2014-12-22 甲武信ヶ岳

After a day's hike followed by a 3-hour night in tent I was up again for a long adventure. Strong winds caused cancellation of more interesting mountains, we had indeed plan to go to Nasu http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=8528227 but 25m/s winds had been forecast and we ended up going to Kobushigatake.

We started around 5:20 in complete darkness, the forest road was entirely covered in ice but since it was ragged passage without crampons was possible.

We hiked up the steep ridge and it progressively got lighter and though still low and with no opening through the trees we saw the sun rise above the mountains.

As increasingly more ice covered the trail we reached the intersection with the old trail. With light crampons and ice axe I found it easy to make progress while holding on to branches and roots when necessary. My friends had only full crampons but they were slower.

Packed snow all the way allowed us to press forward quickly and we made it to the hut without wasting time. It was open and we took a rest, which only contributed to make me cold. As usual in winter I wear the minimum clothes to prevent sweating due to exertion. It is mostly efficient but I can't take breaks more than what is necessary to take a few pictures.

At the top there was a bit of wind and that combined with cold fingers, abscence of triopod made it all but impossible to take a group picture. I was on only one of the few shots I took and it was a very bad one.

Overall it was a cold and windy day so we chose a course in the forest, consequently the landscapes were comparively disappointing. On the other hand it was a good exercice and we made it under summer map time.

More pictures here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c1lgs3b71qmiw9c/AAAkayJh4g2mNsYorGV57_Yea?dl=0