Advanced snow mountain climbing in Japan

Take your snow mountain climbing skills to the next level with these 1 to 3-day tours for advanced climbers in Japan, led by IFMGA-certified mountain guide Tatsuo. Trips can take place in the Japan Alps and the Yatsugatake mountains.

Alpes japonaises, Monts Yatsugatake

1 Day

Jan, Mar, May, Dec

High

Intermediate

Description

The beautiful mountains of Japan will be the perfect setting for this snow mountain climbing tour.

This is a programme for advanced climbers, seeking for a more step-up training experience.

Please notice there are fixed dates in different Japanese locations, for a 1, 2 or 3-day trip. These are the three mountain areas we can explore:

South Japan Alps

The South Japan Alps (or Akaishi Mountains) are a mountain range at the heart of the Honshu island.

Here we’ll climb Mt Kaikoma (also known as Mt Kaikomagatake), a 2967 m peak inside Minami Alps National Park.

For this winter ascent, we’ll take a route on Kuroto ridge. This route has many steep sections with ladders and chains. From the top, you’ll enjoy a breathtaking panoramic view, with Mt Fuji on the distance.

Yatsugatake mountains

This group of mountains in the border of Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures offer many attractive routes for a snow mountain climbing adventure.

I propose these 2 routes:

Sekison ridge: it’s a route on Mt Amida (Amidadake), on a mixed terrain of snow and rock.
Nakayama ridge: a steep snow ridge, that involves technical rock climbing and using crampons.

North Japan Alps

The northern section of the Japan Alps stretches along Nagano, Gifu and Toyama prefectures.

I propose two different routes on Mt Tsurugi (2999 m), one of the top mountains among alpine and rock climbers in Japan:

Genjirou ridge
Yatsumine

Would you like to come on an outstanding winter climbing trip in the Japanese mountains? Check out the next departure dates and send a request!

If you are not a very experienced climber, I recommend you to tackle this snow mountain climbing programme for beginners.

Price includes

- Guiding fee

- Mountain guide expenses

Price details

Prices are different for each location and climbing route.

The price stated above is the one for:

-Kuroto ridge on Mt Kaikoma (South Japan Alps).

-Sekison ridge on Mt Amida (Yatsugatake mountains).

-Nakayama ridge (Yatsugatake mountains).

These are the prices for the other locations & routes:

-Genjirou ridge on Mt Tsurugi (North Japan Alps): JPY 80,000.

-Yatsumine route on Mt Tsurugi (North Japan Alps): JPY 90,000.

Transport and accommodation costs for the clients are not included in the price.

About the guide

Tatsuo

5.0

(1)

Mountain Guide

I'm an IFMGA certified mountain guide, based in Saitama, in the vicinity of Tokyo.

At around the age of 12, I was captured by charms of the mountains as I started hiking with my friends in Japan. My main passion changed from hiking, to rock climbing, to winter mountains, to climbing abroad, but I was never let go by the mountain charms since then..

I've been guiding since 1995 and have also been trained at ENSA, the French mountaineering school in Chamonix.
As a climber, I've opened numerous new free climbing and multi pitch routes and accomplished a lot of first ascents all over Japan.
My experience extends abroad as well, having climbed the classic big wall rock climbing routes on El Capitan (Yosemite), Marmolada / Cime Grande (Dolomites), Lotus flower Tower (Canada), Trango Towers (Karakoram), and Fitz Roy (Patagonia), and in alpine climbing, the famous north faces of the Alps (Eiger, Matterhorn, Drus), as well as ice falls and high altitude mountains (Aconcagua, Amadablam, K2).

Guiding is not something anyone can do.
A mountain guide needs to be an advanced climber. But being a good mountain guide requires completely different set of skills including rope works and it's not enough to just be an expert climber. As a mountain guide, I aspire to continuously learn new techniques and develop myself as a guide, so as to guide clients safely and surely.
Finally, it is not enough to just have the right skills and knowledge to be a good mountain guide. One must understand the needs of each client and try his / her best to ensure clients' mountain experience is enjoyable and memorable and /or that the clients have learnt the techniques to become a better climber / mountaineer. This is my motto.

Lastly, please note that I don't speak English fluently so I will be communicating to you in mixture of English and gestures (or Japanese, if you can understand!).

I hope you get to enjoy the mountains in Japan or elsewhere with me!

Languages

Japanese | English

Certificates

JMGA

Request more information

What people are saying about Explore-Share

Man

Climbing with guide Guillaume was absolutely a highlight of my 2-week Europe vacation. Originally, we were planning on climbing in the Calanques, but the park was closed due to wind and fire danger. Guillaume chose another amazing location (Pic de Bretagne) based on my climbing abilities and preferences and kindly offered train station pick-up and hotel drop off, which I appreciated very much. The multi-pitch route we did was not only fun but also the right amount of challenge, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The communication from the team (Gauthier) was prompt and clear—highly recommend!

Maxine

Luis Silva was a great climbing guide and belayer! He taught me how to do moves that were difficult and encouraged me to try routes that were challenging for me! Because of his encouragement, I managed to complete these routes! I really enjoyed the climbs and completed 8 routes in the Sesimbra/Azoia area. The weather was perfect, no direct sun and cool enough to enjoy the climbs. Explore-Share made booking an outdoor climbing experience in Lisbon extremely easy. Luis, our guide, was fantastic, and the platform’s organization was flawless.

Valeriya

You’re simply the best!!! :))) Explore-Share made everything easy and stress-free. Will definitely use again.

Joshua

We had Léo as a guide for our day climb in Fonty. We were blessed with a knowledgeable, warm, and instructive guide. Communication with Léo and Ivan was smooth and swift. Explore-Share was excellent in arranging everything for our day climb. The communication was quick, and the platform was easy to use, making our adventure stress-free.

Cami

Patrick was a great guide. He took us on an intermediate Via Ferrata at Passo Sella. Renato was quick to respond with any outreach on the Explore-Share platform. The booking process was straightforward, and once Patrick was confirmed, all went well. It was a wonderful experience, and I’d highly recommend the platform.

4.8