After Koizawa buttress (越沢バットレス) last Sunday, today I went to discover a new crag near Tōkyō : Shōnin-iwa (聖人岩). After a warm and sunny day, the rock was dry without us having to suffer the heat and humidity of the summer. It was a good opportunity. As we were the first at the crag we [...]

The snow has almost fully melt, flowers starts to bloom and it starts to be hot. It smells spring. In other words, the mountaineering season is over and it’s time to put the cramons away until the summer trip in the French Alps. While I was putting the crampons away, I took the rock climbing [...]

Wet. Everything was wet Friday morning when we started to head for the famous Shiroumadake-shuryo (白馬岳主稜) alpine climbing route. The snow, which became sticky and rotted by several days of rain, the tent and our gears soaked by a night under heavy rain at Sarukura (猿倉). It was not starting good. But when we woke [...]

After several hitch during the last mountaineering attempts which forced us to give up, this week-end was excellent, even better than expected. Monday being a national holiday in Japan, we planned to do the Goryudake (五竜岳) ~ Karamatsudake (唐松岳) traverse over the 3 days week-end staying at Shiradake-sansō lodge (白岳山荘) on Saturday night and Karamatsu-sansō [...]

Few month ago, I was exchanging emails with a former Taiwanese classmate from the Japanese language school, who invited me to visit her if I visit Taiwan. Unfortunately I had no interest in taking vacations in Taiwan. I know there’s a lot of 3000 meters mountains in Taiwan but wouldn’t go just for hiking. By [...]

Following last week-end, you will find in this article all the practical information (mountain lodge, access…) regarding Myōkōzan (妙高山) and Hiuchiyama (火打山). General facts Myōkōzan, also called Echigofuji (越後富士), is a 2454m (8051 ft) high active stratovolcano located in the Niigata (新潟県) prefecture. Hiuchiyama stucked between Myōkōzan and Yakeyama (焼山) volcanoes is not a volcano [...]

Obviously Hiuchiyama (火打山) and Myōkōzan (妙高山) have something against us. While last year our hike didn’t go further Tōkyō station, last week-end we were not far from not even reach the station to take the shinkansen. On Saturday morning, when I reached Nakano station, all the trains were stopped because of an accident. Then I [...]

Here is a video on the Light rain (ライト・レイン) route (5.8), shot while climbing at Akane-no-hama (あかねの浜) in Jōgasaki (城ヶ崎) in the Izu peninsula (伊豆). Check this page for other climbing videos and practical information regarding Jōgasaki.

Here is a video on a route not referenced on the topo, shot while climbing at Otatsu (おたつ) in Jōgasaki (城ヶ崎) in the Izu peninsula (伊豆). Check this page for other climbing videos and practical information regarding Jōgasaki.

Here is a video on the Lucky stone (ラッキ・ストン) route (5.10a), shot while climbing at Akane-no-hama (あかねの浜) in Jōgasaki (城ヶ崎) in the Izu peninsula (伊豆). Check this page for other climbing videos and practical information regarding Jōgasaki.