I finally made my way to Chichibu to see some of the areas there. Jack took me to the impressive Battleship Area and several other areas that I can not remember the names of now. All of these areas are places that Jack has developed/ing or discovered. These areas have many bolted lines, including a 30 foot roof in a cave boosting two 13+/14- lines that need ascents.

The Battleship crag is very visible from the town below and is very nice limestone. This area in particular has seen several ascents, notably Yuji's send of the most obvious line that I can not remember the name of, but goes at 5.13+. We were on a scouting mission this trip and we climbed a rather unusual line for Japan that moves through slopers below to a long tufa up top, then to a pumpy crux finish that if botched, the leader will take a long, fun fall. But totally safe due to the steepness of the head wall.

Next we traveled down several more roads and visited more areas, but the area that sticks out the most was Osutaka no One. This is named after the deadliest plane crash in history that happened in the area. This is the area with the large cave that I mentioned before. The main wall has about 10 routes with about 5 more on a wall near by. We climbed a very beautiful and dirty 10d, that was the first line Jack bolted here. Very nice and technical line that works its way up the middle of the wall.

I was not able to take many photos, but Jack snapped a few of me climbing. I included them to show some of the rock quality. Enjoy the photos and I will have another post tomorrow.



Go Climb Something.

More beautiful photos from AK. I have a few more that I am working up right now. But I am putting a bit more English into these. Enjoy for now.

Oh yea, the weather here is nasty yet again. I sure hope the rainy season has not started yet.

Alaska, Alaska. What a beautiful place. So pure. I will write more later. Photos just for now.

Yes I am talking about Alaska. We are going to Anchorage on Saturday and will be staying for a week. I have never been to Alaska, so I am looking forward to this trip very much. Star has more training on the military base there and Gavin and I are planning on checking out the surrounding mountains. I am aware that this time of the year there are many hungry bears out, so GnE will not be venturing out too far by ourselves.

That said I have very lose plans to take some photos on the water and in Anchorage. I know of a few climbing areas that are on my list to visit too. Gavin and I are meeting Star's grandparents for the first time next week. Long over due. I have heard so much about them I can not wait to meet them.

This should be a great trip and I hope I am able to take some nice pictures. We will see. Here are some random pics from the last month. Enjoy and My next post should be from Alaska and hopefully drinking an IPA!!!!


Go Climb Something!!!

Joyama today was great. We went to Wild Boar Gorge. WBG is a steep sport climbing area that must be visited by all climbers in Japan that climb in the 11+ to 14a range. A very nice area with some nice history. Jack Nakane, Yuji Hirayama, and Dai Koyamada, to name a few, all have FAs here.

Hiroko and I started with Jack's 12b, Child's Play. The route is very fun and all of the moves require your attention. If you are tall like me(for Japanese standards) the moves are not tough until you reach the last bolt. The small crimp and terrible pinches had our attention for sure. I think I can send it, but I will have to work out the top moves. Hit Chan is in the same boat.

Shuji's project is a 13d through an overhanging face that has it all. One jug, several crimps, and at least seven slopers that are just not enough. Shuji one hung today, and I know he will send soon. He looks very strong on all of the moves.

I climbed another classic, Gigolo 11b/c. This route really reminded me of climbing back home in the Little River Canyon. An overhung line about 70 feet long. The rock is no where near as good, but it is very close to sandstone. There are no jugs on this one. The line is chalked full of sloper ledges and OK sidepulls. Gigolo is well protected and I will redpoint next time I go.

On this trip I set up a couple of flashes for more practice. I think that this round was far better than the last and infinitely better than the time before that. I played around a bit with my f stop and ISO but tried to keep my shutter around 125 due to the action/climbing. I still have several that are a bit blurry, but overall I am very pleased. I hope that as I am posting photos that you can notice improvement in the composition or at least in the picture quality.

I will be taking a couple of days to rest but i think that a new area is in the works for this week. Till next time.....


Go Climb Something!!!!

Golden week has been the most widely celebrated holiday in Japan thus far. I have never seen so many people outside. I do not fully understand what the holiday is for, but it has something to do with the emperor.

Anyway, for a break from the city Gavin and I joined Jack and his wife for some bouldering at Mizugaki. We met up at the new area and decided to try a few new potential problems. Jack also wanted to send his V5/6 that we finished cleaning last week.

The first boulder of the day was one that had been wet on one side in previous trips but to our delight we found it quite dry. The Coffee Can boulder is small on this side, but has three stiff, fun problems. The same boulder on the northern side is the site of the 25+ foot lines that we closed last week. This is where Jacks Ideal Johnson V5/6 is. Jack cleaned it and sent first go. I on the other hand took my time to make it to the last scary dead point. After several tries and copious skin loss, I decided to try and send next week.

The trip was a success though. I played with a borrowed flash and I believe that I took a few nice shots. Jack took a few nice ones too I might add. In total this area now has 2 V2's, 3 V3's, 3 V4's, 2 V5's, 1 V5/6, 1 V 6, and over 25 lines yet to be climbed. And there are too MANY lines for me to ever be able to climb in my life here.

This weekend I am planning on heading to Mitake for some bouldering and shooting. I have lots of work to do with this flash technology. Monday I am going to Joyama with Hiroko and Shuji. Shuji and Hit Chan are working some projects so I hope I can take some sweet shots of them in action!!! We will see. There is a cool looking 12a that Jack put up there that I want to get on. Should be fun.

Enjoy the pictures and remember.....



Go Climb Something!!!!!

Wow, so much has happened since Gavin and I came back to Japan. The weather is crisp and feels very clean now that spring is here. Gavin and I have gone climbing almost everyday since our return. We have mostly been going sport climbing lately, so I am happy to report that my endurance has improved rather nicely in the last couple of weeks.

Several months ago I was doing some research and decided that my Nikon D5000 was not up for the tasks at hand anymore. I was not seeing the picture quality and video quality that I wanted. So I bought a Canon 5D Mark II with the 24-104mm f/4 pro lens. I have only had the camera for about five days and I can already see the difference that this sensor is making. The sensor is twice as large as the D5000 sensor. Not to mention that it seems that Canon has really "got it" in terms of color awarness. Many photos and videos to come.

The Walkers and Team G went on our first family camping trip this past weekend. I took everyone to Mizugaki yama for some fric-tastic bouldering and climbing. There was a chance of rain, but we decided to go anyway. As it turned out, it rained all day Saturday. But we made the best of it. Saturday we went for a hike and I showed everyone one of the many areas here that Jack and I are developing. Totally rad here!!!! We played cards and went to the onsen for an very relaxing soak and dinner.

Saturday night the skies cleared and Sunday morning was glorious. Blue skies and sun. The granite at Mizugaki dries very fast. So by the time that we made it to the area I picked out, several of the problems were dry. On Thursday the previous week I established a very fun tough V3 on a 25 foot block and though that this would make a nice boulder to start on. It turned out to be very tough for the group, but everyone seemed to enjoy the whole experience.

On Monday Team G went into Tokyo for some good old sight seeing. We went to Jack's shop Calafate. Jack took us to a fantastic ramen restaurant. I really love ramen. In Japan ramen is the most popular noodle. When you go to a ramen shop it is more than just the ramen and soup that you are there for. It's the atmosphere. The cook right in front of you making your bowl of ramen and the continuous slurping all around you is priceless. In the states ramen is not treated the same way. I will sure miss the wonderful ramen when we move back home.

After an oishii (delicious) lunch, Team G headed to Shinjuku for some sightseeing. We journeyed to the top of the Japan Metro building for a free 360 degree view of Tokyo. It was so clear that we were able to see Fuji yama. We walked around Shinjuku and headed to a very nice IPA bar. After five glasses of tasty IPA we hopped on the train and headed west. A sweet weekend all-in-all.

Today I went to on of our closest climbing areas the Towers. I was able to climb 6 routes. A couple 10a's and 10c's, an 11a, and a 11b. Fun day. I will post pictures from today tomorrow. Now I must get to bed, I am super tired. Tomorrow I am headed to boulder at Mitake.