Ice climbing courses in Japan

Learn the basics of ice climbing in some of the best spots in Japan, with this 1 or 2-day courses led by Tatsuo, an IFMGA mountain guide. Some locations may be Natsuzawa Onsen, Mt Myojin and Ogawayama.

Alpes japonaises

1 Day

Jan - Mar, Dec

Intermediate

Description

With many icicles and frozen waterfalls during the winter season, Japan is a great ice climbing destination. Why don’t you come here to get started on this sport?

I propose you to join a group for a 1 or 2-day course where you will learn the basics on ice climbing. There are courses in different locations, depending if its early or late season.

Ice climbing spots

Natsuzawa Onsen in the Yatsugatake mountains, a group of eight volcanic peaks in the border between Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures.
Mount Myōjin (Myojindake) big icicles. This is a 1432 m peak of the North Japan Alps.
Arafuneyama, a 1423 m peak in Gunma prefecture. There’s an ice fall in a gully called Shōten-no-tsurara (icicles of Ascension).
Ogawayama. This 2418 m peak is a very famous rock climbing destination. During winter, it also becomes attractive for ice climbers. Here, we’ll go to Karasawa-no-taki ice fall.
Okuchichibu mountains, a group of peaks on western Tokyo. Our spot here will be Masutomi Onsen. A 5 min walk from the parking will lead us to a 60 m waterfall.

If you’d like to take an introductory ice climbing course in Japan, send a request! I can assure you it will be a great experience.

In case you’re looking for other kind of winter activities in Japan, you can also consider this snow mountain climbing course 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:

-Natsuzawa Onsen in the Yatsugatake mountains.

-Okuchichibu mountains, Masutomi Onsen.

These are the prices for the other locations & routes:

-Arafuneyama, Shōten-no-tsurara (icicles of Ascension): JPY 60000

-Ogawayama, Karasawa-no-taki ice fall: JPY 40000

-Mount Myōjin (Myojindake) big icicles, North Japan Alps: JPY 80000

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