Mountain Range: Nasudake (那須岳)
The higher the mountain is, the greater the course will change between seasons. What is a fun outdoor adventure in the summer can be a brutal fight for survival in the winter. Of course, it is really hard to expect what a mountain will be until you get there. In February of 2018, I had just finished a fun snow hike on Mount Tō (Tōnodake), and was looking to challenge myself on another winter hill. So, about a week later I went up north with the hiking Sensei to try out some more snow hiking on the Nasudake Mountain Range. Whereas Mount Tō had a good layer of snow at the top, the path towards Mount Chausu was on a completely different level. The hiking sensei Naoyasu had brought a couple sets of snow shoes, so we were still optimistic to test out the snowy trail.
We had to park at the lower of the two parking lots, as the path to the upper parking lot was blocked off by all the snow. The sky was cloudy when we left the parking lot, but soon we noticed some snow falling down. We took a small shortcut towards the second parking lot, and after 45 minutes we finally reached the actual trailhead. The further in we got, the heavier the snow was. It was well below freezing and I could already start to feel the cold snow seep into my boots. As we pressed further inwards, I spotted a strange looking stone bench in the distance. We moved closer, and realized it was the top of the Shinto "Tori" gate and that the snow below our feets was already at least 2 metres thick. We had to be careful when crossing above a small river, as there were little gaps in the snow that we might fall through. The two of us moved onto an open ridge. At this point the snowfall had begun to really pick up. We met a couple other hikers who had decided to call it quits, and we too debated what to do next. The two of us decided to push a bit further until we could get a view of the conditions above and would have a more clear idea of the perils we might face. This led us to the ruins of an old teahouse, below the peak of Mt. Asahi.
The route above was beyond treacherous. At this point, the snowfall had turned into a violent blizzard with incredibly strong winds, reminding me of an iconic mountain scene from lord of the rings. Not only did the road ahead hold risks of freezing, slipping, and potential avalanche, but our greatest concern was that the heavy snowfall could soon erase the path below us, leaving us lost on the mountain. Before turning back, I managed to quickly take a couple pictures of the surreal scenery before my hands started to freeze.
On the way back down, we had a short conversation a mountain ranger who also made the decision to retire. There, I noticed that the ranger had dropped his pickaxe, so I ran ahead to give it back to him.
Although in hindsight, it was probably not a good idea to chase someone down in the mountains in a blizzard while holding an axe and shouting at them. Thankfully we caught up with him and were able to return it.
By the time we made it back to the car my whole body felt completely frozen - especially my toes, it was the first time in all my years in Japan that I experienced a real sense of cold. But that was soon fixed as we drove to a nearby hot spring and warmed up.
Summer Adventure on Nasudake
That following summer, Naoyasu & I returned to the mountain along with my hiking buddy Sneha and one of Naoyasu's students. When we arrived back at the parking lot, I was amazed to see how different the path and atmosphere were. This time, we were able to take the ropeway to the lookout near the Mt. Chausu peak. The area was very rocky with great views, and a generally easy path. We hiked around the dome, passing by a big rock, until we reached the top. Next, we moved downwards and took a break near the crossroads between the two peaks. The path to the Mt. Asahi peak was very rocky and guided by long chains, but they were more of a support than a necessity. We reached the second peak within a relatively short time. Although the trail looked a bit rough with several chains, it wasn't so steep or difficult. However, I was imagining how deadly it would have been if we had pressed on during those winter conditions. This trip, I had brought my Canon Camera, and took several nice photos of the landscape.
The moral here is that a mountain's landscape can be absolutely different depending on season and weather conditions, so plan accordingly.
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