Hiking on Yatsugadake
On October 7th, 2006, we set out to climb the main peak Akadake of the Yatsugatake range between the Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures. The severe tropical storm Bebinca (in Japan 0606) had passed before over Honshu on October 5th, but we did expect any bad weather for the hike from it. However, the higher we climbed the more we got into strong wind with high humidity. At some point we were not sure if we could complete the hike but as we had reserved a room we went on. The strong wind was getting quite cold, but it was pushing us uphill, fortunately. A man was on the way down from the top and he could just lean into the facing wind walking down the steep slope. Once we reached the top everything facing the wind was frozen while the other side was warm and sunny. We had the reserved only private room in the Yamagoya (mountain house) at a corner under the roof. It was shaking and squeaking all night from the wind gusts. The next morning was beautiful, and the sun cast the shadow of mount Fuji on the opposite side.
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