There is an infamous deep cut (daikiretto) towards the left of the famous Kita Alps ridge. It is about 300m deep, and is quite a narrow ridge with big drops all around. We have done it before but this time we did it the easier way from North to South (right to left on yesterday's panorama). Having been fortunate enough to survive the first time, I was a bit apprehensive about doing it again. Turned out it was really easy. Does that look scary to you? It is true that if you jumped off hard enough, you'd be falling for 100s of meters, but why would you do that?
Click here for an alternative take. It wasn't icy when we did it, of course, which would make it much more difficult. On an earlier trip this year we viewed the daikiretto from the south (north end of it visible here), and the path in the snow squiggling down the ridge was quite worrying.
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Posted By jules to jules' pics at 8/02/2010 09:04:00 PM
8 comments:
That other web page you linked to talking about the Daikiretto is very strange, and is either meant as a joke or a poorly-remembered report written years after the event. There is no "Daikiretto Lodge" on the Daikiretto, unless they are talking about the other Daikiretto near Shiromadake, but that is nowhere near Kamikochi and is nothing like as airy a scramble. There is also nothing as high as 11,000ft in Japan, let along 11,500ft, apart from Fuji-san.
And anyway, there is nothing difficult on this route, it just requires a bit of scrambling experience and a decent head for heights. Probably "moderate" on the UK grading system, and maybe class 3 on the Yosemite scale, based on the description on that page. A 6yo child did it the same day we went, albeit very slowly and with a rope.
> That other web page you linked to talking about the Daikiretto is very strange
I know I know - just linked to it for contrast... sounds to me like they were so traumatised by the whole thing that they hardly knew where they were.
Is that picture at the link plausibly from the same place as your hike?
There's a huge difference between Yosemite Class 3 and the 5.6 that the other web page described.
I'd guess the corner that she was standing on in the photo is a 5.2, maybe 5.3, and about the hardest I'd consider doing unroped
Yes, it looks like it could be - the pic probably exaggerates the angle and difficulty but note there is a great big metal ladder at the top, which are liberally spread across anything that might otherwise be awkward. The Daikiretto is sustained and quite exposed but definitely in the scrambling "hands required" class and not requiring any rock climbing skills.
Jules also points out that "Daikiretto Lodge" sounds like it could be the Hotakadake Sanso that we stayed at - it is not in the Daikiretto itself, but still on the ridge with scrambling on both sides.
Yes I am sure it is the same place. The thing is that without the built in chains and ladders it would be difficult, and so if you focus on the rocks and the massive dropoffs then it looks much more dangerous than it is. However, the chains and ladders are all very sturdy and well screwed into the rock, and furthermore built for tiny Japanese legs, so actually completing it isn't difficult. You might not realise this until you have completed it though, so there is plenty of scope for being scared stupid, especially if you are not experienced at scrambling.
> I'd guess the corner that she was standing on in the photo is a 5.2, maybe 5.3, and about the hardest I'd consider doing unroped
I think that might be the summit of Yari, which is part of the same ridge, but again not the Daikiretto itself. See here for similar taken on our trip!
I think both photographers did well to make that look so steep :-)
So with that better photo, it's fourth class at worst.
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