TR: Kuwasakiyama, Japan

Feb. 21, 2011

It was the night before a day off and I had planned on just riding groomers the next day…then I heard that my buddies had ridden Kaerazu, right after Jeremy Jones. But whatever, I was so stoked on my friends having done it, and disappointed that I hadn’t been there to shoot them. So, it got me thinking, how can I just be satisfied with groomers? I remembered that above my local resort is a peak called Kuwasaki-yama which stands at 2089m. I did some quick research the morning of and saw that it was listed at a hyakumeisan (a list of Japan’s top 100 mountains). My friend Pinky is on a quest to do all 100 so I thought, cool, I’ll be able to brag to him that I bagged it before he did!
The gondola only goes up to 1188 so I wasn’t sure about making it all the way. You can see the ski resorts in the above photo on the very right. I had to hike that whole ridge.
I had a real late start: I started hiking at 10am. I just figured I would see how far I could go and then come back.
There will be lots of scenic photos as I will use this post for recon purposes later on.

The prize:

On the way up I passed some super fun-looking terrain. If you drop in there you end up at the base, in between 2 resorts. I tried it a month later but got lost and ended up hiking back to the gondola. Total snafu, but that’s a different story.

This is a reflective screen…not sure what it’s for. Probably for reflecting stuff.

Here’s my stuff at the top of Ooshina yama on the way. 1404m. That F-Stop Loka backpack is awesome btw. I didn’t need the camera block so I took it out and it works as a normal pack.

Getting closer…but still so far away!

Not the best pic but check out the terrain on the left of the peak. So sick… but you end up in the middle of nowhere if you go all the way down. You would need to hike back whatever you ride.

Pillows…so tempting!

Here’s what I was looking at just below the top. What to ride?

Some sick terrain lookers right of the peak. Again you need to hike back to the shoulder to get out. I plan on hitting it some time when I get my split setup.

My ugly mug at the summit. Summited at 2:30pm, so it took 4.5 hours of hiking. Some sections were tough, but I just told myself to imagine the look on Pinky’s face when I told him.

If you were to keep hiking…

View of Toyama city and the bay…holy crap, I’m above the clouds!

Again, a gear shot.

Here’s the board: a 2010 Rossi Experience, with Union Force bindings. The board was awesome. It handles the hard icy snow at the top like a champ, slayed the pow and powered through the chop low down. The bindings weren’t my first choice for backcountry as the bolts come loose and they seem a bit heavy, compared to my cartel re:flex’s.

Finally, the snowboarding! Here’s my line at the top:

I had to be very conservative as I was running late and obviously had to get back before it got dark. Also, I was alone and it was my first time there. The way up is a long ridge and it is possible to ride off the sides and climb back up to the path, but like I said, I was alone and had no time for mistakes.

One last look back. Super stoked to see my lone track coming off the peak.

This picture does not do this section justice. This was nice pow and really fun terrain. I just rode near the path and it was really good.

Got back to the ski resort at 4:30pm, so two hours later. It was really hard as there are 3 hard climbs back. Normally people drop off and exit at Awasuno resort, but I had never done it and didn’t want to risk it at 4pm. Considering I got lost a month later, it was a very smart choice. So I rode down the resort and passed a group of patrollers at mid-mountain who were surprised to see me come out of a section they had checked.
I found some old dude in the parking lot to take a victory pic. Note, in the background on the left is the noboard run, on the right is the gondola line from one of my gopro vids. They don’t look like much in the pic, eh?

The route. Actually my route was only the same from 1404 on:

So I got home and double checked Kuwasaki yama in the japanese wikipedia and found to my chagrin that it wasn’t quite in the hyakumeisan, it was in the sanbyakumeisan, that is, top 300 mountains. Oh well. I see it everyday I go to, and come home from work, so it’s a total stoke out.

Great trip report, Gamblor. I can only imagine how satisfying the ride down must have been. Love the victory shot. Thanks for sharing that with us! 

EDIT: Sorry, couldn’t resist: https://www.boardworld.com.au/forums/viewthread/902/P315/ 

Awesome trip report Gamblor! Thanks for sharing.

Just so I’m 100% clear, you hiked all the way to that peak (in the middle of the top photo) from the resort (far right of the photo)?? That is a mammoth effort!!

yep, that’s right. That’s why it’s such a stoke-out to see that mountain and remember that I got to the top. That first photo is from in front of my house. I really didn’t think it was possible with my late start, but I was blessed with hard snow til about 1400m which made the going really fast. On the other hand, coming back just sucked, but I was on the high of having summited, plus the worry of not making it back before dark.

Here’s another angle: