18 May 2009
Last week I skied 1000m or more off each of the 3 peaks above Hakuba in one day. The trio of peaks tend to be offered as an iconic image of the alpine town. It took 14 hours, however 30 minutes was wasted in the pitch black pre-dawn during very thick clouds when I couldn't see a thing and had to double back to remain on path.
In total I skied 3500m and climbed 4000m making it the biggest day I've had in the mountains. The route I took covered 40km of travel (climbing and skiing). I purposely chose to take the easiest routes on each peak with the focus being completion of a challenge/training exercise rather than severity of lines skied. During the course of the day I consumed 10 energy gels, 6 snickers bars and drank 2 liters of water. I went alone choosing not to take my dog as I thought such a big day would be unfair on him.
Hakuba 3 peaks in mid-May
I didn't take many pictures on the tour since my focus was not on photography, rather moving quickly.
After sunrise the valley clouds cleared and the day remained perfectly blue
I started at 3am from Sarukura, climbed 1600m to the top of Daisseke and traversed behind Shakushi to the summit of Hakuba Yari (2903m) in 5 hours.
At 8.30am I skied 1000m down he south face of Yari and climbed all the way back to the summit by 11.40am. I then skied a few hundred meters down the NNW face of Yari and traversed again on the back-side of the range to ascend the summit of Shakushi (2812m).
Shakushi on the left with the north face of Yari 4km away on the right. This picture was taken on the ascent of Shirouma
Due to a lack of summit snow I descended 75m on foot and then skied the north bowl of Shakushi followed by a long smooth line down Daisekke. This 1000m descent left me 1100m below the summit of Shirouma (2932m). It was 1pm and so far I had enjoyed some first class spring skiing. I felt strong, but that was enthusiasm more than real power. By half way through the 1100m climb back up Daisekke to the summit of Shirouma I felt weak.
Shirouma didn't have enough snow to ski from the summit (safely) so I dropped my pack and booted to the summit and back down to my skis at 2830m. It was 3.50pm when I started my final descent of 1500m.
The approach and line skied on Shirouma
EPIC!!!
What a day! Congratulations on a challenge well met. One of these days I'll get around to sending you up a batch of home-made energy gel to go with the Snickers....
Thanks Chris. Among other
Thanks Chris. Among other daydreaming that kept me entertained over the hours that day, I thought about the various people in Japan's English speaking blogworld who share their adventures in the hills. It is a loose and small community that seems to be growing of late, in no small part due to the very well deserved popularity of your own adventures as blogged. For some reason this made me happy.
Well done my friend
Well done my friend
Monster Day!
Well done Damian. That's huge vertical and even more lateral - 40km traveled is amazing!
stunning
Congratulations on a superb achievement. Such a huge vertical ascent in the snow under your own steam. Lloyd would probably have followed you faithfully as always, but it would have been tough on him and he's not getting any younger.
Only 2 liters of water is a surprise for that distance/hours. I'll bet you enjoyed rehydrating with beer in the evening!
Hi Wade - thanks for the
Hi Wade - thanks for the comments and also the motivation you provided in big-vertical days.
Julian - Lloyd would have had a great time but undoubtedly would have over exerted himself, particularity the descent when I was moving fast for long distances on hard spring snow. Plus, he would have gone without adequate water over the day. My own water of 2L was well supplemented buy the energy gels. I had a beer and a half that night and found that I was babbling much more inanely than normal. Fell asleep in my friends bean bag at midnight, enjoyed a rest day following day.
GOOD JOB!
After taking 2 days to climb just 1 of those peaks I now appreciate what a massive acheivement this really was... good job Kamoushika!
Hi Mick. You and I will get
Hi Mick. You and I will get up one in an easy day this coming week. Thanks for looking after Lloyd when I was out (amongst the other 150 or so days per year). And than thanks for the beer after the event.
Dreaming of Mountains
Hey Damian,
Maybe If you hauled my $hit I would of tagged along with ya on this one... LOL Not likely. Huge day man and even better corn by the sounds of it. But 40km... hope you were on your skis?
Anyway man, I may have to bring that duck tape over to ya this coming winter season... Hope all is well with Mio and Lloyd.
Cheers
Da Newf
Oh sup with testing my math skills anyway.
Hi Newfy, Mio and Lloyd are
Hi Newfy, Mio and Lloyd are well and say hello.
Yes, I went on skis rather than a splitboard. That would have been harder for sure. See you here next season :)
Mt.Shiroumadake
I feel nostalgic for Mt.Shiroumadake.
I remember that I glided in Daisekkei together.
I remember that well, and I
I remember that well, and I am sure all of us have skied for 9 months in a row since then. I hope we can ski Daisekke again this October