Yuno-sawa, One of major walls in Japan
Introducing mountains in Japan
Today, I introduce a mountain near Tokyo / Japan, Mt. Tanigawa in Gunma. Some reason Japanese people like to pick some major in a category, some thing like a major wall in Japan. Mt. Tanigawa is one of major rock wall in Japan and many climbers enjoy rock climbing over there.
Mt. Tanigawa (Tanigawa-dake in Japanese)
According to Wikipedia, 781 people dead since 1913 as of 2005. In the Guinness book, Mt. Tanigawa is the worst mountain to take people's life. People believes the weather is unstable, the rock is also unstable for climbing. In addition, the mountain is close to Tokyo area and people can go there within 2~3 hours by train / car. The approach is also short.
The another fact is the mountain is typically getting a lot of snow in winter. One of ski resort called Tenjin-daira is one of first ski resort in the early winter / late autumn. In a winter, it gets more than 1~2m (3~6 feet) of snow in a day. So that, climbing Mt. Tanigawa in a winter is not easy.
Sightseeng
Other than climbing, Mt. Tanigawa is a good sightseeing spot in this area. Ichinokura-sawa is one of most famous rock wall non climber can go there very close to the wall without a lot of effort. Nowadays to protect the nature in the area, the car access is limited or controlled, but within 1~2 hours walking people can see the big wall without any special skill. In old days, people can access to the area by car and many people look at the wall and take a pictures with the wall.
Also, there is a few hiking trail to reach the top of mountains. The total elevation from the closest train station is about 1000m and regular people may take a several house to reach the top. The easiest trail is from the ski resort name Tenjindaira. People can take a rope way to the ski resort and around 3~4 hours, people can reach the top of the mountain.
Climbing
To climb the major wall in Ichinokura-sawa, Yuno-sawa, Machiga-sawa and around Hitsugo-sawa area, a special permission is required due to many accident in the areas in the past. The application needs to be send by mail 10 days before the climbing expect a member of designated climbing organization. Most of people who is from out side of Japan cannot be this category.
The application must be mailed, there is no on-line form at this moment.
There are so many rock climbing lines in the areas and depending on climber's skill, people can enjoy the climbing except winter. Winter climbing is not recommended, but some people try winter climbing own their risk.
The rock is not really stable compare with in the other countries such as Yosemite. Falling rocks almost all area including caused by climbers.
Climbing in Winter
Winter climbing is not easy this mountain due to the mountain is located an area where is getting much snow, especially January ~ March. In March, depending on the weather, people may nice snow climbing / hiking with stable weather. But the weather is getting into bad, it is back to winter condition.
In spring, many back country skiers also try back country skiing in this area. But people need to be very careful to avoid avalanche.
Area
Near Mt. Tanigawa, there are some hot-springs and many people take a rest and relax after the climbing and hiking.
Hot to get there
If people can drive a car, it might be easiest way to get there. If people are visiting Japan from the other countries and it is hard to drive a car. Then, taking a train would be a good way. People can take "Joetsu Shinkan-sen (a ballet train)" from Tokyo and get off at Jomo-Kogen station. It takes less than 2 hours from Tokyo. Then take a taxi. You can ask a driver to Mt. Tanigawa or Doai that is a closest local train station.
When would be a good season to visit
People can visit there any season. To climb / hike into the mountain, the winter time might not be a very good idea for most of people. But the other season, people can see different view for each season. For myself, I like autumn season very much since leaves are changing color to yellow, red, orange.... It is getting very beautiful view. I really recommend to be there just looking at the view in autumn if you have a chance.
I will continue to introduce other mountains in Japan
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