Shirouma Sanzan

Not long ago, my friend J told me a friend of a friend wanted to go to the mountains with me.  K-san was apparently a very fast hiker as well, and gave J his mail address.  Because I knew I was leaving at the end of May, I put off mailing him because I wasn't sure I would have time.

However, he hadn't forgotten about me, and asked again if I wanted to climb.  I sent him a mail explaining my situation, and asked if he might be interested in a climb to Shirouma over Golden Week.  He replied immediately and said he was definitely interested, so we set about arranging the logistics.

Shirouma is a 2932 meter (9619 feet) mountain famous for a year round snow field called the Daisekkei.  It is also infamous for avalanches, landslides and rock falls--especially in May and August.  I had planned to climb it last year, but an unusually rainy summer kept me out of the mountains until September.

In February, I saw a post for an April guided rope work course up the back side of Shirouma.  I immediately signed up, but due to confusion over our residence tax, I was forced to cancel.  After taking avalanche training this winter, I'm petrified of climbing in avalanche territory alone, and I was forced to decide Shirouma and I were not to be.

However K-san offered me an opportunity to not only climb with a partner, but an experienced one at that.  He has climbed Shirouma at least 5 times before, and has a reputation as a capable back country skiier and hiker.  He made sure to check I had the proper avalanche gear, and wrote a detailed police report which we submitted at the trail head.

Avalanche

K-san picked me up in Ikusaka around 5 a.m., and we headed over the mountain towards Hakuba.  In the car, I mentioned I'd originally wanted to do Shirouma in two days, and hit Hakubayarigatake as well. He said he'd done that route in 10 hours in the summer, and asked if I was up for trying it in one day today.  I said I'd see how I felt when we got to Shirouma and play it by ear.

However, as soon as we started hiking we got to a split in the trail.  We followed the numerous skiiers towards the left, and after about 30 minutes K-san got out his GPS and map.  He said the winter and summer courses were different, and the course he thought we were taking was over there (pointing slightly to the right and front of us).

Last snowfield!

Soon we reached our first major snowfield with several old avalanches and not much of a trace.  I asked if this was the Daisekkei.  K-san said no, the Daisekkei was way over there (pointing in the same direction as before).  I started to become a bit concerned about exactly where we were going, as according to the course I thought we were taking, we should have reached the Daisekkei already.

Every time we reached the top of a snow field, we turned to find yet another one mocking us.  We heard and saw at least 3 large rock slides, and every time an airplane flew over I was convinced we were going to die in an avalanche.  Everyone except us was on skis and skins, and the snow was soft and we postholed often.

After about 4 hours of hiking, K-san asked me to take the lead.  There was no trail or markers, so I just climbed straight up, trying to avoid the most obvious avalanche runs.  When we neared the 5 hour mark, K-san pointed towards some rocks and said "Yari onsen". I finally understood our route--

The trail to Shirouma

we were hiking backwards.  Instead of hiking from the base at Sarukura to Shirouma, we were hiking from Sarukura to Hakubayari to Shakushi and lastly to Shirouma.

Slightly panicked, I asked K-san if any of the huts on this side of the route were open yet.  There is usually a hut at Yari onsen, but judging by the obvious lack of a building, I was guessing it was still shut.  K-san confirmed we wouldn't reach an open hut until the summit of Shirouma.  We had been hiking in wide open snowfields with no cover at all, and there were skiiers all around us.  However, when you gotta go, you gotta go, so I ventured off towards the right while K-san took a break and dug myself a pit.  I did my best to use my pack as a gate and pretended like I was just resting awhile in my snow pit in the middle of nowhere.

Summit of Hakubayarigatake

I had also only brought one big bottle of water because our original hike was only supposed to be about 6 hours, and I figured I could refill it at the Shirouma hut if necessary.  Now, that hut was another 4-5 hours away and I had less than 1/3 of my water left.  When we finally reached the ridge line after 6 hours, I did what you are never supposed to do, and refilled half my water bottle with unboiled snow.

Climbing in snow is extremely tiring, especially when you are post-holing constantly.  My legs ached and my pack was heavy, and I was not having a good time.  Both K-san and I were worried about making it up and down before dark (though we had headlamps), so we didn't stop to rest, take pictures or enjoy the surroundings.  Luckily, there was no snow on the ridge line, so we were able to make slightly better time.  When we reached Hakubayari, I went up the short trail to the top and K-san took a rest at the bottom.  The summit was full of skiiers, so I wasn't able to get my usual selfie, and from Hakubayari, K-san and I were the only ones on the trail all the way to Shirouma.

By the time we reached the short spur trail to Shakushi, K-san asked if it was ok if we didn't climb it.  I said sure, because Shirouma still looked so far away, with several big up and downs.  At last we reached the giant hut just under the summit, and K-san ditched his pack.  I planned to buy drinks and a bandanna at the hut, so I kept mine with me.  I was feeling overheated and sick, and had taken off

Summit of Shirouma

as many layers as I could.  I had run out of water hours ago, including the snow I'd added, and all I'd eaten since breakfast was a Cliff bar.  I didn't think I was going to make it to the top, and the only reason I continued was because K-san had the impression I was a lot tougher than I really am. There was no way I was going to diminish my reputation further by not summiting our goal mountain.

Reaching the summit was fairly anti-climactic, and though I could see all my favorite mountains, all I could think about was not tossing my cookies off the side.  I took a few half hearted pics, but the summit was crowded, and I spent the shortest amount of time ever on a summit.  We'd left Sarukura at 6:10 a.m. and we reached the summit of Shirouma at 3:20 p.m.  My 6 hour round trip hike had turned into a 9 hour trek one way.

When we returned to the hut, I said I had to rest for 10 minutes.  I went inside, used the toilet, and bought a bottle of orange juice, water, and a bandanna.  I downed the orange juice in one sitting and refilled my water bottle with the water.  Already feeling better, we packed up and headed out exactly 10 minutes after arriving.

Putting on our crampons, we headed down into the Daisekkei.  It didn't look a whole lot worse than any of the other snow fields we'd already been through that day, except that immediately upon starting, a large rock slide started to our right and lasted for about 20 seconds.  We waited to see where the rocks would end up, and then continued down.

Going down is my weakest area, especially in snow.  At times, K-san was a good ways ahead of me until we got off the steeper slopes.  After about 25 minutes, we switched to sliding down on our bums, but I didn't last long as I worried about going too fast and not being able to stop quickly enough.  I chose to boot ski down instead.  We passed at least 3 or 4 old avalanches again, but I could soon see the tents at the bottom of the Daisekkei.  I raced down the remaining slope, and breathed deeply once I was on flat ground.

Heading down into the Daisekkei

We made it back to Sarukura at 6 p.m., meaning our entire trek took about 12 hours.  I think K-san was a bit disappointed with my crappy descending ability, saying he thought that since I run trails I'd be good at going down.  We didn't take any break longer than a few minutes except for the 10 minutes at the top, and it is officially the longest hike I have ever done, time-wise.  It's also one of the rare times I climbed with a partner, and that added a certain level of stress as neither of us really knew the other's climbing style or preferences.
I don't recommend rushing through this course, especially if you are blessed with amazing weather as we were.  Though the scenery was some of the best I've seen, this hike was one of my least favorite, as when we weren't pushing through a difficult spot physically, we were pushing through to try and make good time.   If I would have been by myself, I would have stayed at the hut on Shirouma instead of returning home.

However, I knew this hike might not be as enjoyable as usual, as I was worried about crowds during Golden Week (not a problem) and worried about climbing with a partner.  I am grateful to K-san for driving, guiding and accompanying me, as I wouldn't have felt safe trying the mountain by myself.  So though if I lived in a perfect world, there are a lot of things I would have done differently, considering the conditions under which I was operating, I am grateful for a good hike and an extra bonus accomplishment of doing all the Hakuba Sanzan. I hope to get my last mountain circuit in this weekend as I attempt revenge on the mountains of Yatsugatake.