Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Welter weight

The course I'm doing here is called ウエルター級、or 'welter weight'. It's the first course I've completed in the henachoko section, the translation for which I have no idea.



First, you've got to crawl up from under the bulging wall and then drag your body to where I'm at above.



Then, as you can see, you've got to get jiggy with the wall.



One giant leap, and you're out of desperation territory.



Wriggle around a little, and you're there, in monkey position.

I'm seriously becoming addicted to this sport, but it has a toll. One's hands get battered with calluses and one's muscles are worked to the limit. I've given myself a year in which I want to get good enough to climb the 'real climbers' routes. It's all very 厳しい (severe).

Thanks to Keiko for taking the shots.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Halfway up

Well, I only managed to get halfway up yesterday. The snow was about a metre deep at around 850m, and the section of the trail that I refer to as 'the rocks' was looking shaky since there was snow covering hidden crevices. It's definitely ripe for boarding up there now, and I kicked myself for not taking mine up with me.



Sun breaking through the trees.



The Hakkodas, looking just how I like them. I had to zoom in for this shot, losing clarity in the image. I stuck it through Neat Image but it still looks a little noisy in the clouds.



I might go back up with my board tomorrow for a burn through the trees. If not I'll be making my debut at Hakkoda on Monday, hiking up to the top station to see how things are looking up there.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Riding round the mountain, and the first snows

I opted out of the mountain trek on Monday due to a crappy nights sleep the night before. I gave myself an extra hour in bed that morning and went for a slightly less time consuming jaunt. It takes roughly six hours to climb, there and back, whereas the circumvent by bike takes around five. Just a few pics of stuff I saw along the way.



This is a Buddhist statue that I'm sure all those who drive along the Apple road from time to time will recognise. She's situated next to a desolated old mountain lodge called Kenny's House. Kenny's House looks to have been a prosperous little place at one time or another, but now it's empty and deteriorating.



For those of you who've long wondered what Buddha's back looks like: cracked and fitted with an antenna.



I couldn't go without slinging up one of Mt. Iwaki itself. The snow has been falling on the mountain quite heavily this month, which means there should be an early start to the season. I'm determined to make one last climb before it's too late though.



May I help you? You tell me. I've long wondered what this container's all about, since it's sat there on the side of the road doing nothing.

Pray for good weather on Monday, cos I'm going up, whatever.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Staring at the wall

I've taken the shots out of this one now. Sorry if it's confusing.

Don't know why these shots take so long to load, but they do. I've been really getting into the walls over the last few weeks. It's a great form of exercise, and it's graceful. If you ever watch professionals climb, you can see the cool way they move their body weight and preserve their energy whilst on the wall/rock. The best climbers at the Rat Walls, where I climb, are a couple of guys who haven't necessarily been climbing long, but they have lots of experience in boxing and gymnastics. You need to have muscles coming out of the most precarious crevices in your body if you want to be good. I'm a long way off.



The above shot shows one climb I've nearly cracked. It's called クマ, or 'The Bear'. It's not so hard to do if you don't carry much body weight, but if you do, and if you don't have the right muscular constitution you'll be stuck. The yellow guide on the right is where you put your right hand, and the one on the left is your left hand route. The last yellow dot is the goal. You can stick your feet anywhere you like, but it helps if you know a good lower body technique. The yellow dot over on the left, in the crack between the two walls, is where I shimmy my right foot for support just before the final leap for the goal. Tomorrow I'm going to do it proper. Last week I did it, but without grace.



Now this shot shows タカ, which I've cracked already. Took me about six weeks, but when I did it you wouldn't believe the sense of achievement I got. The pink on the left is my left hand route, and the yellow my right. This is really just beginner stuff, and when I watch the other guys climb I know I'm a long way off. I have the rest of my good health to try get better.

The one thing most climbers spend the majority of their time doing is sitting staring at the wall, searching for better ways to get what they want. Just sitting, staring at the wall.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The first frost

No, it hasn't got that cold in Hirosaki just yet, apart from one small spot located 1400m above sea level. One of the reasons I climb so often is that it bares more starkly the process of the seasons, which I like. At 8:30am I was in autumn, then some two and a half hours later I was walking through what could only be described as winter.



As seasons change over a length of time you often pay less attention to the change itself than to the immediate effects of your surroundings; sweat on one's forehead in summer, cold fingers in winter. Climbing on Monday, I noticed the sound of rustling leaves one minute, then the sound of frost breaking underfoot the next.

The scenery above 1400 was marvelous if you ask me: bleak.





It's easy to understand why the seasons have long played a consistent and central role in Japanese culture and literature. In England, the winters are usually cold, but not so cold as to change your lifestyle, and then the summers are sometimes hot, but more often than not they are indifferent to the rest of the year. In Japan, the annual rise and fall of temperatures is really quite in your face. At least in northen Japan it is.



Wind blown frost forming on rocks at Akakura dake.



A rock which I think looks like a bent out of shape face.



I went to ring the bell at the top, but found it looking like this.

I'm off up again tomorrow, but I doubt it'll be frosty up there. Temperatures have swung up slighty since Monday, but I'm gambling on the first snow to come within the next two weeks.