’s

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Hike it: Japan


Land of the Rising Sun indeedy: here’s sunrise at the Hotaka-dake-sanso lodge

halfway point, and when it does I can hear as much as feel it – the heavy thunder of the Asuza-gawa churned into blue-white rapids as it roars out of the Yari-sawa cirque. I ascend for hours through this dramatic glacial amphitheatre, mounting endless switchbacks towards the ridgeline, the valley still clinging with August’s last dirty snow.

Eventually, I reach the base of Mt Yarigatake, 3,180m tall, 22km distant from Kamikochi and nearly 1,600m above it. First climbed by the Buddhist priest and mountain ascetic Banryu in 1828, Yarigatake was introduced to the world in the late 19th century by an English goldsmith called William Gowland, who coined the term ‘Japanese Alps’ to refer to Yarigatake and its sister peaks. Both Gowland and Banryu would doubt-less be astonished by the lodge that stands in Yari’s sharp, spear-shaped shadow today – a miniature city with futons, clean water and hot meals, all supplied by helicopter.

I’ve zipped by dozens of hikers on the way up the cirque, toting hundred-litre packs full of camping and cooking gear. They straggle in all afternoon, setting up camp on the wind-ripped rocks downslope from the lodge. I’m, meanwhile, drinking an Asahi beer, abundantly thankful to be hauling nothing more burden-some than a daypack. True, I pay a premium of 9,000Y (about £70) for the luxury of having to carry neither food nor shelter up on to the roof of Japan, but with the notorious cross-ing of the Daikiretto looming before me tomorrow, it seems a completely reasonable price. After dinner (grilled salmon, rice, broccoli, miso – yum!) I scramble the last 100m up the steep, chain-and-ladder-covered slope of Yari and watch the sun set over the ridgeline running away to the south, my body tingling with fear and anticipation.

Seijin Shimoto is there the next morning at 5.30, lacing up his boots in the sunrise. “I begin climbing when I am 27,” the wiry septuagenarian tells me, his ancient thermal tights patched at the knees with tape. “I climb all over Japan – Tsurugi-dake, Fuji-san – but here is number one.” He sweeps a hand around at the horizon. “Nowhere in Japan like this!”

“And the Daikiretto?”

top travel tips for Japan

1If you’re going to be spend-ing any amount of time in

Japan at all, do yourself a favour and buy a Japan Rail Pass. If you take even three long-distance trips in a seven-day span, it will have more than paid for itself.

2Visit an onsen. These geo-thermal hot-spring baths,

naturally present in literally thousands of places throughout Japan, are at the heart of the Japanese experience, yet few visitors take the time to sample one. Nothing feels better after a long trek.

3Japan’s still a cash society. Though this is slowly chang-

ing, be sure to bring plenty of yen if you’re going to be away from a cash point for a few days.

4Japan’s one of the world’s greatest food destinations.

Try grilled yakitori chicken skew-ers and beer with salarymen at a streetside stall in Tokyo, haute kaiseki cuisine in Kyoto, or rich tonkatsu ramen in Fukuoka.

5For lodging, reservations help enormously. If you can’t

reserve online, try to have your current hotel call ahead to your next destination. If arriving in a new town without a room, go and see the incredibly helpful folks at the tourist information centre, whose first job is helping visitors find lodging.

Knife edge: the Daikiretto ridge


Hike it: Japan

‘All I can do is smile and wonder in amazement

that 36 hours ago I was standing in the chaos

of a Tokyo subway’

‘Really gnarly climb’: the ascent of Yarigatake

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Hike it: Japan


“Daikiretto?” he laughs. “Very excit-ing!” He thinks for a second; “Daikiretto real mountain climbing.”

The Japanese word for trekking is tozan – literally ‘climb mountain’ – and three hours later, finally stand-ing on the knife-edge in the pit of the Daikiretto (the ‘big cut’, a deep saddle between two 3,000m peaks), it becomes apparent that Mr Shimoto wasn’t kidding. From far above on the precipitous south wall there comes a sickening crash – something heavy falling and striking – and my stomach goes watery. A moment later the calls come echoing down – “Daijobu!” “Daijobu!” – as everyone signals they’re OK. I stare up at the jagged, crumbling slope. It looks treacherous – a broken scramble of some 300m, tamed only by a few rusting chains; internet sources cheerfully label it as a ‘frequent accident zone’.

As I begin my way up, following the white maru (circles) spraypainted on the rock, I realise that this is what the Californian in me would call a ‘really gnarly climb’. The pitch is steep for a scramble, and disconcertingly crumbly. To add to the fun, it’s often foolishly exposed and falls are unpro-tected; any slip, I think, would prove extremely unhealthy. Still, there’s good news: the cliff face is blessed with lots of solid natural holds – the kind climbers call jugs – and the chains really do make negotiating the trickiest sections less suicidal.

By a few minutes in, and even with the skin on my neck prickling as I look down at the world beneath my feet, I have to admit this climb is an incredible amount of fun. I flatten my body and keep my weight close against the rock, letting my legs do most of the work as I ascend. Scrambling and stopping for breath, mounting ladders and sidestepping along narrow ledges, two hours disappear in a kind of Zenlike flow. When at last I find myself on the opposite peak, looking back on the Daikiretto sharp and high in the noontime sun, all I can do is smile and wonder in amazement that 36 hours ago I was standing in the chaos of a Tokyo subway. It’s a moment that encapsulates the real magic of this trek, how close and yet how far away you are from everything Japan is normally conceived to be.

That contrast stays with me Lunch break: a hiker at the col

Matthew looking high and happyAlmost there: the descent to the Hotaka-dake-sanso lodge


Hike it: Japan

Who’s writing?Teacher, writer, pho-tographer and part-time metaphysician, Matthew Crompton has at various times called Cleveland, San Francisco and Seoul home; for 2011 he’s abroad in the world at large. Passionately devoted to trivia and the search for a freebase form of caffeine, he’ll argue at length about the relative merits of squat toilets and the complete validity of rice as a breakfast food. Women, zoo animals and most Marxists find him irresistible.

‘By the time I descend from the day’s final peak

my hands are raw and my knees a little shaky’

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Hike it: Japan

as I climb my way through the col, an equally thrilling but less famous traverse that follows the Daikiretto. By the time I descend three hours later from the day’s final peak, my hands are raw and my knees a little shaky. Luckily the splendid Hotaka-dake-sanso lodge, a beautiful building of tatami and polished blonde wood nestled in the shadow of 3,190m Oku-Hotaka-dake, is there to receive me.

At the front desk sits Megumi Imada in her puffy white coat and pink beanie. Twenty-five years old, she’s the granddaughter of Jutaro Imada, a pioneering climber in the Northern Alps, and fiercely devoted to mountain safety.

“Too often Western people come here only in shorts and summer clothes,” she tells me when I ask about international visitors. “To the high mountains, unprepared. People hear that it’s beautiful, or exciting, but they don’t think about the danger – don’t know the weather condi-tions and have no plan of where to stop or turn back. Especially in the Alps rain and wind are danger-ous – people falling or getting too cold. This year, 10 hikers have died here.” She shakes her head. “To hike Mt Hotaka, you must be prepared.”

That evening, in the chilly air outside the lodge with the sun’s last rays warming my shoulders, I reflect on her words and how precious this place really is. In an age in which true adventure seems to belong only to professionals, or to some time in the distant past, this trek is the rare thing that lives up to its billing – a majestic, exciting and sometimes frighten-ing discovery; an adventure made accessible and one that stands beside the temples of Kyoto and the glitz of Tokyo as one of Japan’s truly great experiences.

In the end, what drew me here is, in a sense, true: you really can die on the Daikiretto. But what I’ve discovered in coming is more precious still: that with careful planning and preparation, here in the wilds of the world’s most modern nation, you’ll rarely feel more alive. ■

A new side to Japan: sunset over Yarigatake-sanso lodge

Impressive: Mt Yarigatake, 3,180m

Hike it: Japan


›› When To goPeak time for the three-day circuit is around mid-July to mid-October, when the trail should be largely snow-free and the mountain huts are all open. Much before or after this, the trek will likely require cram-pons and some huts may be closed. Golden Week (late April/early May) sees hordes of Japanese hikers tackling Yarigatake: you’ll probably have to queue for the summit, and sleeping arrangements in the lodges may be unpleasantly cozy. The Japanese Obon holiday (6-21 August in 2011, and especially around the 12-16 August) sees another rash of hikers arriving from the cities. Make travel arrangements beforehand if visiting during these times. A small but dedicated group of Japanese hikers continue to climb the moun-tain through the winter, though this option is only for die-hards with proper gear and extensive winter mountaineering experience.

›› geTTing ThereThe trailhead for the trek’s in the town of Kamikochi in Nagano Prefecture. Private ve-hicles are banned from Kamikochi, meaning immediate access is by bus. The nearest major railhead to Kamikochi is at Matsumoto on the JR Shinonoi Line, an hour and 40 min-utes away by direct bus, or on a combined ticket with a short transfer to the Matsumoto Dentetsu Line train at Shin-shimashima. Buses run 12 times daily from 24 April to 3 November, and cost 2,400Y (about £18).

The nearest major airport to Kamikochi is Chubu Centrair International near Nagoya. For those coming to Kamikochi from Japan’s major entry points in Tokyo and Osaka-Kan-sai, transport to the region is possible either by train (favorable mostly only to JR Rail Pass holders), or by bus.

By rail, limited express trains run daily from Tokyo’s Shinjuku station to Matsumoto station, taking between two-and-a-half and three hours (6,710Y, or about £52). From Osaka, Shin-Osaka or Kyoto stations, connect in Nagoya (40-70 minutes, roughly £42 - £50) and take a limited express train to Matsu-moto (two hours, £47), then onwards by bus to Kamikochi.

For most visitors, long-distance buses are a better option, travelling direct to Kamikochi and saving the need for an expensive and time-consuming transfer at Matsumoto. Alpico Group (barebones and somewhat confusing website available at www.alpico.co.jp/access/express/index_e.html) runs nightly buses from near Tokyo’s Shinjuku station, departing from late April to mid-November at 11pm daily, and arriving direct to Kamikochi between 5am and 6am the following morning, costing roughly £46-£54 one-way. From the Kansai region, daily over-night buses (11 July - 30 August) leave direct for Kamikochi from Osaka at 10pm and Kyoto at 11pm, costing roughly £62 one-way.

›› WhaT To bringEquipment depends on whether you choose to camp or to stay in the lodges. For those wishing to be completely self-reliant, full camp gear – with tents, sleeping bags, cook-stoves and food – is required, but campsite costs run only around 500Y (£4) per person. It’s also possible to bring nothing but bad-weather gear, a camera, some snacks and a change of clothes and to stay and eat in the mountain huts, which are mostly quite comfortable and offer excellent hot meals. A night with dinner and breakfast will run to around 9000Y (£70). Good shoes, a map, water and proper clothing for inclement weather are a must for everybody. Water refills on the peaks run around 200Y/litre. Buy any food or other supplies you may need before arriving in Kamikochi, where prices are quite high.

›› MaPsThe Shobunsha Yama-to-Kogen 1:50,000 map of Yari-ga-take and Hotaka-dake (map #37 in the series) is the industry standard. Pick it up in one of the major bookshops of Tokyo or Osaka before coming.

›› The Daikiretto Want to do what Matthew did? Here’s how you can… Let s go

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Adventure Travel Japan Jan2011