APRIL 2013 #017 – AWAGA-YAMA Luck brought us there. Or was it bad luck? Certainly we weren’t heading for a hill high on our must see list. Our KINKAN challenge…
MARCH 2013 #16 – AOBA-YAMA Snakebit in the Year of the Snake. Lost in a midnight snowstorm on a lonely Shiga mountainside and later, lumbered with a lung that suddenly…
FEBRUARY 2013 DAKE-YAMA Hira Mountains, Shiga, Japan On a crystal clear day at the end of winter we took to the snow. Ankle deep and non-treacherous. We climbed out in…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #46 – DAIBOSATSU-DAKE Less than twenty-four hours after walking off Mizugaki I was back in the hills for one last climb in the Chichibu Mountains. And, as had…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #45 – MIZUGAKI I made it down off Kinpu to the hut below Mizugaki as the last of the day’s sunlight danced in the treetops. Campers lazed in…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #44 – KINPU-SAN Striding down off Kobushi to the west I was quickly swallowed by the scatty pine forests that lay claim to the mountain’s flanks. There had…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #43 – KOBUSHI-DAKE Strategy was required. I hit the pharmacy early afternoon. At a time I assumed custom would be at low ebb. I prowled the aisles. Shampoo,…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #42 – KUMOTORI-SAN So much for that weather forecast. Overnight, seven days of predicted sunshine had turned into seven days of rain. ‘Well,’ I reasoned, prepping for a…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #41 – RYOGAMI-SAN September 5 Rain preceding typhoon. Cooped up in Kitty-chan’s cramped dorm room I wasn’t so sure the weather was such a bad thing as I…
SEPTEMBER 2007 #40 – THE TANZAWA MOUNTAINS It was my fifth night in the capital. I sucked on another beer. The music in the dirty club was loud, thumping, repetitive. …
DECEMBER 2012 MOUNT MITCHELL Cunningham’s Gap, Queensland, Australia We were back in Oz for a summer break which ended up being bookended with some pretty nasty bouts of pneumonia –…
DECEMBER 2012 #014 – ROKKO-SAN #015 – MAYA-SAN On a cold, December morning, as the year drew to a close, we headed out Kobe way to Mount Rokko – the…
NOVEMBER 2012 #013 – POM-PON-YAMA It was in Takatsuki City, a vibrant little town in Northern Osaka, that I’d first heard mention of the lyrically named Pom-pon Mountain. A kids’…
OCTOBER 2012 #012 – SHIZU-GA-TAKE With more time on my hands than ever, I just can’t seem to grasp it and make good use. When I have it: I can’t…
OCTOBER 2012 #011 – NIJYO-ZAN “So…Nijyo, ne,” the Missus tried to read my thoughts as usual. It wasn’t a snap decision nor one involving deep deliberation. No heartfelt hankering had…
OCTOBER 2012 #010 – TANAKAMI-YAMA In Shiga Prefecture, out past Otsu City at the southern end of Lake Biwa, a range of granite hills rise out of the urban sprawl. …
OCTOBER 2012 #009 – KUMOTORI-YAMA When summer finally arrived, banishing lingering winter chills, it hit like a sledgehammer. Momentum gained through late spring, fizzled. The Old Man and Little Sis…
MAY 2012 #008 – IKOMA-YAMA “How to get the best of it all? One must conquer, achieve, get to the top; one must know the end to be convinced that…
AUGUST 2007 #39 – AZUMAYA-YAMA “Eh!” I said taken aback. “Ni-hyaku-en,” the grisly faced old cow repeated and went on muttering something or other at me. “Two hundred yen! What…
AUGUST 2007 #38 – MAKIHATA-YAMA “Click.” “Click.” “Click.” “Click.” “Click.” “Click.” So much for the trusty, guaranteed for life Jetboil cooker. All through August the thing had slowly been losing…
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