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posted: October 30th, 2006 |
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All 3 pages this month cover the 3 day weekend of October 7, 8 and 9. Kazuya and I made a trip to the Japanese Central Alps Mountains and climbed Mt. Kiso-Komagatake (2,956 meters = 9,698 feet). The weather started out okay, but a freak winter storm came through and 9 people died on Central Alps Mountains that weekend - fortunately we were not included in the death toll, although we were ill prepared for what we encountered. It got down to minus 6 degrees C (22 degrees F) and the winds were gale force, so all of the moisture from the clouds froze on everything it touched. You may note Row 7 - Picture 3, Kazuya's strings are all ice coated. Ropes, rocks and everything was coated with well over an inch or ice as we hiked down the mountain. We had to exercise extreme caution, we had no gloves, no long underwear or anything like that! Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin October 7th |
The first day. We took a bus from Tokyo to Komagane and then a bus from Komagane to the bottom station of a Ropeway. The first picture was taken from the back window of the bus which we took to the bottom of the ropeway.
The 2nd picture shows the ropeway station and the 3rd picture was taken from the window of the gondola car as we went up the ropeway.
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 Oct07_Komagane TrainStationRC |
 Oct07_KomagatakeLower RopewayStation06RC |
 07Oct_RopewayRide _Waterfall01RC |
The first 2 pictures were also taken from the window of the Gondola car on the ropeway. The 3rd shot is what it looked like as we climbed from the upper ropeway station to the summit hut, which we had reservations for. Note the clouds, plus it's raining too!!
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 Oct07_Komagatake RopewayRide03RC |
 07Oct_RopewayRide _Waterfall02RC |
 Oct07_KomagatakeTrailColors _Clouds_Kazuya04RC |
This was our first glimpse of the hut where we were to stay. Notice that there are also tents set up. We wondered how the tents could even stand in the gale force winds. Once we entered the hut we didn't go outside again on the first day!
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 Oct07_KomagatakeTrailColors _Clouds_UpperHut02RC |
| End October 7th, Begin October 8th |
The second day. The first shot was taken from the front door of the summit hut - the tents somehow stood all night. We felt sorry for those people. Note how EVERYTHING is coated with ice. The 2nd picture is the front entrance to the hut - coated with ice. The 3rd shot is a picture of the ground!!
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 08Oct_Komagatake_Summit_ Ice_Tents01RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_ Summit_Ice_SummitHut02RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeHut Outside_Ice01RC |
Our first sighting of the sun - 6:29 AM. We were heading down the mountain - worrying about our survival. With the gale force winds we could have easily been blown right off the mountain. At times we had to just stop in our tracks and crouch down to avoid being blown away. The last 2 shots show how the ice coated the grass - every cloud which touched any surface left it's water behind -- as ice!
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 08Oct_Komagatake_ Summit_Ice_Sun04RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_ Summit_Ice05RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_Summit _Ice06RC |
That's me! I am cold and worried! The 2nd shot shows a sign - coated with ice. People were also climbing the mountain - crazy f***ers! The 3rd shot is one more which shows how everything was ice coated.
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 08Oct_Komagatake_ Summit_Ice_Dan07RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeDown Trail_Ice02RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeDown Trail_Ice04RC |
The first shot shows me holding on to the ice covered rope (without gloves) to avoid being blown away. In the 2nd shot you can see ice covered ropes, more people climbing (maybe descending if they are smart) and Kazuya with ice covering every string on his clothes.
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 08Oct_Komagatake_Down Trail_Ice_Dan08RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_Down Trail_Ice_Dan09RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeDown Trail_Kazuya_Ice07RC |
The first shot is as we approached the upper ropeway station - we now felt like we would probably make it alive. At this elevation it was warmer and not so slippery, although the gale force winds continued. The 2nd shot - rocks, clouds, ice and fall colors. In the 3rd shot you can see the upper ropeway station through the clouds.
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 08Oct_Komagatake_DownTrail _Ice_NearRopewayTop02RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_DownTrail _Ice_NearRopewayTop03RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeDownTrail _RopewayUpperStation_Ice01RC |
All three shots here show incredible ice, colors and clouds.
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 Oct08_KomagatakeDownTrail _Color_Ice10RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeDownTrail _Color_Ice11RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_DownTrail_Ice_ Color_NearRopewayTop12RC |
The first shot is looking up from the trail near the upper ropeway station. The 2nd shot shows people hiking on the trail which we hiked yesterday. At this time we are hiking an alternate trail, which goes to a small lake (which can be seen in Row 8, Picture 1). The 3rd shot is from quite near that lake. The clouds are lifting below us and we can start to see some incredible fall colors.
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 Oct08_KomagatakeDownTrail _Color_Ice15RC |
 Oct08_KomagatakeDownTrail _Color_Ice17RC |
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The first shot shows the clouds beginning to lift above us now. The 2nd shot shows a gondola car on the ropeway - they packed up to 60 people in each car and the waits for the ropeway could be up to 4 hours. We were fortunate - on Saturday we only had to wait about 1.5 hours and today we only had to wait about 30 minutes. The final shot on this page is me - still not warmed up, wind still howling, clouds whipping by at gale speed, and for a moment we can see the ridge
on the opposite side from where we climbed.
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 Oct08_KomagatakeNearUpper RopewayStation_Color_Ice04RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_DownTrail _Ice_Color_RopewayTop28RC |
 08Oct_Komagatake_DownTrail _Ice_Color_RopewayTop31RC |
| End Page 1, but October 8th continues on Page 2 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look. Please continue on to Page 2 for a continuation of this incredible adventure. |
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