Nov 9, 2013 - 1 min read

Winter Climbing Komagatake

Cold nights

By C. Rio

Community writer

A few winters ago, I was recruited by my climbing buddy to explore one of the valleys below Komagatake. It was to be a three day mission, carrying all of our food, shelter and climbing gear from the base of the mountain to the summit, and then back down. There was no trail to follow, we were just tracing the course off the valley as it climbed its way up into the clouds. To summit using the normal trail should take approximately a day and a half. So why would any one in their right mind do a much harder, longer way, with no path to follow? We were looking for Ice...