Highballs and finger pockets

A few weeks ago, I finally made it around the opposite side of Ogawayama to the boulders in Mizugaki forest (via Kawakami village, near the Nagano-Yamanashi border).

Some brief research on Mizugaki bouldering reported a crag with better access, routes a bit more limited and difficult than Ogawayama, and notorious highballs.  All of these things I found to be true.  The trade-off for a flip-flop-hiked approach is the head game atop an uncomfortably tall bit of slab.

photo by Tomokage Mikoshiba

Highball – a rope-less climb categorized ‘a little high’ however interpreted…
Usually it isn’t fully understood until nearly at the top of the granite slide, with the physics for getting over not in favor.  However, this is a beautiful place.  Too far to fall or climb down, giving up is not a choice.  I wish I could bottle up this blind motivation and keep it forever.

photo by Azusa Kato

Rock, paper, Ogawayama climbing

About three months after moving to rural Nagano in 2009, I made it out to my first Japanese crag.  On the Nagano-Yamaniashi border just south of Komoro in Kawakami Village, Ogawayama boasts over 20 different bouldering areas, sport and multi-pitch routes, and is one of the most famous crags in Honshu.

Finding Ogawayama the first time was tricky, but thanks to some helpful information here: http://www.ogawayama.com/ and here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=264, and many patient locals, my husband and I found it at last.

From the small shop in the rustic Ryokan, 金峰山荘 (Kinopo-san or Mitakeyama? lodge), we purchased a book with a map of the boulders and routes on the rocks.  The shop also had crashpad rentals, which is always good to know.  After wandering aimlessly in the forest for a while and trying to get on some rocks that may or may not have had routes, we soon learned it was much more effective to ditch the map and follow the voices of other climbers.

In taking pictures of some boulderers on an impressive 1-kyuu (１級）level route (about V6), we made some friends and got some good advice on working the (easier levels of) Japanese slab.

There are plenty of grades starting from 9-kyuu (V0) and upwards, so there’s bound to be a route for everyone.  The Japanese scale, like in martial arts, counts down as levels increase, so anything between 10 and 6-kyuu is roughly V0.  V1 probably starts around 5-kyuu, V2 at 4-kyuu, and so on until 1-kyuu. Then, the first “dan” (pronounced sho-dan) is at about V7.  From there, the dans count up, with 2-dan, 3-dan, etc.  Learning kyuu = 級 and dan = 段 is helpful for reading the levels in the guidebooks.

Later, our new friends invited us to an event at the lower campground area.  It was just our luck that we found Ogawayama on the day of the “clean climbing” event.  Several area outdoor gear companies sponsored this event to encourage climbers to pick up trash in the forest.  At the end of the day, climbers and hikers gathered for some canned coffee, beer, and big pot of miso ton-jiru soup while awaiting a jenkan competition.  Jenkan is the Japanese game of rock, paper, scissors.

In an orderly fashion, some of the participants won t-shirts, backpacks, shoes, etc.  We had terrific luck that day, taking home a pair of North Face approach shoes and a fur-lined Inga hoodie.  Our new friend won a slackline, one of the bigger ticket items.

Ogawayama has been a spot we’ve returned to many times since.  Whether for some sport climbing, a grand mission with a multi-pitch team, bouldering with beginners, or even just friends who enjoy camping and hiking, the campground has provided for many great weekends with good company.

Even just a day trip there, with nothing but a crashpad and the guidebook on a lucky day-off mid-autumn is worth the trek.

Late fall, Saku, on rope

November marks a frantic time, using every last chance to get in the mountains before the frost dusts them.  So a new crag, and the chance to get on rope, it couldn’t be turned down.

Only 30-40 minutes from Saku eki, our friend from the area met us at the station and led us there.  Out into the orange-painted countryside, we enjoyed views of Mt. Asama and the Yatsugatakes on the way.  On just a small, unsuspecting, farmer road near what looked like an abandoned elementary school, it’s a crag only local climbers know about (perhaps intentionally).

Unlike much of the other rope faces in Ogawayama and in Nagano, this one wasn’t dominated by slab.  A nice change.

No guidebook and no ratings, we just got on the wall and worked it out. Been awhile since all harnessed-up, but cold rock feels good on the hands.

photo by Natsuko Okaniwa

photo by Brian O’ Donovan

Beautiful colors, a touch of sun, and a good struggle with some rocks. It was the last day out for the season, and everything we could have asked for.