During my university years I used to live in Hikone, pretty much walking distance (exaggerating here) from Mt Ibuki, one of the 100 famous mountains of Japan. It is (was?) a major ski destination that hosted some winter Olympics too.
![](https://blog.valerauko.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/image-1.png)
The only problem was that I was once again blessed with the approach of a typhoon. It didn’t hit in the end, but I still had a the pleasure to enjoy a raging storm around me from about halfway up the mountain.
Not to mention that I miscalculated something and when I got off the train, I was there in the middle of literally nothing. No bus (or bus stop) in sight and the mountain still miles away. Fun to start the day with a long walk in the rain.
![](https://blog.valerauko.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018-10-06-14.42.25.jpg)
It was actually so bad that I considered calling a taxi to take me down via the toll road that climbs almost all the way to the peak – except said road was pretty much destroyed by a typhoon earlier this year.
So I descended with pouring rain turning the path into a river and wind trying hard to blow me off my feet. Luckily without any issue, other than my waterproof boots getting soaked by being completely submerged.
![](https://blog.valerauko.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018-10-06-16.32.34.jpg)
It was worth it, because once I was somewhat out of the clouds (quite literally), I could catch some really nice sights of the sun setting behind lake Biwa.
![](https://blog.valerauko.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018-10-06-16.38.36.jpg)
The storm just stopped around the same height down where it got bad on the way up, so by the time I climbed on the bus for the train station I was pretty much dry on the outside.
![](https://blog.valerauko.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018-10-06-17.05.07.jpg)