Bushwalk Australia

2950m, chuo alps, in nagano prefecture
great walk. not that hard. easy access.
I'll write up the trip tomorrow
the picture shows the side i went from, the peak is a short distance behind the skyline.
bus and cable car get you to 2500m. a couple of hours walk will get you to the peak. and good views if the central japan mountains in good weather

You know what they say, photo or it didn't happen...

information on how to access the area is here.
i bused from nagoya, you can bus from tokyo as well. the bus stops next to the motorway at komagane, there is another local bus service to take you to accomodation and then up the mountain to 1600m,
http://www.chuo-alps.com/en/

from there you take a cablecar to 2600m to the hotel. its a well established track that zig zags up a couloir to a saddle on the top of the ridge at 2800m.
https://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=Mt.+Ko ... atake&z=15
i'm not super fit, just a moderate amount of fitness. short jogs and spend up to an hour and a half walking hills in the weekend, and more time walking on the flat, i'd been sitting around for a week before i did this climb, i was huffing and puffing a bit in the thinner air and having to walk slower but other than that it wasnt a hard climb, completed in under an hour
once you're at the top of the climb theres a wide ridge you can wander around,
as a lot of places in the Japanese alps there are huts staged along the ridge tops that you can overnight in. its basic accomodation in places you can walk a whole week along the ridge lines going from hut to hut... the facilities can vary, some huts at least can provide food , you may have to book the meal or accommodation in advance, i havent looked at the details.
once on the ridge i wandered to a peak just to my east, then back and to the north over another peak then on to mt komagotake, about a 70 metre climb on each upn moderate slopes, have to boulder hop a bit on stale boulders, about an hour from the saddle to komagotake at 2950m
the views were stunning, unrestricted in all directions mountains in all directions, including the top of mt Fuji 80kms away and towns in the valleys below , .
i returned the way i came.
for september it was a lot warmer than usual... we had around ten degrees on top with a breeze but it was warm in the sun. temperatures can be around freezing at altitude at this time of year but you shouldnt have snow yet.. it is typhoon season but there is a lot of stable weather in between, there was a major tropical storm the previous day dumping 500mm of rain. but it cleared by the end of the day, it did close teh road, delaying our trip by ten hours.
i'd highly recommend the trip. it's by far one of the best places to get easy access high into the alps, there were dozens of people around though, but if you are doing an overnight trip you'll get more solitude... the Japanese arent into talking loudly as the chinese tend to do, so i didnt feel that intruded on by having other people around.
hte sun was pretty strong and i didnt take enough precautions and got a bit burned on teh side of my face because i only had a peak cap. also burnt my arms....
this is one of the better times of the year to go with the cooler stable weather, summer can be pretty hot then, and the sun would be scorching.... winter is very cold with deep snow on the ranges, this is in the nagano region, its a popular skiiing destination. they had a skiifield at 1000m and a photo of deep snow in the valley....

photos
https://picasaweb.google.com/1079507089 ... pan2900mUp

Thanks wayno

Nice spot

you're welcome.
despite the nice forecast , i carried the kitchen sink up with me in the way of clothes anyway.
in the hottest summer on record this summer, some climbers were caught out in bad weather in the alps , three died from hypothermia...
in the lowlands its like queensland in summer in Japan.. it's been 40 degrees. 34 while i've been here, with high humidity.

Very nice! It's aways great to see a change of scenery. I love that two stones for the mountain spirits. They must have been in happy moods on that day. Thanks for sharing and wish for many more fine hiking days ahead for you two!

interesting thing is the Japanese bushwalkers seem to love their european and american brands....
ots of sportiva and scarpa boots, more mammut than i've seen before... fair bit of north face, not a lot of mont bell. lots of people in boots, hardly any in trail runners... i'm guessing it's too much faith in advertising and or what the person in the store tells them..
when i got on the bus in teh morning to go up the mountain, everyone on the bus was well equipped with good gear, and a fair bit of it really good gear, i've never been surrounded by so many well euipped people for the outdoors.... they were all asian, probably almost all japanese, possibly because it was an early but and the more serious folk got up early.... later on in the day the less well equipped started turning up. people climbing to the top in the heat of the middle of the day....

wayno wrote:later on in the day the less well equipped started turning up. people climbing to the top in the heat of the middle of the day....

They are the real tough ones! Inferior equipment and greater physical endurance. You should have been amongst them than the pampered lot!

GPSGuided wrote:They are the real tough ones! Inferior equipment and greater physical endurance. You should have been amongst them than the pampered lot!

... and that's why the first nude, solo, unassisted winter traverse of Antarctica was attempted...

EDIT: This is a joke.

just took the train from nagoya to kyoto,, 130k's........ in 35 minutes.... I"m in shock....

LOL!

Yeah, think of the same train going to Milford Sound! Wow!

EDIT: This is a joke too.

People everywhere, I wouldn't mind stealing the mountains though. Put them up along the NSW/SA border...

its only because of the easy access near the gondola... walk a few k's and you virtually have the place to yourself

Is it a ski area in winter?

not this immediate area. no. but it's Nagano province, theres a lot of them in the region.

Never really thought of Japan for hiking, skiing certainly. Very nice though Wayne.. and your camera has lots of zoom!

cheers, using a dedicated video camera for the vids..
lonley planet put out a book "Hiking in Japan"

Nick S wrote:... and your camera has lots of zoom!

I would say the praise should have been on Wayno's steady hands!

well all the new handycams have image stabilising technology in them, otherwise everything would look like an earthquake.. this cameras only a cheap one.

wayno wrote:...this cameras only a cheap one.

Ah, so it's still attributable to those steady hands.