Vol.4 Started Ice Climbing アイス始めました

アイス始めました！ってなんだか夏っぽいですね！？

もちろん、北海道は只今真冬で、真っ白です。

積雪も道北地方は平年並み、もしくは平年並み以上の地域が多くなっていて、僕はこの地域に移り住んで初めての冬を、除雪したりスキーしたり、雪と戯れて遊んでいます。

初めまして、北海道の上川地方に住んでいる星野と申します。

タイトルにも書きましたが、僕もついに今年から本格的にアイスクライミングを始めました。そもそも、上川地方に住むのを決めたのも「層雲峡がある！」と言うのが、理由の１つでした。

何でカナダに住んでいる時にやってなかったの？と、よく言われますが。。。ま～タイミングですね。タイミング！何事も！

と、いう事で早速登ってきました。アイスクライミング日本代表エリア層雲峡です！

Hey guys, My name is Chiharu, Okay this is my first time to post on this blog. I am also enjoying the first winter in here Hokkaido, after moving to this amazing northernmost part of Japan. This is such a dreamland for people who love any kind of outdoor activities. So look up Hokkaido if you like to try some skiing or something in Japan along with the delicious fresh seafood dishes!!:)

In Hokkaido, we have good amountof snow this year as usual.I might be able to say a little more than previous years. My biggest announcement is that I have decided to start ice climbing this year!!! Well... I know people would ask me why I didn't give it a try while being in Banff in Canada( I lived there for about 4 years) Ha, it's just the matter of the timing...Yes, timing you guys for anything!!

So here we are!! We gave a visit to the Souunkyou which is one of the most popular ice climbing areas in Japan.I have to admit that being close to this area is one of the reason why I chose Kawakami area in Hokkaido as my habitat:)

この日は天気も良く、青空と柱状節理と氷の３点セットがとても綺麗でした。

このエリアには短いものから、長いものまで、数多くの氷瀑があり色々楽しめます。

そして、なんと言ってもこのエリア「アプローチが近い」！！

車を止めて１０分、１５分歩くだけで、いくつかの氷瀑に登ることが出来ます。車に忘れ物をしてもすぐに取りに行けますね。

It was such a gorgeous day, the blue sky and the ice on wall made the best combination.

In this are, you can enjoy a lot of short, long routes as well as ice falls. Above all, the pros in this area is that the closeness from the parking lot to the starting point of each route. Only 10 to 15 min walk takes you to multiple water falls!

今回まず最初に登ったのは、尾滝。今年は氷の発達具合が悪いらしく、まだ小さいみたいですが、しっかり登る事は出来ました。長さは２０ｍ位です。

This is our first try of the day! Otaki(尾滝) This yaer the ice hasn't formed well and it was smaller than usual, but we have enjoyed climbing this route. The route was about 20 m.

次に登ったのはパラグフォール。こちらも例年よりだいぶ細いみたいです。

長さは３０ｍ程。バーティカルな氷瀑で、結構パンプしました。見た目も良いし登り応えもある面白い氷瀑でした！

この日は、この２本の氷瀑を合わせて６回登りました。アプローチが近い分、何回も登れて初心者にはとてもいい練習になります。

大雪山にスキーしに来たけど、天気が悪くて滑れな～い。なんて日には、層雲峡でアイスクライミング！なんてのも良いんじゃないでしょうか？

どうぞ！道北に！遊びに来てください！！

Next route we climbed was Paragufall(パラグフォール).This also seemed to be way thinner than previous years.It was about 30 m and the route stands vertically and exhausting. I highly recommend you to try this out as the route has a good apperance and requring good amount of challenge!

In this day, We tried 6 routes in total including the 2 ice falls. As I said earlier this area's easy access allowed us to try multiple routes! If you are beginner for ice climbing or climb as many as you can for a good practice, Souunkyou is the good area to go!

Oh,even if you are coming to Taisetsu are for the skiing but ended up cancelling the skiing due to the bad condition....I would say ice climbing here is recommended alternative!

If you are thinking about coming to Japan we would like you to think here as a destination!!! I'm looking forward seeing you here!!

毎回僕の記事の最後に、僕が去年行った山旅の中で撮った写真を写真が続く限り１枚づつ紹介したいと思います。

それでは今回の１枚です。

It's almost end of my story for today, now I would like to insert one of my photoes that I took during my mountain trip last year, hopefully I want to continue to do so as long as I have pictures to share with you guys.

この写真は、カナダのオカナガン地方にあるロッククライミングエリア、「SKAHA」の近くにあるキャンプ場からの風景です。

大きな湖の畔にある、とても落ち着くキャンプ場でした。でも時々、爆風が吹きます！

このエリアにはたくさんのボルトルート、トラッドルートがあります。夏は暑すぎるためクライマーは少ないですが、春秋には多くのクライマーがここに集まってきます。

Sonnie Trotter初登のFamily Man(5.14)があるのもこのエリアです。

This picture was taken at the campsite in Skaha area in BC. It was in the soothing and quiet location right in front of the huge lake. During the summer time it can be too hot so less climbers are seen, but spring and fall can get very busy with climbers coming from everywhere! There're large numbers of trad, boulted climbing routes. And this is the area of the first ascend of Family man (5.14) by Sonnie Trotter.