Oyama-san and the Murodo Bowl

It was the third time that Watanabe-san had invited me to join him on a Tateyama shoot, and after last year's trip had been cancelled due to a lack of snow I was determined to make it this time.

The Tateyama range is a series of peaks approx. 3000m above sea-level on the border between Nagano and Toyama. Access is made possible by The Kurobe Alpen Route built after the opening of the large Kurobe Dam and you can get to the top plateau by a combination of trolley bus, cable car, ropeway and bus which runs from early April through to the end of November. There are several mountain lodges (avg. 8000JPY incl. 2 meals) on the Murodo plateau as well as a hotel (20000JPY) adjoining the bus termainal which stay open for the same period. (The lodges generally close around November 25th).

The plan was to shoot a two 5 page pieces for Yamakei magazine and Watanabe-san had negotiated special rates for the transport (usually 9000JPY one way to the top plateau) and lodge based on this. We were going to work with three of Japan's top skiers; Kenta Ureki (Nagano Olympics GS), Yuta Ueno (half pipe rider) and Daisuke Sasaki (big mountain freerider and part of the Icon DVD team).

Watanabe-san spent the weeks before our trip checking out snow and weather reports and we were lucky enough to get a few dumps and the opportunity of a clear window which meant all systems go.

I drove up to Ojisawa (start of the Alpen Route) on Sunday morning in just under 4 hours from Saitama in time for the 13.00 trolley-bus. It took almost two hours from Ojisawa to get to the Murodo plateau via the different modes of transport which passed under two mountain ranges and also included crossing the dam on foot. From a warm Saitama morning (18C) to an autumnal Nagano (12C) to the wintery plateau (-2C) it took less than 7 hours yet I was in a totally different world.

Nevertheless, we decided to take advantage of the favourable conditions, some new equipment and Mark's recent avalanche course by spending some time on a snow test. An hour or so later, snow layers analysed and energy refuelled, we hit the last stretch of the hike to the peak. By this time, approaching 4pm, the wind had picked up somewhat and it was time to start considering a route down.

The ride was fast and fresh. Short but fun. It wasn't long before we were in the valley that was to be our path back home, a fragmented trip, switching snowshoes for boards at least once or twice. Some time was spent swimming through the dump of snow that had settled on Saturday, untouched, save for the lone skier who had braved the same trek back before us. But as the sun set and darkness settled we eventually emerged from the trees back onto the slopes and headed down. A pleasant and deserted ride was briefly interrupted by the ski patrol for a quick disciplining about our late return to their slopes.

And that was that. Tired but satisfied, we left the beautiful countryside, and bused and trained it back to the mad metropolis.

PA