April 06

April 2006
SOUNKYO (Golden Week Holiday)
3 days off, yahoo! Loaded up the car with snowboards, climbing gear and camping stuff and set off towards Sounkyo. The traffic was mad as it seemed almost everyone in Kushiro was heading in the same direction. A speed limit of 50km/h on the open road doesn’t help much. We soon turned north and found some less crowded roads and began to get a view of the Daisetsuzan Mountains. The Daisetsuzan National Park is the largest and highest in Hokkaido. In winter it is a backcountry skiing paradise with a high plateau of mountains in the center of the park. In summer it is a very popular hiking area. A trip along the tops can take up to 5 days (summer). We were heading for a popular onsen town called Sounkyo, although this time of year it is not crowded. This area is also famous for the Sounkyo Gorge which is very impressive. Huge columns of rock rising on both sides of the valley. The rock reminded us of the columns at Mt Sommers in Canterbury for those that have been there. Imagine that times about 100! As climbers we were gobsmacked, but have since learnt that climbing is prohibited there! Although the area does seem to get a mention in some climbing guides so maybe if you stay away from sight it is okay. In winter it is one of the best ice climbing areas in Hokkaido. We found an abandoned garage and set up camp. Next day we took a gondola and then hiked to the summit of Kuradake (1974m). The views were great, we could see the huge plateau and over to Asahidake (2290m) the highest in Hokkaido. We took some photos and enjoyed the long snowboard run back to the gondola. Riding through the trees was awesome, it is so much fun. After a few rusty turns at the top I soon felt some rhythm and had a great run. Onsen, good food and beers in town completed a great day. Again we stayed in our garage, and next day traveled to Me-Akan onsen on the way back to Kushiro. We had planned to hike up to an outdoor onsen but our cooker ran out of gas and we were too hungry so continued on to Akan Kohan, and back to Kushiro. We did have a look at Lake Onetto which was still largely covered with ice.