Myogi San Hike

Very unfortunately the hike on September 17th was canceled due to the typhoon.....
The rain and strong wind would be imminent around Myogisan area.

Please let me know (from current participants) if this schedule could work or not.
If not, I will postpone this hike until next summer~autumn.......

This is the announcement for TWMC hike which is originally scheduled in the weekend of September 16-18. Unfortunately my initial plan to visit Ushiro-Tateyama-renpo area was reluctantly revised and the destination for the hike was relocated due to mostly my tight schedule ( since I resumed the full time work at IPCC (Industrial Properties Corporation Centre ) in Tokyo from this April).
The date has been rescheduled in September 17, solely one day hike. And the destination has been set to Myogi-san (妙義山).

http://www.japanesealps.net/others/myougisan/hakuunsan.html
( only in Japanese. But you could see the photos along the route.)

The Myogi-San is situated in Annaka city, Gunma-ken nearby the Nagano motorway route and it forms quite spectacular shape of steep and rocky cliff surfaces. In fact, the outlook is very impressive. There are several different peaks which are accessible for hikers to enjoy the mixture of rock scrambles with short forest hike.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Myōgi

As pointed out, this walk mainly consists of a sort of rock scrambles with safe protection yet the route is often highly exposed along steep cliff with up and down path.
There are two routes available normally ( medium route and hard route). Unfortunately we can only walk along the hard route because the easy one is currently closed due to the rock fall with rain a couple of months ago.

The approach:

We only use car transportation to get the gateway for this hike. I provide max 4 people with my ride ( ideally 3 people).
It takes 2h to get the carpark from Tsukuba using motorway. I am planning to leave Tsukuba at 5:00am and therefore the arrival time would be around 7:30am including one break.

The route for walk:

Car park of Michino-eki, Myogi =>Myogi Shrine => 45min=> Daino-ji => 1h =>Shirakumo- Yama => 1h30min =>Taruwaki sawa => 2h => Hokkiri => 35min > Azumaya => 40min => car park.
My plan is to come back to the carpark before 3:30pm.

( You are required with great caution to walk from Daino-Ji to Hokkiri along rocky scramble route. Most exposed rock routes are highly protected with metal chain, thus you must fell safe and secure as long as you hold the chain with steady foot hold. Yet, some steep narrow slab rocks require you to use arm strength in ascent....)

Onsen:

After completing the muscular-painful workout, we are introduced into the hot and relaxed local onsen with a few minutes drive from the carpark (Myogi-fureai pluza : 500 yen).

Condition for participants :

The difficulty level: 5+ out of 5.
It suggests that you are required to have strength of muscle in both arm and leg and to have some experiences in sorts of rock scramble or rock climbing. Also, I only can lead max5-6 people( ideally 4 people) to this doggie walking route. Therefore, number of participants are very limited to those who are fulfilled with the above conditions with good fitness. I have harness with rope for aiding but it takes too long time with this walk route to do it.
( I had my fieldwork on the route this June to figure out the current condition with several local friends prior to this hike....)

The place to meet up in Tsukuba:

I pick up the participants at 5:00am of September 16 at the carpark of TX station.
As mentioned, one more car holder is very welcome if participants will be between 4-6 people.

The cost:

The motorway cost for return is 7260 yen ( Oneway is around 170km along KenO-do and Kanetsu-Nagano-do between Tsukuba and Myogi-San) with one car. The gasoline cost is calculated around 4450 yen for return ( 1L = 127 yen with 10km/ L consumption rate). Onsen is 500 yen.
With one example of estimation in case participants are 4 people with one car:
{(7260+4450) /5 } +500+300( club fee)= 3142 yen/ 1participant.

The insurance:

Any scheme of your personal insurance for mountaineering would make you feel secure in your field activity. But, after all you have to take your own responsibility for safety throughout mountaineering. The insurance does not make any physical safety net in your own activity.....

What you need to bring for;

Good walking boats with good grip onto rocks.
Long pants
Gloves
Rain gear ( I will stop the climbing if it will start raining on the way... Immediate decent will be implemented with great caution ..)
Head touch
Warm clothes
Hut or cap
Snack ( good volume of calories ..)
Lunch
Drink ( 1.5 L of water)
Onsen stuff( leave in the car)

What I need to know for the participant:

1) your name and email address or mobile number
2) car owner?
3) any experience in rock scramble?

Unfortunately( sorry! so many unfortunate....) I can not set up the meeting at HS during week day to explain the further detail of this hike. I will reply to you via email if you wish to know more regarding this route.

Please let me know the above information before September 10th if you are keen to join this hike.

Best regards

We had a fantastic weather condition to hike up to Myogi-san with rehabilitation at the local onsen.

After driving around 3h including one rest from Tsukuba, we got the car park nearby Myogi shurine where the path was directed to Myogi ridge. We walked through several rock scrambling points ( Oku-no-in, bibiri-iwa, O-nozoki and Nishi-kata etc) along the route heading to Tengudake and Soumadake but unfortunately our time was running out just before the summit of Soumadake.
Also, my knee had started to cry out due to steep up and down route. After descending along Taruwaki-saws route to the car park around 4:00pm, we rushed to the closest onsen to recover from the fatigue and to eliminate dust and sweat from bodies.
On the way home, we were involved in traffic jam along Nagano and Kanetsu before our arrival to Tsukuba at 10:30pm.
Thank you all (Akira, Thierry and Sam) for your active involvement in this scrambling. It was great fun to have the hike with you all.