Tag: rock

JAPAN'S BEST ALPINE TRIPS BEGIN HERE

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EAST FACE OF MAEHOTAKADAKE: BUGS, HEAT & SUMMER ICE

you dont hear much about the east face of Maehotakadake (3090M). the north ridge is a classic alpine techy scramble, and a panoramic trail crests its top, but the big, jagged, looming east face is usually little much more than an ominous view as people go past it on the way to other things. with…
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2015 / 16 WINTER THAT WAS

2015/16 was a strange winter. conditions were strange, the atmosphere was strange, the locations were strange. it may be part of a greater cycle…or maybe its not. to go with the strangeness, we spread ourselves over a large spectrum this winter. avoiding being too focused in a season that had a large degree of unpredictability…
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2016 EXPEDITIONS

welcome to another year of iceclimbingjapan expeditions. if you like your climbing comfortable, commercial, standardized and with minimal unknowns then please exit this website now by the time you get to the start of the climbing a LOT of planning needs to have been done: Dan Dasilva at the drop-off for the first winter attempt…
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NEW JAPAN ALPINE ROCK ROUTES GUIDEBOOK

finally! its been about 20 years since the last comprehensive guide to japan’s mountain routes came out, and finding them for sale has been near impossible for the last 6 or 7 years. the older versions became classics, recording much about the Japanese attitude at that time, like a time capsule of climbing at the…
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CLIMBING IN THE HEAT

climbing in serious cold is one thing, and climbing in serious heat is another. ‘serious’ here means the process of climbing is changed due to the direct effects of heat, and like serious cold can damage tissue and compromise ability. 50c / 122f at the rock’s surface: hot enough to limit the amount of time…
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TRAINING FOR WINTER IN SUMMER

before worrying about 20 pitches of 5.12, get good at 20 pitches of 5.10 theres plenty of suffering to be had in summer: long days on baking rock, drenched in sweat, fingers raw, soaked by the approach, dehydrated and sunburned. all winter you fantasize about things being lighter once all the gear is gone, but…
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55 VIRGINS: ENTERING GANGGA’S ALPINE PARADISE

if a climber leads a life of virtuous vertical achievement they are eligible for mythical elevation to alpinist paradise – the land of virgin peaks, where unlimited climbing pleasure awaits, all is permitted and the only limitations are those of the self. whatever is desired – from big walls and huge ice to aesthetic boulders…
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SUPERTOPO REPORT: MIZUGAKI SOLO

http://www.supertopo.com/tr/LORD-OF-THE-RINGS-ANOTHER-JAPANESE-WALL-SOLO/t12705n.html

瑞牆山冬の壁 Mt MIZUGAKI WINTER WALLS

deep winter needs to be revelled in, not avoided. so when things get cold its time to hit the ‘winter only’ projects, and for a few years now that means mixed walls. mizugaki is the slightly esoteric sister to japans well known ogawa-yama rock area, all the routes are big, the granite spires high, relatively…
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UNSEEN, UNNAMED, UNCLIMBED: GANGGA VII 2014

anyone saying the era of real exploration is over is simply wrong gangga VII, 5425m, north east tibetan plateau. south east coulouir, 5.7 M4 VI, 85degrees ice, 40 – 60 degrees snow, +/-500m, 9 pitches to 5340m. no summit…this time over a month from September to October iceclimbingjapan lead another trip to the Sichuan/Tibet plateau…
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