Kamikochi-Hotaka trekking

This is the announcement of a Kamikochi trip on 14-17 July.

Date: 14-17 July
Destination: Kamikochi-Hotakatake
http://www.kamikochi.org/

Itinerary
Fri 14 July: meet at Tsukuba station at 18:30 and leave for Matsumoto at 19.
arrive in Sawando parking area around midnight.
Sat 15 July: take a bus to Kamikochi (1500m) at 6:00 and start walking for 6-7 hours.
stay over in Karasawa hyutte (mountain hut or tent if you wish)
https://www.karasawa-hyutte.com/

Sun 16 July: start walking from Karasawa (2200m)
route A: from Karasawa via Saitengrat to Okuhoataka mt.(3190m) to Yokoo/Tokusawa (1600m) (11-12 hours walk)
route B: from Karasawa to Yokoo/Tokusawa (4 hours walk)

Note: if you have never experienced a steep rocky mounrain that need to climb with cians or ropes or you are acrophobia, I would suggest to take the route B.
Route A will be crowded because of a public holiday and takes longer than normail time.
See the saitengrat route: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MduU5TDdFf8

         We meet at Yokoo sanso or Tokusawaen in the evening. 
         http://www.tokusawaen.com/english.html
         http://www.yokoo-sanso.co.jp/english

Mon 17 July: start walking from Yokoo/Tokusawa to Kamikochi at 7:00
take a bus down to Sawando parking area. take a onsen and leave for Tsukuba.
hope to arrive in Tsukuba around 19.

Transportation: car and bus (to Kamikochi)

What to bring:
---Gears---
backpack (40-60L)
rain coat
water bottle
head lamp
walking sticks
cooking tools? (if you are camping)
towels
lunch, emergency foods, snacks
plastic bags
sunscreen cream
sun glasses
toilet paper
tooth brush and paste
if you want to stay in a tent, you need sleeping bag, sleeping mattress and a tent

---clothing---
trekking shoes
trekking pants
down or fleece jacket
gloves
socks
helmet or cap
windproof jacket or anorak
gaiter (if you need)
T-shirt and long sleeves shirt
underwear

---others----
compass
map
medications, insect repellent

Difficulty level: route A: 4 of 5
route B: 3 of 5

Meeting time and place: Tsukuba station 20 min free parking area at 18:30 on 14th July

Cost including club fee:
around 37000-15000 yen depending on if you stay at a mountain hat or a tent.
if the number of participants will increase, I might rent a larger car and would cost extra.
mountain hut for two nights: 20,000-25,500yen. (including dinner and breakfast).
it is posible to rent a tent(3-4 persons) at Tokusawaen (7/16)
rental tent: 7500 yen
rental sleeping bag: 2000 yen
rental mattress: 400 yen
but please note that no rental tent is available at Karasawa hyutte (7/15).
camping fee costs 1000 yen/head at Karasawa and 700 yen/head at Yokoo/Tokusawa.

Map:
http://yamabiko.ciao.jp/05_root-map/20a/20a_okuhotakadake/20a_okuhotakadake.html

Disclaimer
http://www.twmc.club/about-twmc/disclaimer
Hiking advice
http://www.twmc.club/about-twmc/hiking-advice

Contanct details of organizer: Eri (erithacus6@gmail.com)

It is better to have an isurance if you go up to okuhotaka.
The final route will be determined according to participant's preference and the trail conditions.
It would be great if someone can be a sub-leader to climb up the route A!
(I will go for the route B myself)

if you wish to join the trekking, please email me the following information.
As soon as the number of participants reach to 8-12 persons, I will close the entry and confirm the reservation for the mountain hut.

1. your name and gender
2. your preferred route (route A or B)
3. your choice of stay (mountain hut or tent) if you stay in a hut, would you like to include two meals?
   4.if you have a tent to share
   5.if you have a car or can drive?
   6.any food restriction?
   _.,_.___

Hotaka trekking report

We left at 19:30 on 14th at Tsukuba station for Matsumoto.
We arrived in Sawando parking area at 1am and took a nap until the morning.

Sat 15th
We started walking at 7:30 to Myojin. sunny day, we were able to see the peaks of Hotaka from Kappa bashi.
8:30@ Myojin
9:30@ Tokuo; everyone enjoyed soft cream!
10:30@ Yokoo
12:45 Hontani bridge. people took a long rest before the steep hill and enjoyed cold river water.
14:40 After S gare, we see Karasawa hutte, but the trail was completely covered by snow. We had to walk carefully on the snow...
15:30 Finally we reached to the Hutte. it took much longer because of snow trail.
Tent users had to build their tent on snow...looks very cold....
Mountain ash is flowering around the Hutte. some other highland plants were also blooming.

Sun 16th
The weather forecast said it will be rain/fog from 11am.
Some other parties started to pass next to Karasawagoya towards to saitengrat before 5 am...
After discussion, Route A people decided not to climb up the summit of Okuhotaka. so we enjoyed a long breakfast.
9:00 We started to walk down to Yokoo. Snow stairs were made by the hutte people.
It made us easier to walk down the hill! Cedric was super fast to go down snow hill...he was almost running down the hill!
11:30 We arrived at Hontanibashi. it was good pace to walk..
12:20 We had lunch and checked in Yokoo sanso.
After lunch, some of us decided to go to Yarimi dai. but when we arrived at Yarimidai, it started raining...heavey rain!
so we could not see Yarigatake after all. We quickly went down to the hut.
Lucky that we were able to check in the hut before heavy rain.
Four girls made 90 min walk to Tokuzawa to get soft cream under rain... the rest of people enjoyed onsen before dinner.

Mon 17th
The rain had stopped...!
7:20 we started to walk to Tokuzawa.
8:00 we enjoyed the second soft cream!
9:00 crossed the bridge and walked the other side of the river at Myojin.
We dropped by Myojin ponds and kept walking till Kappabashi.
We saw a monkey on the way! getting sunnier and more tourists.
11:30 we arrived at Kappabashi. had early lunch with a reward of another softcream!
12:40 we took a taxi to go down to Sawando parking area. Enjoyed onsen!
after drying a tent, we took a highway to Tsukuba.
23:45 arrived late at Tsukuba center because of traffic jam.

I hope everyone enjoyed the hiking!
There was still a lot of snow around the Hutte compared to the last year, so it was a bit hard to walk but everyone returned safely.
We saw a rescue team brought an injured man in Yokoo sanso at 20 pm.
It is not safe to walk down under heavy rain...we made the right decision!

Here is some photos from the hiking. Enjoy!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8q7qniMIK7qM1cwOS1NRy1sblU

In addition, I would like to share the link to live camera at Japan Alps area.
it would be useful to check autumn leaves and snow condition before planning a hiking.
http://www.nies.go.jp/event/kokai/2017/index.html

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