Climbing Asahidake

We caught a local bus that went to the foot of Asahidake the highest mountain in Hokkaido. After a 2 hour ride the bus dropped us at the ropeway which took us part way up the mountain. From there we walked the steep route to the top and continued on around the summit through the volcano caldera making it a 12km loop back to the ropeway. The clouds never lifted and on the return it started to rain. We had to slip and slide down a few snowy slopes, and the trail turned to maze of small creeks. We were well and truly totally drenched by the time we got back to the ropeway. We did get to see the steam vents, the lakes and lots of wildflowers, but never a view of the mountains.Read more