my outdoor log

Hakusan is the highest moutain in the prefecture I am living, Ishikawa. A very clean national park, with wonderful natural lakes, It is the proud of the region (we are even applying to have it registered as a world heritage !)
It is one of the 3 sacred mounts in Japan, with Tateyama and Mt Fuji : at the top you can find a small shrine, and a bigger one at the plateau where a pension have been set.
Hakusan can be climbed and enjoyed by everyone, at every levels, and it adds to its glamour.
The most done course is to take the easiest way to the pension, spend a night there and been woken up 30 minutes before the sunrise, to climb with the priest so as to get the summit for the sunrise !

During spring and summer we can enjoy beautiful mountain flowers, and in automn the mushrooms and the beautiful fall colors...

Another advantage of Hakusan, is that is does not cost so much to get there. Usually, to go to famous moutain you have to pay for the parking, then take an expensive bus to the starting point...
For Hakusan, the parking is free, and the shuttle bus is only something like 2.5euros... (and you can avoid taking it by climbing by a longer hiking course starting from the parking)

So, we left Matto around 4:30 and arrived at the parking around 5:30. We got the 6:00 bus and started hiking around 6:30. Even if the main course (Sabo Road) was very crowded (families, groups...), without loosing our time we climbed at a good pace, and reached the summit at 9:30.
It was a cloudy day, so we did not have the great view one could have expected... but i don't feel any disapointment since Hakusan is very close from Matto and i will surely have many occasions to go again !

Since we where in time (the usual course time is 5 hours), we decided to go down to the parking using the Shaka road : a very nice walk on the spur, seeing wonderful natural lakes, to to the Nanakura crossroad, and a nice descend throught Shaka spur. I was very suprised by the small numbers of people we met on this road ! So many on the main road, and so few and secondary roads...
we could also enjoy beautiful moutain flowers, with nice butterflies and birds... all that in a very pleasant calm atmosphere...

we arrived at the parking around 3, and went back Kanazawa after a good bath in the nearest Spa.

THE Tsurugidake ! One of the most difficult climb in the north Japanese Alps. The pride of the region...
Hearing that, a fresh mountaineer like me could not wish anything but climbing it...

When i entered Hakusan Moutaineering Club, one of the first thing i said was : "i want to climb Tsurugidake, but as it's dangerous to go alone, please take me along".

Mr Yasuda immediately offered to take me along, so we went on July 13th !  There are 2 pistes leading to Tsurugidake : from Tateyama, or from Banbajima.

The route from Tateyama is the most used, usually a 2 day hike.

The route from Banbajima is usually done on 2 days too, but as i had a golf competition on saturday, we decided to do it on one day !

Afer the golf (who was really crowded) we left Matto at 4:30, and got Banbajima at around 6. There we installed the tent, and had a simple dinner near the river. Waking up at 3:00 (of course it was still night), we started climbing a 3:30, using ours head lamp to see the route. As it was quite dark, we could not guess the steepness of the slope (might be better not to see...)

we progressed quickly on Hayatsuki spur, keeping up with the sunrise, and having a short break every hour. We arrived at Hayatsuki mountain hut around 7:30, and had a short break with 3 mountaineers who told us that a lot of snow was remaining on the way to the top, making it impossible to continue... i felt very disapointed, but i did not intend to insist. Luckily, Mr Yasuda suggested that we go on as long as the route made it possible...

we first met a man going down, who had returned his way without reaching the top, afraid by the snow. Indeed, we were still following Hayatsuki spur, and the slopes and both sides where quite steep. Even if the snow was only remaining on some short parts of the route, to slip there would have mean to slip untill the bottom of the mountain. So we progressed very carefully.

Then we met a second man, who simply told us that reaching the top was impossible...

As we wanted to confirm it by ourselves, we continued, beeing very cautious on the snowed parts. Before we could meet any impossible part to pass, we reached the 2900m point, from which it is only rocks that we have to climb.
As we only met 3men during our ascension, i was wondering how many people we would meet on the top : may be 2 or 3, coming from the easier way of Tateyama...

I was so really surprised to notice at least 5 people, quite young and very well equiped : helment, harness, sparts.... when i came closer, i realised there were many of them, may be 20... Was it a mountaineering club ? or some professionals training ? then i realised that some of them were wearing former clothes, and i understood : there were here filming scenes of the movie "tsurugidake, Ten no ki" that was expected for next year !
we could discuss with some of the staff, very nice guys. There were waiting for the weather to clear away, so that they could shoot a scene...
Among them was Tadanobu Asano, a very famous japanese actor.

after a short break, we went down. total time : 12 hours !

At the mountain gate "shiren to akogare" (probation and yearning)

on sunday, we had planned to do river climbing in Aradani valley, so we went to Ichirino Ski Area (with mrs Nishijima and Yasuda from the moutaineering club).
But as it had been raining since saturday night, the river flow was becoming very dangerous, so we decided to cancel the river climbing and to replace it by a walk to the Iwama hot spring.

It was a very nice walk in the rain, and very pleasant to reach a real hot spring (i could not enter the bath neither use the hot water to wash myself since it was really hot !)

it only took 3 hours for the entire walk, then we went to a spa before going back Matto in the afternoon.

My first excursion in the mountain with Hakusan Mountaineering club.

We leaved Matto on saturday at 8:30. After doing shopping for the dinner, we arrived at Shomyo falls parking around 11:30. After a quick lunch and preparation, we started ascend at 12:00.

on the right side of the Shomyo River, there is a quite steep ascend route, going to Bijo plateau. It is open to the public from July 1st, since it is already at 1200m heigh, and some snow remain until June. But as we were well-equiped (we all brought some ropes, stack, carabiners...), we took this way.
We formed a group of 12, but soon we were separated by our different condition. I walked ahead, following Mr Yasuda. After a very nice 2 hours ascend, with some short breaks at viewing points, we came to Bijo plateau, and followed the course in the forest, so as to get the mountain hut where we would have dinner and sleep.

As i arrived well in advance with Mr Nishijima, we went to the Bijodaira bus terminal to get some water. It was only a 20minutes walk from the hut, but 20l water was quite easy, even if we shared the work...

We had a very nice evening, lighting with candle, and a short but good night.

The next morning

in September, the sunny weather was still there, so i planned a small hike in a near mountain. Fujishagatake is a quite easy hike, alterning funny parts in the forest, and beautiful parts on the mountain spur.
When the weather is really nice, one should be able tosee the Mt Fuji from the top. Unfortunatly the day i went it was a little cloudy, but i still could see the closer Mt Hakusan !

departure from Matto at 8:00, start of the hike around 9:30. Getting the top around lunch time, and after a good lunch, go down by another way, and get back to the car around 2. After a good bath in the near Yamanaka Onsen, got back Matto around 4:00.

beeing quite easy and close from Matto, might be very interesting for winter season...