Life On The Move

It is Climbing Season in Japan

Right now the weather is great for climbing and well, for just about anything else you could want to do, at Mizugaki. The temps have been about 55F, the skies clear, the sun out and so the friction is awesome!! On Sunday Jensen and I went up to one of the many areas at Mizugaki to recharge our batteries with some bouldering. I had never taken Jensen to the main area so I thought it would be good to start at the Steep Fantasy area for a proper introduction. This area has about 35 boulders that are scattered about and developed with problems. There are hundreds of other boulders just waiting to be cleaned and projected. It really is an exciting time right now up there.

I warmed up on Steep Fantasy V4 and Jensen was intrigued by Star’ Project on the back side of the boulder. SP is a fun traverse problem that is a nice addition to this area. After playing there we went exploring higher up and found a very nice spire. The spire is about 100 feet at it’s highest point and looks to be a mixed line. Jensen showed copious interest in establishing a route on it. It was pretty much all he talked about for the rest of the time that we were up there. We did happen upon, what I am hoping to be my next boulder project there. The boulder is about 35 feet tall and steeply over hung. There are several crimps that lead to a massive shield feature that appears to be a nice under cling right before a scary sloper finish. I am excited to get back up there and see what that thing feels like.

Yesterday I went back to Mizugaki for some climbing. I have a project that I bolted a couple months ago that I have not really been able to put in the kind of time that it will take for a send. After some consideration I decided that it was time to try and wrap this thing up. I went bolt to bolt cleaning all of the holds, since it had been over a month since my last effort. After a few tries I still came up empty. I am hoping that the temps will not be too harsh when I return from Hawaii in November.

Jack also brought one of his employees from Calafata who sampled the line on top rope. He has been climbing in Japan for ten years and said right after he finished that this was the best sport climb he has ever climbed on granite. Jack agrees. The features on this steep wall are very interesting for granite in Japan. The route goes like this; the bottom is five solid strenuous crimp moves that lead to a shallow flake. After clipping here you move to a three pad two hand under cling and a quick shake out. Next you move right and and up through two sharp crimps with less than good feet to a large under cling side pull. Here you have to clip fast and adjust your feet to make a long move to a nice jug. Still not able to rest, you have to move over a bulge using a small side pull with your left and a shallow open hand crimp with your right to gain the bulge. After pulling the bulge, the route turns vertical. In this section the wall becomes run out and very technical. Moving through side pulls and sloper crimps with minimal feet, the top slowly turns to slab and is two meters between bolts and then the anchor. After the strenuous lower section the final run out slab is more of a heady crux than a physical one. I think after a couple more sessions I will be able to red point it. The consensus now is that the route is 12b or c, my limit. After my session on the areas name sake Red Yellow, Jack bolted another line that he thinks is 13b/c and Yama-chan one hung Dixie King 12b, which was a nice effort on his behalf. We left at four and went bouldering at the Farmers boulder to finish our wonderful day.

We had a great day all said and done. No one sent their project or at least anything worth noting, but we were in the mountains enjoying life and each other all day. The leaves have started to change and sitting down with a freshly made cup of warm coffee at the base of the crag allows you to listen to the wind blow and the birds chirp. Times like these really give you a chance to think. And what I have gathered is that I love my family and I love climbing. And Japanese peaches, in that order.

Go Climb Something!!!!

Ninja Kick, Check

Gamba!!!

Steep Fantasy, Winter 2010

Wolf V5, Farmers Boulder

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 11:54 am. It is filed under Bouldering, mitake, travel and tagged with Climbing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.