There’s no word to describe this trek that I was doing for the second time. The best winter trek I ever did so far. An “into the wild” type of experience : 3 days, alone, in autonomy in the Tōhoku mountains, with breathtakingly landscapes that have nothing to envy to the Alaska or Canada ones. We really had the impression that we got lost in one of these wild regions, far away from civilization.

As for last week-ends in Kita-Yatsugatake and Nikkō, we had, except the first day, nearly perfect weather conditions.

Story :

Arrived by bus in the middle of the morning at the Appi ski resort from Morioka, the ropeway braught us to the top of the resort ; we started walking arounf 11h.

The first day was devoted to orientering ourselves in a dense fog and it is with a certain relief that we found the hut at the edge of the lake on the Hachimantai plateau. Even if we were equipped to spend the night outside, the wind was quite strong and the brazier really heart-warming!

Early awaked for sunrise, we were quickly back to our slipping-bags. The fog was worse and wind stronger that the day before. As forecasts were good, we waited until 10, hopping that it will get better, but we finally had to admit that it might not go any better and decided to leave. This strategy proved to be paying because as we got out of the hut, pieces of blue sky started to appear between clouds and after 30 minutes of walk, a clear sky revealed us the splendid landscape of the plateau:

Despite a very strong wind, this day was exceptional; pictures speeks for themselves :

The next day, weather was again at the rendez-vous, and we could enjoy this time a great sunrise.

At the summit of mount Gendagatake, juste before going down to Matsukawa-onsen, panorama were again breathtaking.

We took our precautions with the descent because 10 days before, 2 people died in an 100m wide srping snow avalanche, as well as 2 others the previous year. We thus went by a roundabout way to avoid the dangerous slopes and reach the valley without any trouble.

The outside bath in the onsen after three days of walk did, for my greatest pleasure, top it all off.

The the next winter trek is already fixed, a route I wish to do since my first time in Hachimantai: from the 3rd day, fork towards Nyuto-onsen (one of the most famous onsen in Japan) to extend the pleasure by 2 additional days.

The appointment is taken, are there any takers?

Not convinced yet? Here are some videos:

Route:

Day 1 : Summit of the Appi ski resort- Chausudake – Hachimantai hut

Day 2 : mount Mokkodake – mount Morobidake – mount Kensomori – Oobukasanso hut

Day 3 : Mount Gendagatake – Matsukawa onsen