A new series for The North Face Japan is now on-line for viewing! Called Mountain Basics, Vol. 1 is focused on Mt Fuji. Locals guides talk about why they love the mountain and what you need to be prepared to hike Japans highest peak. It is very basic information so those who already enjoy trekking and hiking will probably not be interested in the info provided, but there are some nice views of Mt. Fuji and it never hurts to review the basics!
Tag Archives: hiking
Hakkoda Garage event pics
A few more pictures from the Hakkoda Garage event over the weekend. Although the weather was a little wet and rainy, it was still a fantastic event and I was really pleased with the number of people who showed up to watch the live performances and stick around to see Car Danchi on the screen. I love showing the movie outside and in the mountains! Look forward to doing this event again next year. It was my first time visiting Hakkoda outside of the winter season. It is beautiful and well worth the effort to take a trip there. Do some hiking, soak in the legendary Sukayu Hot Springs and enjoy the hospitality of the Aomori people!
Tateyama SLR photo selections
A few photos from my day and a half in Tateyama. These photos were shot with my new D7000 and processed with Aperture. All the earlier blog posts I made below were directly from my iPhone.
No it is not graffiti, just helping people find their way to the top when the fog gets thick.
Still a lot of snow up there, but the locals told us less than there was at the same time last year.
There were at least 6 or 7 snow crossings on the path up to Oyama. Felt great to be back on snow again. I did a little shoe boarding on the way down, nice to get that sliding feeling, even if only for a moment.
Small shrines are all over the mountain, some are probably hundreds of years old.
Local Toyama elementary school kids hiking down from the peak. Had to wait close to ten minutes in some spots for the traffic jam to pass! Great to see these kids hiking this kind of big mountain.
Shrine at the peak.
Decided to start my pin badge collection.
Feeling very purified now! Ready to get back home and start editing the new Car Danchi 5.
TNF Tateyama movie up!
Made a short edit from the trip to Tateyama yesterday. Check it out below!
Base Knowledge Vol. 1 report
Just back from Tokyo and wanted to share the recorded version of “Base Knowledge Vol. 1” here along with a few shots from our set up for the show.
It was a lot of fun to finally be involved with a Ustream live broadcast. Something I have wanted to do for awhile now. For 20 years now I have been working in radio, TV, and filming, on both big projects and small. The amazing simplicity and ease with which we can now set up and broadcast a live program to the world is a fantastic feeling. A few cameras a switching board, and laptop computer, that’s it. We got over 6000 total views during the live airing so we were pretty stoked on that, thanks for the support. The next edition is planned for August the 19th, but thanks to the success of this show you may see some other North Face related programs in the near future!
Tateyama SLR report
A Gallery of pictures from my trip to Tateyama last week. Always takes a little time to get my SLR pictures into the computer, injest, process, disect, keyword, organize, adjust, export, upload, and Blog.
We another great trip to one of my favorite spots in Japan. The first two days were rainy, but I think we got lucky with two sunny mornings, a great sunset and a little fresh snow.
Although the North Face tour was cancelled for spring it will be back in action this come fall. Mid November from what I hear, so stay tuned and hope to see you there! We did get to meet some of the die hard TNF fans as there were two other tours going on while we were there. A Powder Company tour and the Atlas tour. Enjoy the photos
Quick hike
Took a quick hike up “Yuhi dake” here in Jozankei yesterday. On Cafe is working with the shop B.C. Map to create a series of events combining hiking and Yoga. I will lead the hike and Deshi will teach the Yoga. We are hoping to have the first event in August. So we wanted to test out one of the local hiking courses in preparation for the event.
Was nice to be hiking in the mountains again. It has been so long since I have been mountain hiking. last month I got a few days hiking at Tateyama, but this was the first time summer hiking in maybe more than a year. Last year was so busy with the building of On Cafe that I didn’t do much hiking. Really enjoyed the fresh air and the exersize. Looking forward to a few more good hikes this season!
Trail head
Thanks to all the people who put in the hard work many years ago to cut this trail into the mountain.
The view of the surrounding mountains and of course the “View hotel.
Picked some mint from my garden and made some herb at the top.
Re-gluing my skins
Finally got a few minutes to work on re-gluing my split board skins today. Bought Black Diamond re-glue application at Shugakusou a few weeks ago but never had the time. One of my skins was really bad, almost no glue left and after hiking for about an hour there was a thick layer of snow between the board and the skin.
Also just today I happened to be checking out FYI Design departments blog and there was a post about some split board specific bindings. Check this out. Looks pretty interesting for people using the Viole split board system. I am still on the Burton system, but since they don’t make it any more it is only a matter of time before I also switch over. Will look at getting a pair of these binding a.s.a.p
If you want to see how they perform under tough conditions watch the video below. Jeremy Jones uses this binding to climb and ride a crazy chute. The helmet cam footage convinced me that I would never want to follow him down. If fact I don’t think I could even make the climb up…. I am such a spoiled little Japowder wimp. Respect to Jeremy!
Split Board Day
Was able to go for a hike using the split board today with Key Photo. Had to return the favor and take some photo’s of Kei!! So we went for a hike to test out the gear and the snow at one of our local hiking spots. Amazing snow quality today! No wind and light snow falling all day. Was great to be out hiking in the woods again, I love it so much! So quiet, trees caked in snow, and no snowshoes or heavy snowboard on the back! Love the split board, great to be back on one.
Split ready
My full set up.
Nice day and nice turn from Kei!
Cross-training underway in Jozankei
My new cross-training regimen is well underway! That is cross-training between mouse clicks and mountain biking, blogging and jogging, sucking up to sponsors and swimming at the pool! During the editing of Car Danchi 3, I made sure to get out and run or do something every morning before hitting the computer. Now that my schedule has lightened a little, I am trying to really get in some serious outdoor exercise. Today I took a short bike ride from my house to the trail head of Kotengu mountain which climbs to 765 meters. Made it from my house to the top in about an hour, and with 800 steps on the course it is not an easy one, great view though! Nice to be up, out and back home before 8am!
Below you can see Tenguyama the bigger brother in the distance. I climbed that two years ago with Ue and Deshi, and it was a good climb as well.
The dam with Jozankei in the background. Sure hope the dam, never cracks …
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