There and back again

13 photos

12 photos

Climbing Myoji Chokujo route 明星山の直上ルート

Interesting route with one crux pitch and difficult route finding in the upper part.

10 photos

Tsurugidake Genjiro Ridge 剱岳の源次郎尾根 (May 2017)
A trip to the last ridge of Tsurugidake I haven't climbed till now. Great weather, far too hot, nice views.

32 photos

Climbing Joyama 城山, Izu Peninsula January 2016 Great climbing place on the Izu peninsula which does not feel like Japan at all: solid rock, solid protection, nice bolts - feels like back home in Europe ;-)

9 photos

A short hike in the hills surrounding Bozen. As I was teaching at ESSLLI'16 every morning, only the afternoon was free for the steep hike with great views.

15 photos

Climbing Gunma's Kuroiwa 榛名山黒岩 October 2015

A two-day trip to this excellent cllimbing spot in Gunma: easy access, loads of routes, great surroundings. This pearl near Lake Haruna features close to hundred routes in all grades, with good protection.

10 photos

Climbing Zakkokutani 雑穀谷 October 2015

A short climbing trip to this precious and soon to be closed jewel. Climbing between the colored leaves is great!

19 photos

River climbing and fishing in Zakkoku-river 雑穀谷の沢と釣り

My first time out on a river climb for fishing instead for the sawa only. The permanent rain didn't disturb us too much. Great experience.

23 photos

Yarigadake Kitakama Trial August 2015

Our trial to climb Kitakama ridge of Yarigadake came to a sudden halt due to bad weather. At least we had a nice evening at the bonfire!

41 photos

River climbing Souretani 沢登：沢上谷 August 2015

After two years back to Souretani, one of the most beautiful rivers I know. Several waterfalls, great river climbing, absolutely astonishing!

78 photos

Climbing Ogawayama クライミング　小川山

A trip to the one of the best climbing areas in Japan, Ogawayama, on a long weekend. One rainy day and two days of multi-pitch climbing! Great.

27 photos

Sawa Iozen Osugitani

My first creek climbing (sawa-nobori) this year, together with 18 friends from the Ishikawa mountaineering clubs, where five of us went all the way to the top of Iozen in a beautiful sawa with several interesting falls to climb.

15 photos

Byogadake and Kurobe Pastures

A short hike in the beautiful Byogadake Nature Park leads to great views onto the Northern Alps and Unazuki Onsen. Followed by lots of ice cream at the Kurobe Pastures.

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Climbing Zakkokutani 雑穀谷

Nice excursion with two Georgian friends and a group of friends from Fukui. Mostly fighting in Joutsu.

9 photos

Climbing in Hakusan-shi, Onnabara

Short access, but also only 4 climbable routes here. Still, it is outdoors!

11 photos

Hiking Kurakakeyama ハイキング　鞍掛山

An early morning hike to a very popular mountain in Kaga, the Kurakakeyama, followed by lunch at a great Soba place and a relaxing afternoon in the Kenmin-no-mori. All topped with home-made sansai tempura for dinner. Perfect day.

23 photos

Climbing Mt. Dainichi 大日山 and collecting mountain vegetables

The highest peak of Komatsu, not very challenging, but a great place to enjoy fresh green, great views, and collect loads of mountain vegetables.

32 photos

Kamikochi - Myojindake E-ridge and traverse 明神岳の棟稜とトラバース　

Nice introductory snow ridge with some climbing pieces interspersed. We continued traversing all the gendarms instead of taking the shortest way down.

11 photos

Skitour lower part of Gozendake　御前岳 February 2015

Deep, too deep powder during ascent, what a hard work, that brought us some of the best powder...

29 photos

Skitour Kannasan 神奈山のバックカントリー February 2015

A great mountain with a challenging ridge at the end. Great views onto Myoko, and powder powder powder. The perfect trip in Niigata.

18 photos

Ski touring around Niseko, Hokkaido

A 1.5 day excursion with the Adventure Guide's group trip to Niseko. A short warm-up tour and Mount Yotei in horrible weather.

46 photos

Guide refreshment course in Hokkaido January 2015

Four days of International Mountain Guide refreshment course. Skiing, ice climbing, winter climbing - everything there!

12 photos

Skitour Miyobutsusan 御世仏山 January 2015

A small mountain nearby can still provide some of the best powder!

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Skitour Sanpoiwadake 山スキー：三方岩岳

An feast of powder, after hard work out on the way to the top. My first visit in winter to this very nice tour near the Hakusan Superrindo.

15 photos

Skitour Mount Niou 仁王山の山スキー

Strong winds and snowfall didn't stop us in our search for powder - and we were successful!!! Great tour just before Christmas.

11 photos

Wintertrip to Tateyama November 2014

A short ski-excursion to the Tateyama-range on the last day the Alpenroute is open.

9 photos

Climbing in Fukui's Kuroiwa 福井県の黒岩のクライミング

A short one-day windows of good weather allowed us to go climbing on Kuroiwa!

8 photos

Autumn-hike Akausagiyama

Great autumn colors in the beautiful surroundings of Akausagiyama on the border between Ishikawa and Fukui attract a lot of people. A pieceful hike from the Ishikawa side.

43 photos

Climbing Tanigawadake 谷川岳

Two days of climbing at the height of the colored leaf season, in famous Tanigawadake. A pleasure, and challenge.

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Bessan Hakusan 別山・白山 October 2014

A long one-day trip in Hakusan National Park between autumn colored leafs. Starting from Ichinose, up to Bessan, along the ridge to Minamiryugababa, then up to Hakusan and down to Bettou. For more details see the blog post 別山と白山の紅葉.

11 photos

Rock and Beach in the Höllental

Called the most beautiful valley in the world, the Höllental with the river Schwarza combines phantastic rock towers and crystal clear water into a spectacular scenery.

Some photos from a short climbing trip.

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Climging Ogawayama 小川山のクライミング August 2014

My second trip to this great area, the second time plessed with rain ;-) Still, we managed two great routes!

17 photos

Gokayama Utsukushigadani - 五箇山美ヶ谷

Morning sawa-climbing before the rain starts. A small but beautiful little creek in Toyama, Gokayama, made into a challenge by billions of hairy caterpillars attacking us!

13 photos

Rock climbing Zakkokutani 雑穀谷のロッククライミング June 2014

A nice face with some great routes to work out on unstable days - one of the few places where one can nearly belay from the car.

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Mt. Hakoyatani and Tonbi rock (箱屋谷山とトンビ岩)

A short and nice hiking path just around the corner from Kanazawa University at the Prefectural Iozen Nature Park 医王山県立自然公園. And for those who need challenges, there is Tonbi rock with about 100m of chains to scale!

13 photos

Ski tour Kitanomatadake 北ノ俣岳

A long, long trip, especially the return with many up-downs. The upper slopes offer spectacular views.

45 photos

Climbing Miyakejima 三宅島

A short trip for all-natural-protection climbing to a small island south of Tokyo, Miyakejima. Beautiful landscape, great views, tough cracks. More details at this and this blog entry (in Japanese)

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Climbing Yugawara Makuiwa 湯河原・幕岩

Due to a cancelled ferry we spent a day climbing in a beautiful Ume garden in Yugawara.

17 photos

Shirataniyama Morning Tour 白谷山の朝ツアー

Time is precious, so why not start very early, enjoy a sunrise at the top, and then go to work? That was my plan for this tour, and it worked out perfectly! Details in Japanese at the blog entry 朝山スキー　白谷山.

15 photos

Skitour Mount Marutsunobori マルツノボリ山

Probably the ski tour with the best weather and snow this year. Great conditions, cold and sunny. A wonderful and relatively easy tour. See this blog entry for details (in Japanese).

24 photos

Skiing Kagomachi-Nanbasan スキー・籠町南葉山

A nice excursion into the area around Joetsu/Myoko and an easy tour.

28 photos

Iceclimbing Yatsugadake アイスクライミング・八ヶ岳

Another three day trip to this wonderful area for ice climbing. Great falls, long gullies, perfect weather. See the blog post 八ヶ岳　アイスクライミング (in Japanese) for details.

13 photos

Climbing at Kitakomatsu 北小松の岩所

Bad weather in Hokuriku - so we escaped to the area around Lake Biwa for climbing on the rocks of Kitakomatsu. Steep access path leads to three small but nice climbing spots.

29 photos

Climbing Byobuiwa in Kamikochi 屏風岩・上高地

A long weekend in Kamikochi climbing the Byobuiwa - a steep wall with lots of artif routes. More details (in Japanese) at the blog entry 上高地・屏風岩・雲稜ルート

37 photos

Sawa Oshiramizutani and Hakusan 大白水谷

The planned river climb was finished in time for us to climb to Hakusan, too. My first time in summer. For more details see the blog post (in English) Oshiramizutani and Hakusan 大白水谷と白山

12 photos

Akausagiyama 赤兎山 and Pizza at Senna

A short hike followed by a pizza at the abandoned ski area Senna, a strange experience. Some more details can be found (in Japanese) in the blog entry 白山瀬女スキー場とピッツァ

23 photos

Sawa Hinoki-tani 桧谷の沢登

Inspite of rain we ventured out to explore a new sawa, river, and were rewarded with a beautiful scenery and silent day.

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Canyoning in Kurobe

A great half day canyoning trip with J-WET. Sliding, jumping, drifting - enjoying. See my blog entry Canyoning in Kurobe for more details.

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Climbing Tateyama in summer

My first time climbing Tateyama in summer - never seen sooo many people there. See my blog entry Tateyama in summer for more details.

15 photos

Sawa climbing Mt Oku-Iouzen, Watan ワ谷、奥医王山

Easy but long river-climbing with lots of small steps. Very enjoyable. See the blog entry 沢登り ワ谷 奥医王山 (in Japanese) for details.