My namesake, Mt. Hotaka, as seen from the summit of Mt. Yari. Hotaka is composed of five peaks - Kita Hotaka, Karasawa, Oku Hotaka, Mae Hotaka and Nishi Hotaka. Between Yari and the Hotakas one has to cross the peaks of Ohbami, Naka and Minami.
I attempted to climb Oku Hotaka last summer but foul weather turned me back from the campsite between Oku Hotaka and Karasawa. This year I was able to climb it at last and with K too! At the summit I asked her for the second time to marry me and she answered yes. This time I am going to hang on to her as tightly as I can. She really is my Special K!
This is a view from the summit of Kita Hotaka to Mt. Yari at sunrise. Between the two peaks lies the route by which K and I had to hike. You will notice the foreground looks steep and treacherous. It darn well was. I had heard that the Dai Kiretto (the knife-edged ridge in the foreground) was dangerous to cross because of the steep slopes and jumble of angular rocks like a shattered glass watermelon wedge. But I didn't know that we would have to climb down 80 to 85 degree cliffs hanging on to cracks in the rocks and looking between our legs where to put our feet next. Occasionally there were iron rungs or screws in the rock to help out in the more difficult places, and there was the odd chain too, but for the most part in was fingers, toes and rocks.
K astounded and impressed me by being able to follow without complaint. Each time she hauled herself up she looked at me with a smile. She was really tough! By strange coincidence she received a message from her sister saying that someone had died in the North Alps a couple of days ago. What was so strange about the message was that it came to her phone even though it was turned off and we were out of signal range. Even more odd was that the location where the accident had occurred was on the cliffs we were about to begin climbing! When people heard we had crossed the Dai Kiretto and climbed up to Kita Hotaka in the evening (it was dark the last half hour and we used headlamps) we got looks that told us were must have been mad to try it.
During the last ice age, a glacier grew out of the Karasawa Cirque and cut this valley.
Named after a peak in the European Alps, The Gendarne is one of Mt. Hotaka's most famous features. It is composed of andesite, a light volcanic rock. The whole area was once an active volcano complex. The magma chambers dried up and the volcanoes collapsed into calderas. Later tectonic action uplifted the mountains where they were carved into steep cliffs and ridges by glaciers.
On the way back down we stopped in the Karasawa Cirque for a rest. Here you can see the camping area below Mt. Kita Hotaka.
So that's it. I'd love to show you more but maybe some other day, some other way. I hope you enjoyed the photos.
