October 2006

SHIRETOKO
Shiretoko is acclaimed as Hokkaido’s (and one of Japan’s) most beautiful National Parks. It is a volcanic mountain range jutting out of the Sea of Othotsk on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. We were a bit apprehensive about exploring the park as it has more bears per square kilometre than any other place in Japan! We traveled up the eastern coastline and stopped to watch fishermen at the river mouths trying their best to catch Salmon. We then traveled over the mountain range via Shiretoko Pass but had little to see as strong winds and clouds obscured the view. Once back down at sea level we looked for a place to camp in Utoro. We were again amazed by the number of deer everywhere. We had to stop on the road to allow a hind and fawn to cross and looked out the window to see two young stags happily grazing by the road. In the town itself there were deer grazing in the grassy areas between the hotels and restaurants. The campgrounds are closed this time of year as they tourist season is slowing down and generally people consider it too cold to camp now. This didn’t bother us much and we kept up our trend of camping for free. We did our bit to protect the National Park and had venison curry for dinner at a small café. Next day dawned clear as expected and had a nice sunrise at 4.30 am! We went back to bed for a few hours and got up at 7’ish to head for Rausu-dake. At 1661m it is the highest mountain in the National Park. We suppressed our fear of bears and climbed about half way up the mountain. We didn’t go all the way because of high cloud and enjoyed the view we had. For me it was great to see the autumn colours, something you can’t really appreciate in the New Zealand Mountains. Afterwards we found a natural outdoor onsen (hotspring) and also walked around the famous 5 lakes.

Map of Hokkaido

September 2006

Autumn is upon us. Been over in Hidaka rock climbing at Akaiwa Segankyo for the weekend. Driving over the Hidaka range and around the boulders the beginnings of a yellow tinge are appearing in the leaves. In another week or so they will be a blaze of orange, reds and yellows. Plan to head over to Shiretoko in the next couple of weeks to get a good look at the autumn colours. Had a good time climbing and can’t help thinking that will be the last time we go climbing there. Sarah nailed a project and led it with ease. I also bagged a 5.11a that has been eluding me a little so we felt pleased with ourselves. We only have a couple of months left in Kushiro and want to make the most of the car and the good weather to explore. Well excited as next weekend Tracy is coming to Sapporo and we have a long weekend!

Just had a 3 day weekend in Sapporo. It was a bit stressful negotiating the motorway then downtown Sapporo to get to our Youth Hostel. Once checked in we walked down to Susukino, the restaurant and bar area of Sapporo. After walking around for a bit we ended up in a Spanish bar. Was more than a bit strange hearing “por favor” from the waiters! Got to talk a little Spanish with the staff, which was fun! Paid 3000 yen for a beer and a couple of slices of quiche and realised it was out of our price range so moved onto a really nice Soup Curry place. Was delicious and is my new favourite food. It has only become popular in the last 5 years or so and originated from Sapporo. Afterwards we walked around wide eyed a bit more, soaking in the bright lights of a larger Japanese city. Spent the next day walking around downtown Sapporo and shopping a little. Odori park was looking beautiful and many people were enjoying the sunshine. Had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was also delicious. Was great to have burritos! Next day we packed up and headed to Chitose airport to meet Tracy who was arriving midday from London, via Germany and Nagoya.

August 06

Aug 2006
Had a job interview over in Niseko Hirafu for Ski Japan. Great drive over, went to Hidaka after work on Saturday then on Sunday carried on over to Niseko via Sapporo and Otaru. Decided to have a crack at the motorways and they were great. We could actually sustain a speed of around 100km/h for more than 5 minutes. Was a great way to by-pass Sapporo quickly. Cost around 3000 yen all up so a bit expensive but worth it as it saved us heaps of time. We stopped at a beach in one of the bays past Otaru on the road to Niseko. It was beautiful, made up of rocky bluffs and jagged coast with sandy beaches settled into the bays. Had a quick swim in the surprisingly warm waters, but was disappointed at the amount of rubbish on the beach. Niseko Hirafu was a sensory overload for us coming from Kuhsiro. Hirafu is a tourist resort town, which is pretty laid back in the summer but really takes off in the winter. It is at the base of a mountain containing 4 ski resorts on all its different aspects. All resorts a linked together and a full mountain pass gives access to all three resorts different chair lifts. There are western style cafes and restaurants and to our surprise menus written in English! Even English speaking staff. We stayed true and of course ordered in Japanese all the same. We spent the afternoon exploring the village then found a campsite and relaxed in the sunshine with a great view of Mt Yoeti. Mt Yoeti is Hokkaidos Mt Fuji. It is a classic dome shaped volcanoe that stands out on its own, and in winter remarkably resembles its southern cousin. After a rather poor nights sleep we had the interview with anAustralian guy. We were shown around the lodges we would be managing and the staff accommodation.

August 06

OBON HOLIDAY
Ahhhh…good times. Back home after 9 days of climbing, camping and road tripping around Hokkaido. After work on Saturday we drove to Hidaka to meet Drew and Maiko who had arrived there from Tokyo via Tomokamai. Unfortunately it was raining, so we quickly put up the tent and went to bed. Next morning dawned clear and we all headed to Akaiwa Seigankyo. We had a great days climbing, really hot and muggy but in the shade of the trees was not too bad. Great to see Drew again and to get to know Maiko. The usual faces were at the crag, a few more people than normal due to the holiday but not too crowded. Did many of the same climbs as before showing Drew and Maiko around. Tried another 5.11a but found it pretty difficult. Afterwards we had an Onsen and drove to Obihiro to see their fireworks display. Bit of a mission as it was 2 hours driving each way but the show was pretty amazing. Next day Drew and Maiko witnessed a ground fall! A climber was attempting a 5.11b and was attempting to clip the 3rd bolt and fell, hitting the ground. He was unconscious for a short time and initially had a lot of bleeding from a head wound. Sarah and I were unaware until we heard the ambulance and went over to see what had happened. Put a bit of a dampener on the day, a bit scary for them to see. However we continued climbing, I tried working a steep and hard 5.11c. Will need a few more attempts yet!
Next day we packed up and started heading northwards. We hoped to meet Rick in the morning at either Tomamu or Furano but he could not get a train until the evening. The train system in Hokkadio seems to be a bit random. Infrequent trains with long waits at some stations. So we spent the day looking at the lavender farms that Furano is famous for and drove up to look at the waterfalls at Tenninkyo and then to Asahidake town. These areas are in the Diasetsuzan National Park and were quite spectacular. There are huge rock walls on the way into Tenninkyo, and close to the road. A little amazed that there are no routes there. The summit of Asahidake, the highest mountain in Hokkaido remained out of view in the clouds. We returned to camp at a free site near Yamabie and picked up Rick from the train at 8.20pm. We wanted to climb Asahidake the next day but a bit of a late start and because of poor weather up high we decided to head to a rock climbing area near Asahikawa. Its name is Kamui Rock and is about 20 or 30 minutes from Asahikawa on the road to Sapporo. A short hike (20 minutes) brings you to the base of the crag. It is about 60-90 metres high and surrounded by forest. The rock felt and looked very similar to the schist of Wanaka. Although it was again very hot and muggy we did do a couple of routes. Sarah and I had managed to leave our rope in the car and didn’t really consider heading back for it, as it was so hot. We all climbed a nice long 5.10a. A great view once you had climbed above the trees. I then led a mixed trad/sport route, which was a bit scary. Some really old pitons and someone had removed the hanger from the bolt just above the crux making for a run out finish. Finding a snake in an important crack meant that I had to do some interesting moves through the run out to get to the chains.
We were all still keen to climb Asahidake so went and set up camp about 30 minutes from the base of the mountain. Next day dawned reassembly clear so we were off earlyish. Sarah, Rick, Drew and I walked from the carpark while Maiko opted for the gondola. An hour and half walking and we meet Maiko at about the half waypoint. It was a nice walk through the bush, slowly gaining height to get into the sub-alpine area near the end of the gondola. Here we could see a small lake and a few vents of steam coming from the mountain. We continued up into the clouds for a cold, wet and windy summit offering no views. However we were all still pleased to have climbed to the highest point in Hokkaido. Afterwards we said goodbye to Drew and Maiko for a bit as they decided to follow the weather and head to Wakkani in the north of Hokkaido. We only had a shopping day planned in Asahikawa so were not too worried about the weather. After a very wet night with little sleep due to the lightning and thunder we went into town. After some effort we finally found the outdoor/climbing store in Asahikawa. We were happy to get some supplies as there are no climbing stores in Kushiro. Then we moved on to Sounkyo, checking out another climbing area on the way but it was too late in the day to do any climbing. As our gear was still wet we opted to stay in a small cabin at the campground. Once set up we went up the road to Sounkyo for dinner and another onsen. Again it rained heavily over night so we were thankful to be in the cabin. The rivers were very high and some of the roads were closed due to flooding. This was a real pain as instead of 3 hours to get to Lake Kusharo it took us 5 or 6 with all the backtracking and detours we needed to take. We were heading to Lake Kusharo to meet up with friends from Kushiro. We had all organised to stay in cabins and tents together and bbq and onsen. The campsite was right on the shores of the lake and the natural outdoor onsen was only a few hundred metres away. It was a great time, drinking beer, eating lots of good foor and onsening and even swimming in the lake. The lake temperature is raised slightly because of the all the onsens on the lake front feeding hot water into it. The bbq was amazing, it was burning for about 3 hours and we ate all sorts of red meat, chicken, fish and even oysters! Fish sashimi was a bit of a treat (raw fish) as were the oysters.
Next day saw me nursing a very sore head but we had more good food before heading back to Kushiro. Drew and Maiko meet us for the festivities at Lake Kusharo but took a day trip out to Shiretoko National Park before coming down to stay with us in Kushiro. It was great that they could stay and see our hometown. We took them down to MOO to find some food unique to Kushiro. Next day they headed out to see Kushiro National Park and thus see all of Hokkaido’s National Park’s on this trip, afterwards they had a long drive back to Tomokomai to catch the 22 hour ferry back home.

July 2006

July 2006
Takaho-san, a student of mine gave me two tickets to her concert so went and checked it out on Saturday night. With the ticket also came free beer and food..,. fantastic. Three free Heinekens later and we were having a great time. Her band is called the Misstones and they dress up in these 1960’s style costumes and do covers of the Beach Boys and other classics. Was really entertaining. Afterwards, feeling pretty good we decided to make a night of it. A few beers at the Earth Bar and a taxi on to Shu Sen where we meet up with Shun. Got home around 2am feeling a bit worse for it.

HIDAKA
Had a great weekend in Hidaka climbing. Left Kushiro on Sunday and arrived at Akaiwa Seigankyo after lunch. Lots of people there again, maybe 30 odd and many of the same faces as last time. It is a pretty hard climbing area, only a couple of 5.10a’s and lower grade. It is all pretty steep and sustained. Started with a couple of 5.10a’s and a 5.10c. Then had 1 attempt at a 5.11a but felt pretty tired. Meet a Canadian guy called Scott and his girlfriend Sake. Also meet the couple that were there last time. Cruised back to Hidaka for dinner and then an Onsen. Meet up with Scott and Sake at the campground and had a good yarn. We were about to go to bed when these older guys came over to have a yarn. They were pretty drunk and we had a great time talking to them. Well they enjoyed saying the few English words they new! Scott and Sake were translating a bit too. They cooked us some “Popeye vegetable sausages!” and shouted a couple of beers. They were so friendly, haven’t laughed so much for ages. They even broke into impromptu song! Went back to Akaiwa Seigankyo early and had an attempt at Wonder girl a 5.11a and got it 2nd attempt. We did a few more climbs around 5.10’s and left for Kushiro about 2pm.

TOKOTAN
Went to Tokotan with Sarah. It was actually sunny, although a bit of a wind. Climb 3 routes, easier slab, Route 44 and a trickier climb at far left of terrace. Was a lot of fun, the rock actually climbs pretty well now that I am becoming used to it. If you stay on line the rock has generally cleaned up a bit, however if you stray on a route you soon find dirty lose rock! Pulling a rope down I managed to dislodge a fist sized rock that landed on Sarah’s foot. A bit of bruising and hopefully no broken bones. The last route was a bit more difficult, 5.10c/d (20/21). Managed an on-sight ascent so was really happy.

CULTURAL EXPERIENCE
Had a good cultural day on Sarturday. Went to a Gold Art Exhibition (free tickets thanks to Nahoko-san). Afterwards we were lucky to view a Tea Ceremony. Sarah and I felt nervous and a bit out of place as we were the only foreigners (me the only male) and the women were mostly dressed in Kimono. The lady running it was a friend of Nahoko-san so the saved us the best sets in the house and told us to relax and enjoy the ceremony. The ceremony is a time to reflect and is actually quite spiritual. It is like a form of meditation as it is done (usually) in silence. It is always fascinating watching the traditions that have formed centuries ago. Japan has many traditions and it makes me realise just how young New Zealand is as a nation. Afterwards we were treated to lunch with good views of Kushiro.
Next stop was the library, where there are a total of 2 small shelves of English books! Nahoko-san was then kind enough to take us to the Kushiro Museum. It was really interesting; I especially liked the more recent history of Kushiro. A quick trip to Seundai gym for a climb finished a very good day.

CANOEING KUSHIRO RIVER
What a fantastic weekend. Went and canoed down the Kuhsiro river with Sarah and Atsushi. First went out to a look out to check out the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park then on to a small town north of lake Toro for lunch. Unfortunately Atsushis favourite restaurant was closed but we found another and enjoyed cold soba noodles. Cruised back to Lake Toro and unloaded the canoe and set off into the lake. 20minutes or so down the Toro river we meet the much larger Kushiro river. Was great, saw deer grazing on the side of the river and many different birds. Very peaceful and relaxing. After about 2 hours we meet Atsushi’s friend at the car park. A quick shuttle back to the car and we loaded up and were off back to Kushiro. Atsushi invited us to his house for a bbq dinner. It was fantastic, great food and great to enjoy the Japanese style bbq. Cooking with charcoal with many small cuts of meat is great. Really social and relaxing sitting around the table cooking and eating. Enjoyed a few beers and tried sake. Atsushi then ordered some sushi for Sarah to do the sushi challenge. Great day out.

June 2006

June 2006
TOKOTAN
Spent Sunday climbing with members of the Kushiro Climbing Club at Tokotan Bay, our local crag. The area is on the coast, near a town called Akkeshi. Akkeshi is famous for oysters. I was interested to learn that about 8 years ago a large earthquake brought down half of the crag! Luckily there was no one there at the time. Thus there is a relatively new bouldering area at the base of the crag and some new rock to explore on the main face. This explains why there are random bolts and anchors all over the boulders at the bottom. It was a fun day, did some hard boulder problems and worked on a couple of routes. I think the locals enjoyed throwing the foreigner on their hardest climbs. I was exhausted at the end of the day and my fingers were very sore. With my very limited Japanese vocabulary we spoke mostly in English. It is a little frustrating for each of us as we cannot have a detailed conversation. But we enjoyed talking about climbing around the word and around Hokkaido.


View of Tokotan Bay from the crag.

HIDAKA
Just returned from a weekend trip to a climbing area called Akaiwa Seigankyo in Shimukappu, near Hidaka in central Hokkaido. The more I see of this Island the more impressed I am. The drive took us through some rolling costal land, productive fields around Obihiro, and onto the beautiful bush that covers the Hidaka Range. This range forms part of a Quasi National Park, and is a range of peaks of up to 1900m. It amazes me how green everything is, it is such a contrast to when we arrived. Grass is 2 feet high in the fields as dairy cows struggle to contain it.
The rock climbing area is relatively compact and settled into the native forest. It is made up of a range of large and small boulders. Being only 2 hours from Sapporo it is very popular and there were many people there on Sunday. However a roading project is unfortunately ruining the beauty of this area. Some of the boulders will make way for the new road and this will spoil the area.
We didn’t actually do any climbing as Sarah was very sick with the flu, but we are encouraged by what we found and will be back sometime soon.

TOKOTAN
Cruised out to Tokotan Bay on Sunday. Sarah is still sick and didn’t come. Horita, Yumi and the older guy were already there. Had a good day climbing, climbed route 44 5.10b/c with the older guy. The new rock that is exposed looks blank when you look up at it from a distance but when you get close up you see there are lots of incut holds, some very positive. Last week Horita finished bolting a new line and he attempted it today. Looked pretty hard, 3 or 4 hard moves to a dyno to a jug then 2 more moves before it backs off. The older guy and I were up next. I made good progress up to the dyno, which took 3 attempts. Neither of us climbed it clean. Horita had another turn but didn’t get it. I felt confident but my fingertips were very sore. I came off before the dyno. Horita then got it next attempt, naming it Island 5.11a.

May 2006

May 2006
ABASHIRI

Went north to a town called Abashiri. Was a nice drive through Akan National Park and from Cape Notoro we had perfect views of Shiretoko National Park. This is Hokkaido’s most spectacular National Park and was recently designated a World Heritage Site. We found the crag and even some local climbers who weren’t particularly friendly. The crag is also on the coast and gets only morning sun. It has a lot of potential, unfortunately though it has been rather neglected. The protection is rusty pins in serious need of replacement. Lead falls were out of the question so we climbed a few easier routes. This place has a lot of potential; many long lines could be established as well as re-bolting the older climbs. We had an onsen and camped by a lake after watching a nice sunset. Next day we climbed a little more then headed home via Bihoro Pass, overlooking Lake Kussharo. Is a stunning view from the Pass.

Sarah on a easy 3 pitch climb - Notoro Misaki, Abashiri.

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.