Through Navy service MWR I signed up for a climbing trip with a couple of friends. The trip was supposed to be out to a sea cliff called Jogasaki. Unfortunately, there have recently been a multitude of earthquakes in Japan. The epicenter of the largest of these was right near our climb site. So, the trip was moved to a more local site. Mt. Takatoriyama is an old sandstone quarry a short, but rigorous hike up to the top and climb sites. Tons of people were out climbing already. The leader/ organizer of the trip is a fantastic climber and had two ropes up before I had managed to put my shoes and harness on.
The first two climbs were roughly a 5.6 and 5.8. The 5.6 is fairly similar to a staircase except that you have to pick your own hand-holds. 5.8s are a little tougher and require more thought and coordination. This one was a corner, and those are always fun, though not difficult. I was the first one on a rope and the leader, thinking I had never climbed before told me to climb the 5.6. After a very fast run up that, he let me do what I wanted from there on out. The rock at this place is a rough sandstone that grates the fingers to shreds. It also exfoliates with a single touch making finding good holds difficult.
Next, we moved to another huge boulder with two climbs. One was up a face with a crack that began halfway up. It was a lot of fun and I only almost bailed on it when I reached 8 inches into a deep crack and someone below me joked about snakes living in there. After snatching my hands away from the wall and calming my panicked heart, I decided it was way too cold for snakes to be out anyway and finished the climb. That poor guy got a talking to. Next to us on the other climb, a group of what we would consider elderly in the States were tying into ropes. I watched the 70-year old man in the photo below climb a 5.11c (well beyond my climbing ability) in about 2 minutes. He made it look easy! One of the well-seasoned young climbers in our group tried the same climb and was unable to climb more than 10 feet of the climb. I was absolutely stunned.
Between climbs I hiked up to the top of the mountain (please do not compare to real mountains. It was not very high up.) to where there was an overlook and panoramic views of the surrounding area. I could see Yokohama, Tokyo, and the bridge to Chiba on one half. Moving to the next platform to see around a tree was Mount Fuji! The day was clear enough to see it through the powerlines. Turning back around, there was a view of the stone Buddha carved into a rock face and a Submarine coming into Yokosuka Base. Very cool! I love seeing the subs in the water. They're neat!
FUJI!
Sub and Buddha! Love the contrast.
The last climb of the day was a really fun crack to face climb in the shade (brrrrr!). A quickdraw and a nylon tie-in were placed above the crack since no one (except the leader who made it look easy) had made it above the crack. I decided that even without my finger prints I was going to try it. The clack was fun and easy, just a good lean to the right and a multitude of good holds, I had a blast. Then came the face. There was one good underhang at the top of the crack to grip, everything else were little tiny rocks i could grip with the very tips of my fingers. With one fall and all the work being done with my legs, I managed to hang on and push my way up past the draw. Two more tough moves like that and I was home free. I am the only person in our group, aside from the lead to have not used either cheater-line to complete the climb. Yes, I am boasting, cause it was not easy. Everyone watching me said I made it look that way though. Super big grin for the next hour. :D :D!!
We hiked down past the stone Buddha and I got a closer shot. What a day! I made it through the whole day with one tiny nick on my hand, very little of my fingerprints and a fat solid bruise on my right knee from hitting the rock on the first climb when I was being reckless.
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