SNOWBOARDING / SKIING / FLY-FISHING IN
You can contact me on addivesite@hotmail.com
First, friends’ websites:
http://www.backcountryjapan.com
Now, an attempt of a blog…
2007:
J 2007
11 24: Kagura: Nakaone:
Most and best pictures by George & Izumi-san.
2008:
J 2008
01 01: Kagura: Nakaone:
Most and best pictures by George & Izumi-san.
J 2008
01 12: Kagura: Nakaone : SNOW PIT:
Dug a snow pit on a SE facing slope (Bearing 110) at
an altitude of 1900m.
Snow depth measured @ between 290cm – 320cm.
Dec 29th rain crust sandwich at 40cm below surface (can be seen
in the pictures).
Compression test: 23 taps for a clean shear at around 10cm below the Dec 29th
rain crust.
Extremely dense snow pack overall.
J 2008 01 14: Mantaro Ridge Recon Trip:
Recon trip in the Tsuchitaru
area with Chris.
A couple more recon trips there should yield some good terrain.
An investment for the future.
With George & Izumi-san.
Very cold, -12c at the top.
Slabby snowpack easily breaking off at around 20cm
depth.
Naturally occurring large stress cracks in the snowpack
on South-West to West facing slopes.
With George and Izumi-san.
Long hike in good conditions.
Snowpack fairly stable but snow quite heavy in the forest.
Large cornices starting to form due to wind actions.
Some cracks in the cornices can be spotted up to the tree line = stay away
from the edge !
As my friend Bruno rightly pointed out, given this website’s name, it was
seriously lacking in trout pictures!
Until the fly-fishing season starts! In the meantime, I was sent a nice local
brownie pic.
As a bonus I was given a picture of some local French snow-clearing action
back home.
It is not Tateyama yet, but it is not too shabby.
J 2008 02 11: Captain
Kayama views :
What was supposed to be a long (3-day) week-end of hiking stunning powder
fields ended with a trip to the local hospital (Yamato) and barely a few ski
turns at one of the smallest local hills.
Our little treasure fell sick and we had to look after him.
I took advantage of some reasonable weather to take some pictures from the Kandatsu area towards Daigenta.
When we went to Captain Kayama (interesting name, apparently there used to
be a boat at the bottom of the resort), I took pics
from the top of the resort.
It covers among other things, Kandatsu and the Kagura area.
For those with a keen eye, below are some of the things you can spot on the
pictures:
- Daigenta-san and its steady SW-facing face + surrounding
peaks
- Views
of the Kayama resort Taken from the Kandatsu
area
- Ludens ski jo + Kandatsu (spot
- Shome-san and its NE-facing slope ( the more
interesting SE-Facing slope is hidden)
- Kagura area. Those with x-ray vision will be able to
even spot tracks (looks like Nakaone was busy busy…)
With George & Izumi-san & Sakuchan.
50cm of fresh snow at the bottom, 80cm+ at the top.
Cold temps,
My supposedly rugged watch froze-up and starting to act up.
No instability was noted in the snowpack on W-NW
aspects which was quite refreshing and enjoyable.
It was a very hard hike up in deep snow. Rode down once, climbed back up in
our tracks and rode another time.
Another good day out with friends.
I have just added George’s & Izumi san’s
pictures as well.
Somebody is seriously gasping for air…
With George & Izumi-san.
-10 degrees in the morning with a layer inversion and
surface hoar.
Temperatures soared as the day progressed but the sky stayed blue and the
wind was almost non-existent.
It was only my second blue-bird day this season! It just snows all the time
in
As usual George & Izumi san were super genki
and hiking fast, while I was trailing behind.
Snow on NW aspect was heavy but stable. A good day out in
nice weather.
J 2008 03 02: Hakuba Tsugaike / Hyodorimine - RAC :
With Dave from Evergreen and 8 other students :
Matt, (2) Mike (2), Daniel, Rowan, Wade, etc…
The second day of the avalanche class was in the field in the BC near Tsugaike.
We hiked-up Hyodorimine, dropped into a north
facing line.
We hiked back up the shoulder and dug our pits.
One group then had a simulation on flat terrain.
We then hiked back up the ridge and our group had their simulation in a steepish
gully.
It took us 20 minutes of hiking up and down the gully in deep snow to pull
out 6 victims, including one that had no beacon.
We then rode down to an empty Tsugaike resort
that had already closed down and down to the car park.
It was another fine day weather-wise with a very stable snowpack.
J 2008 03 03: Hakuba Goryu
/ Tengu Dake Flutes :
With Damian, Luke, Corry.
With fine weather in the morning we decided to head-up to the top of Goryu and try the Tengu-Dake
flutes that Damian and Luke have been trying to hit for a while.
When we got there, the weather turned suddenly against us.
Damian rappelled down our intended line to check the pack.
It was a combination of nasty crusts + facets/gobelets.
Given the adverse combination of snowpack and
weather, we decided to turn back.
We considered hitting Mura-one but did not have the proper supplies for the
terrain so opted out for the south face of Goryu since
it had an easy hike out.
The snow was yellow/brownish from sand that had
been blowing over from china.
The new snow that was falling did not help much and it was like riding
heavy molasses or cement that was about to set.
It was a new experience for all of us. At least the pack was stable, but
tight trees with a large board and super-duper heavy sticky snow was so so.
We rode down to Damian’s cabin, had a hot chocolate and watched “touching
the void”.
J 2008 03 09: Yomogi Toge : CREVASSE FALL ! :
With Chris.
It was a late start for us as Chris came by shinkansen
that morning.
The road had been cleared all the way to the entrance of the train tunnel.
Temperatures were high.
Chris was having a good time on skis.
Meanwhile I was still sinking 20-30cm with my snowshoes in heavy snow.
The scenery all the way to the top was beautiful.
It was great to be in such a peaceful environment.
The terrain there has to be handled with care though with a lot of traps
waiting for the unwary.
The crossing of the creeks was really easy as there was so much snow. If
you had not been there in the summer you would not know there was a river
below.
Still we could see a lot of sluffing and point
avalanches higher up especially on south facing slopes due to strong solar
radiation, but most of the slides were smallish.
Of more concern was the large number of glide cracks and crevasses we could
see waiting for us.
As it turns out, towards the summit I fell into a 4m deep crevasse.
It was a glide cracks that had run to the ground
and whose top section had been covered completely by the action of the wind.
I tied my 30m 8mm rope to my harness, and Chris helped me to get out of
this nasty looking crevasse.
The roof of the crevasse was still collapsing and cracking by itself while
I was inside waiting for Chris.
I was glad to have the proper equipment and be able to get out swiftly.
Once again the backcountry teaches us another important life lesson.
The ride down was very enjoyable with light snow at the top and nice slushy
snow at the bottom.
This area has a lot of potential for great lines and is virtually never
ever visited.
We will be back!
With Daniel.
A fairly late start for an easy stroll along the
bottom of Kedozawa.
Warm temps, quite a few people on the trail, most of
them being skiers.
One Japanese hiker on foot broke through a snow bridge above one of the
many small rivers.
He was ok and kept on going.
The hike all the way towards Mantaro looks
promising but it is about 25km round trip with 1400m of vertical and has a long
flat out.
Explains why you do not see snowboarders around here!
With Jun and Maxim.
Easy day out at Yuzawa Kogen.
After being out of action for the longest time with bronchitis and a busted
back it was nice to get out and get some fresh air.
They had a few snow activities for the kids as well as Go Karting.
South faces are almost entirely bare of snow.
Even the higher peaks in the region seem shockingly devoid of snow for that
time of the year.
It seems the Kagura area still has the most at the
moment.
Saw some salamanders and their eggs for the first time as well in one of
the nearby ponds.
Not sure if they were of the giant kind. I doubt it given the size of the
lake which would not seem to have the required biotope to sustain them, but a
Japanese couple kept on saying Ōsanshōuo.
They were so impressed that they called their friends on the mobile right
away to tell them all about it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_salamander
Weird looking creatures I must say!
Far away we could see the Gala gondola running for the last day of the
season.
J 2008 05 22: Tanzawa area : Fly-Fishing:
A late outing, got there at lunch time.
I was intending to go to the Flick fishing field but it was closed, so I
headed to Tanzawa Homu to
buy my license.
I fished the Taraigoyasawa and the Fujikumagawa where they intersect.
I used a simple black dry fly with wings.
A lot of insects flying around already, most of them, black rock spiders tiny black flies and house flies.
The catch of the day was 5 small (25cm ish) Iwanas, all in the Taraigoyasawa
which I all released back into the river.
The upper section of the river is nice: narrow, shallow and technical
before it merges with the Fujikumagawa and becomes
the Nunogawa, wide and deep and less interesting.
For those wondering if they have the fisherman’s eye, I have included
pictures of some of the Iwanas I caught from various
distances.
Can you spot them?
J 2008 05 26: Tanzawa area : Fly-Fishing:
Managed to sqeeze another
quick trip to tanzawa before the start of the rainy
season.
This time I went to Flick to get my license.
I was by myself and did not see another person along the river the whole
day.
I only fished the upper section of the FujiKumaGawa
this time around.
I missed some iwanas and one brown trout but
caught some rainbow trouts.
The quality of the rainbows was not very good.
They all bore the hallmarks of having been raised and fed in a concrete basin : The fins on one side were all gnawed from rubbing
against the cement walls.
As usual they were all released unharmed.
The temperature for the day was nice and cool around 16 degrees with the
clouds covering the summits in late afternoon.
Another nice relaxing day out away from the hustle and
bustle of the city.
J 2008 06 07: Tanzawa area : Fly-Fishing:
The rainy season has abated a little, so I took this opportunity to explore
the FujiKumaGawa further.
This time around I focused on the lower section and found that the hits I
got were almost all within 50-10 meters downhill from dams.
Most of the fish caught were rainbow trouts with
the exception of a vividly colored Iwana.
I also saw a small frog lazying around in its
pond.
J 2008 06 10: Tanzawa area : Fly-Fishing:
Once again in the FujiKumaGawa, this time
focusing on the very upper section just below the Bosco
camping ground.
I started the day by seeing a snake next to a small shallow pool full of
tadpoles.
I could not take a useful picture (it is actually in the first picture, you
cannot see its head, very hard to spot and very small) in the end as it
slithered away.
It had a brownish body and a very distinctive bright yellow patch on its
head.
It most likely feeds on the tadpoles and was most likely a juvenile.
Based on the searches I have done, it was either a Chinese Keeled ratsnake (Chugoku-Syuda) or a Yonagi keeled ratsnake (Yonaguni-Syuda).
With regards to fishing, as usual I had some nice catches close to dams
were the pools are deeper.
All of the catches of the day were rainbow trouts.
I miss the days when you could catch brown and brook trouts
in this river as well.
At the end of the day I caught a large 40cm+ trout.
I intended to release it into the river but it had gulped the fly so deep
that it had hooked itself through the gills and was bleeding hopelessly!
It is quite rare when fishing with dry flies but it happens. Too bad it had
to be with such a beautiful specimen.
So in the end I had to kill it to end its misery and it ended on the dinner
plate a couple of hours later.
First kill of the season, hopefully it will be the
last one, unless I have some friends or family at home who enjoy eating fresh
river fish.
J 2008 06 15: Echigo Yuzawa area
: Matsukawairigawa : Fly-Fishing:
It was a day of discovery.
I had randomly selected a river very nearby our apartment to try out
fishing in the public domain for the first time in this area.
After getting my fishing license at the local convenience store I drove to
a local valley which has a pristine little gem of a river running through it.
I drove on the dirt-road as far as I could before Jun drove back and I
continued hiking as far up the valley as I could.
The plan was to discover the river by fishing it going down valley.
I was suspecting that the river was devoid of fish in its upper section
with a slight chance of catching some tiny iwana or yamame further downstream.
I waded for about a couple hours fishing downstream before catching a very
small Iwana.
It was encouraging as it proved that even the upper section had some fish.
I then caught nothing for about a couple hours before hitting the jackpot.
A 45cm long Iwana rose on my dry fly.
The first time it inspected it before turning away, the second time it rose
it took it with a massive hit.
It took me a couple of minutes before being able to bring it to the net.
It was a very beautiful streamlined fish, fairly thin for its size.
I had never caught such a big Iwana in
Further downstream I caught a couple more Iwanas
before heading back home.
The lower section has a lot of low-lying tree branches and is very hard to
fly-fish.
At least it was a good opportunity to practice slingshot casts.
It was good to catch-up with George and Izumi-san who were
mountain biking in the area and came to visit.
I was happy to be able to show them a couple of things about fly-fishing
and spend some time chatting with them in the sun.
The area has so many mountain streams, I am going
to have fun exploring this summer.
Too bad I forgot my camera on that day and had to use my el-cheapo handphone to take some pictures.
J 2008 10 19: Echigo Yuzawa area : Mantaro Ridge : Hiking:
4 months without being outdoors… I am glad I had not known that 4 months ago.
Was great to be outside breathing some fresh air and
getting in the views and a well-deserved exercise.
The trail was tricky as the hike in the forest was on a steepish
wet clay mix type of dirt that was very slippery especially on the way down.
There was almost nobody on the trail except for 5 people who seem to have
come from the Tenjin side.
On the other hand I could see through my camera zoom that the tenjin peak and the nearby hut were still over-crowded.
This is what you get during the “leaves” season in
I could see that the trail from Tsuchitaru to Shigekuradake was empty as well and that the peak itself
was almost devoid of people despite being not much further than Tenjin.
I checked out the local peaks and took lots of pictures, already thinking snowboard
“lines” for this winter.