Winter Hike of Mt. Asama

It was kinda snowing when I left the house at 6:50 am, a bit more like sleet. As I drove to Matsuida station, it changed to snow, already staying on the ground. I picked up the two guys who were accompanying me on today’s hike up Mt. Asama. They both worked for a car company and were from Poland and India. The drive to the trailhead was steep and curvy as per usual. The poor kei car drained gas so quickly. The last bit of road was rough - dirt and covered with snow, but we spotted some wild animal that ran off the road. Not sure what it was. Looked kinda like a serow but had a long skinny tail. Driving slowly, we made our way to the parking lot by the hotel/cabin/rest house where the final guy joining us was waiting. Parking cost 500 yen, but we figured we had to pay before leaving.

The trailhead was through a tori gate accompanied by a bunch of Japanese information about the current volcanic activity of Mt. Asama (浅間山), 2,568 meters (8,425 ft) tall. Mt. Asama, in Joshin'etsukogen National Park, is the most active volcano in all of Honshu with its most recent eruption in 2009. Last June, the alert level was raised to 2 and you aren’t supposed to go within 2 km of the crater. Mt. Asama is actually three volcanoes piled on top of each other. The Kurofu, the Hotokeiwa and the Maekake volcano (前掛山) which is what we were attempting to summit. The start of the trail was at about 1300 m. There was a small box to drop your hiking plans off in. We departed at about 9 am. The pristine snowy trail stretched in front of us. There was already about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground so we put on our mini-spikes and shoe grips.

The weather was all right. It had stopped snowing and was just cloudy, but the sun started peeking through. It wasn’t really windy at all nor that cold. All the physical exertion kept us hot! We got a little confused as to where the trail lead at one point since the roped off way continued straight and the rest of the trail turned around and went back the way we came. We found out that by hopping over the rope and continuing on, we weren’t on the proper trail and cut out part of the actual path. Whoops. That’s what we get for not being able to read kanji on the signs. We made it to the second shrine in about fifty minutes, completely bypassing the first shrine and waterfall with our “shortcut.”

From here on out, the snow got deeper and more and more of it ended up in my shoes. The trail wasn’t really that steep but tromping the path out through the snow took a lot of energy. We took turns leading the the front. The scenery was breathtaking. Mt. Gazan to the right and a cliffline to the left. We got to smell some sulfur as well. An older couple in their sixties passed us at this point. We were surprised to see other people! They were really sweet. I hope they enjoyed the track/trail we made. Our paced had slowed a lot due to the snow and attempts to find the trail. The little ribbon markers were very spaced out and often bleached out by the sun. So hard to spot! By the time we arrived at the volcano shelter and rest house, it was 12:30. We had our picnic lunch here and talked to the caretakers who live in this cabin. The volcano shelter part on the bottom of the house was really decrepit looking. I wouldn’t trust it to protect me! I was very happy to find an outhouse here because I was not looking forward to peeing in the snow and cold, ha. These were wonderfully clean toilets - not squat toilets! Hallelujah.

The next of the trail was very flat and through the woods. It would have been perfect to ski across or use snowshoes. We made it to the sign where the trail “ends” and you have to proceed further at your own risk. This is where we found out, we were underprepared. We had an hour left of hiking time before I thought it’d be a good idea to turn around and make sure we got off the mountain before dark. Although the trail was flat, we really needed snowshoes. Every couple of steps, you’d crash through the snow and while yanking yourself out, sunk your other leg in. My hips really started hurting and my feet were wet. The snow was deep. I fell into to my hip so it was at least 90 cm (36 inches). We pressed forward as we wanted to make it out of the trees but there was no end in sight. After the rest house, we lost service so we couldn’t check how much further we had to go either. We decided to turn around at 1:50 pm. Near the bottom, I took my spikes off as a lot of the snow had melted and I didn’t want to damage them on the rocks. I started slipping a bit more so I definitely think they made a difference even if a lot of wet snow got stuck on the bottom of my shoes!

Afterward, we could see on the gps map that we were so close to breaking through the trees. The Japanese trail map at the rest house said that it takes 2 hours to do the final climb to the peak in good weather so we definitely wouldn’t have made it to the top. Oh well, I had fun and I’d like to try it again in the summer! The descent only took us 2 hours, but this time we stayed on the official trail and got to see the waterfall that was partially frozen. We hiked a total of 10 kilometers in 7 hours. Our legs hurt badly so we stopped at the rest house to use their onsen and get a discount on parking. The onsen was only indoors, but the water was the same iron-orange that we saw while climbing. We didn’t see any animals except for chickadees, but the volcanic rocks and snow were cool!