Thursday, July 22, 2010

A hard days work!

The view of the Kuju mountains as you drive towards them

Two mountains were left on my 'to climb' list as of last weekend. W
ith the rainy season over and the long hot sunny days of summer well in control I took advantage of the 3 day weekend and set off to the Aso-Kuju National park. My goal was to climb 2 mountains; Mimatayama and Taisen, both about 1750m.

The Valley between the two peaks I climbed...green, green and more green!

The solo self timer summit shot (Yufu dake in the background)

Up and away by 5.30am I was almost the only car on the road. Thick cloud and the dreadful feeling it would end up raining accompanied me for most of the 1 1/2h
r drive inland. Fortunately as I exited the forest onto the Kuju plateau I was greeted by cloudless blue sky and the towering peaks directly ahead! I had bitten off a lot on this trip as most people would take two days to climb both these mountains. Leaving the car at 7am I could tell it was going to be a great day!

View from the summit of Mimatayama looking down over the valley and Taisenyama in the distance

The climb up to Mimatayama was stunning; 360 deg views, low cloud in some of the valleys,no one else around and the steaming vents of an active volcano as a perfect b
ackdrop. The route off was a little more frustrating as I selected a closed and no longer maintained track. The bruises on my bum and scars on my legs show it was not as much fun as I had hoped. After reaching the valley floor the only way to go was back up the other side as I started the climb for the summit of Taisen.

More stunning views....

By now I was feeling a little tired as I'd hardly stopped to rest but with another mountain peak only an hour or so away I knew my reward would be a lengthy break at the top. However as I reached the tops some clouds rolled in and the view was gone! By now I'd finished all my water and thirst was setting in. It was 11.30am and I set a
goal of 1.30pm at the car and home by 3pm.

This didn't leave me anytime to dwell on the task at hand so instead I proceeded to run down the track choosing speed over steady footing. On a number of occasions other Japanese climbers gasped at the young white man who was rocketing passed. After filling up my water bottle in the valley I had yet another climb up and out over a pass before descending back to the car.

The cloud in the distanced is caused by the active volcano on Aso san

Amazingly I made it home bang on 3pm. A great day out climbing two mountains with a total of 1310m ascent!

Half way up Taisen looking back towards Mimatayama (right)

A little caterpillar I found, the longest break I took was photographing him!

0 comments: