The first time I spent nights in the mountains was back in 2018, when I hiked from Mt Kobushi all the way to Mt Mizugaki. At that point I was staying in mountain huts, so I didn’t need a sleeping bag or mat. I think my first time sleeping in a tent in the wild was actually in the foothills of Elbrus in 2019 (not counting sleeping in a tent during summer festivals back in Hungary). Then it was even later, the summer of 2020 that I first stayed in my own tent during a multi-day trip. It was soon after that I actually hiked up a mountain, Mt Kai-koma to stay in a tent at altitude.
V3
Sikerült jó hosszú napot csinálnom magamnak. A szikla/falmászós bagázzsal mentünk (sokadjára) mászni a mitakei folyópartra. Egy egész kis könyvnyi, sokféle nehézségű probléma van a folyóparton. Mivel közigazgatásilag ez még Tokió, ráadásul ha jár a Holiday Rapid, akkor átszállás nélkül ida lehet a belvárosból jutni, nagyon népszerű (úgy általában kirándulóhelyként is). A sziklákat (a rücskös és fájdalmas Mizugaki-beliekkel ellentétben) itt a folyó relatíve simára csiszolta az évek alatt, így bár nem tépi véresre a bőrt, cserébe csúszik.
Last tent hike of the year
For literally years now I’ve been wondering how could I get up on Kasagatake. This mountain in the northern Japanese Alps is right above Shin-Hotaka. You get a really good view of it from the ropeway up Nishi-Hotaka and you hike by its trailhead on the way up to Sugoroku. The problem is that it’s a long, tough and steep straight climb which means doing it in one day is not fun. I didn’t know of a way to get there for an early enough start either unless I stayed a night in Shin-Hotaka—until now. Once you learn of the Mainichi Alpen-go (and manage to secure a seat) things get much easier.
Training for Denali
Of the Seven Summits, there are two I am (was) particularly concerned about. Puncak Jaya (the Carstensz Pyramid) because of how technical it’s said to be, got me to start bouldering and practice moving around on more “exciting” rocky terrain. The other is Denali.
Moving on snow in a rope team for crevasse safety isn’t the issue. Climbing up on steep slopes or along knife-edge ridges with fixed lines isn’t the issue. Those are skills that you can “just” learn and they become another useful wrench in your toolbox. Having the physical fitness to load carry up to the 14000 (feet) camp was what worried me.
Up and out at 14 and above
Getting up to 14 camp on Denali was a tough climb, but we had two weather days to recover after the load carry, and I was eager to finally get moving again. When we finally got to camp, I was then glad it was over nonetheless, even if only for that day.
To Denali 14 camp
The move from 11 camp to 14 camp (camp 3) is tough. It’s almost a thousand meters ascent over Motorcycle hill, Squirrel hill and around the Windy Corner. Motorcycle hill is steep and rockfall danger in Windy Corner is pretty much the only reason we have to carry helmets on Denali.
Két nap szünet a táborban
Amíg feltelepültünk a 3000m-es táborba, jó időnk volt. Kérdéses, hogy a gleccseren tűző nap és meleg tényleg jó időnek számít-e, de a következő két nap hóviharainál csak jobb volt. Ideje hát szót ejteni egy kicsit a tábori életről is a Denalin.
The snowshoe days
Arriving on the Kahiltna glacier we quickly set up camp and just passed out before a late night (or early morning?) start. Lower on the mountain we’d start moving in the middle of the night, so we avoid getting roasted, boiled and blinded by the sun on the snow. Then again even at 3am it was bright enough that I could count on one hand the occasions I had to use my headlamp during the three weeks total.
Reaching Denali
To climb Denali, you first need to get there. So my mission was to reach Anchorage from Tokyo in the middle of June (with all the fun of covid restrictions included). It went surprisingly smoothly. There were a few scary moments, like when people told me Hungarians wouldn’t be allowed entry to the US because of covid—but the restriction turned out not to be about EU nationalities but traveling from EU area.
Azok a fránya tervek
Az év elején írtam róla, hogy a koronavírus hogy megtépázta a terveimet. Akkor úgy volt, hogy tavasszal az Island peak (6189m), majd nyáron a Broad Peak (8047m) és a K2 (8611m) lesz úticél. Végül persze a korona jobban tudta, és sikerült mindkét tervemet bedöntenie.
