Last week of November.In Tateyama, which is about to enter the midwinter, the mountain lodges are closed and quiet.Under such circumstances, the core snowboarders aim for this timing every year, set up their own tent on the snow surface and stay overnight, aiming for the first powder of the season while checking the condition of the mountain.
This year too, several riders gathered here in Tateyama, believing in the first powder of the season.
Text: Gaisu / Photo: Shin Otsuka / Special thanks: 241
FREERUN January 2019 issue article special WEB release.
Season in with mountain specialists in Tateyama
Shooting in a tent in the snow in Tateyama, which has been talked about for a long time, has finally been realized.
It was snowboard wear brand 241 who approached this story. Two seasons ago, an article titled "DAVOS DIY SNOWBOARDING" was published in FREERUN (December 2 issue) in collaboration with 241.The story is about snowboarders Satoshi Saito and Takashi Ito who live in the ranch of Sugadaira Highlands in the early spring of April when snow remains.It is a session born from the idea of a snowboarder who creates artificial terrain and plays while enjoying a snow camp with friends at the Davos ranch where their home is located.I won't go into details, but this lifestyle-oriented project has received a lot of feedback from readers.
The stage of the sequel is this time Tateyama.The 241 families, including Miyajima Brothers (Shin & Australia), seem to have a routine to welcome the season in at Tateyama every year.In addition, Toshihiro Nakamura of the same team works on Tateyama throughout the year, such as mountain climbing safety instructors and mountain climbing road maintenance in the Murodo terminal.Satoshi Saito mentioned above, Yudo Yoshida, who has joined the 241 from last season to explore the hardcore slopes of the Niigata area, and Yuya Takano, a PRANA PUNKS rider who lives in Nagano and has a deep connection with the Miyajima brothers, will join this season. Participate in the in-session.The photographer offered to Shin Otsuka, who knows all about Tateyama.In this way, the Tateyama session with mountain specialists was materialized, and shooting was waited for.The target schedule is, of course, the last week of November.
Tateyama has been posted on FFREERUN media several times in the past, but I'm ashamed to say that I have never been to this place.What's more, this shooting is a tent night in the snowy mountains in the middle of winter, which is approaching the severe winter season.Although I had experienced the snow camp style at DAVOS last time, in this time Tateyama, the base where the tent is set up is a mountain area with an altitude of over 2,400 m.To be honest, I was scared of the unexperienced cold that I expected from staying in a tent at that place.Furthermore, it is my first experience to suddenly meet the first skiing in the backcountry of the snowy mountains instead of on the slopes, so it is even more so.
How should I prepare ...Ask the accompanying members what they need, and you'll be able to attach snowshoes and poles to beacons, probes, and shovels.In addition, a backpack for storing items necessary for staying in a tent, such as a sleeping bag, needs a big size with a capacity of at least 55 to 65L.Besides, there are a lot of luggage such as mats to be laid under sleeping bags, cooking utensils, water bottles, winter clothes, snow boots, etc.I don't have a tent for 4 seasons that can be used even in the snowy mountains in the midwinter, so this time I decided to put it in my friend's tent.I should have reduced the amount of luggage by that amount, but I felt that my luggage was just pushed into the 55L large-capacity backpack I purchased for this time.
I waited for the day while preparing for the coming Mt. Tate.
Tateyama, which is rarely seen in recent years due to lack of snow
We kept in touch with photographers and riders in Tateyama about the local conditions for the schedule scheduled for the final week of November.However, this year's Tateyama has a rare lack of snow in recent years.Although there was snowfall due to the cold air, the snow melted due to the subsequent high temperature and rain, and the situation continued to be about 11 m or more less than usual.What's more, the scheduled weekly forecast for the last week of November isn't too terrifying.It seems that chills will come in, but it is not so strong, and the amount of snowfall was forecast to be about several centimeters.
I was preparing to publish it in this month's issue, but if the condition is too bad, I don't have to force it at this timing.To be honest, I was thinking of breaking this shooter in conditions where I couldn't expect much.However ..., when I contacted Shin Miyajima, who plays the role of captain of the 241 family, I got an unexpected answer. "I'll go anyway. Even if the conditions aren't good, I'm thinking of setting up a tent and enjoying the camping style while welcoming the season in at Tateyama. And maybe I'll hit the last three days. "
Riders also form a group with Facebook Messenger and share information daily with Toshihiro in Tateyama.I was surprised to find a fairly positive answer as I checked the weekly forecast every day in addition to the real situation in the area.Of course, other members agreed to participate.The schedule was decided for 11 days from Thursday, November 28th to Saturday, November 30th, and we steadily proceeded to the final preparations.
The way to Tateyama, which is located on the prefectural border between Nagano and Toyama, is the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, a mountain sightseeing route that connects Toyama and Nagano through the Northern Alps, which is lined with mountains at an altitude of 3,000 m.Access from Kanto is generally from a station called Ogisawa in Omachi, Nagano.While confirming such information, I had another interview on Thursday, so I decided to go to the site on Friday morning.On the other hand, the Miyajima brothers and Yuya, who live in Nagano, arrived in the evening from the Omachi route to Tateyama on the last flight on Thursday.After joining Toshihiro and setting up the tent, he suddenly taught the riding feeling of the day with a messenger, saying, "Night riding is complete! Fresh snow is 3 cm on the hard hard snow. It's enough to slip." Gave me.Moreover, it's a night hike ...This can only be said to be true.
The next morning, the four people who joined the photographer climbed up to about No. 4 of Masagodake and started shooting.The upper part of the mountain has a thin powder part, but basically it seems to be in a crispy icy condition, but this seems to be a good break-in.At night, there were no clouds and the wind was calm, and they enjoyed a hot pot party outside the tent while gazing at the clear winter starry sky.
Stay in a tent in a frigid region of -15 degrees Celsius
The rest of the members also headed to Tateyama on Friday morning.Yudo, who lives in Niigata and Nagaoka, passed through Joetsu and headed from the Toyama side, and Satoshi and I, who lived in Sugadaira, accessed from the Omachi side.
At the Murodo terminal, I joined the Yudo who had just come up from the Toyama side, and headed for the temporary camp site, which is about a 5-minute walk from there.During the business period of the mountain lodge, the camp area will be near Raichosawa, which is further back, but from the viewpoint of environmental conservation, a tent will be set up in that place near the terminal.As soon as I arrived, I searched for the tents of the Miyajima brothers of the preceding group who were shooting from the morning, and set up tents around them.First, make a snow block with a shovel and make a snow wall to dodge the wind.Since the surface was icy snow, it was a decent hard work, but the work of steadily building our base is fun to tickle the man's heart while the weather is stable and the sun is shining during the day. was.Looking toward Masagodake from that place, it was as big as a bean with the naked eye, but there were members taking pictures.Tonight's inn was completed in the afternoon while catching their slip with binoculars.
After that, we also put on snowshoes and headed toward Murodo Sanso to scout the neighborhood.There seemed to be some powder in the wind-blown terrain, but it was basically a crunchy icy burn.In addition, it can be seen that there is little snow in the situation where there are quite a few high pine trees. "Did you miss this shoot ..." On the other hand, I couldn't hide my excitement from the first contact with natural snow this season.As I was exploring the area, I could see the five people who had taken pictures in the distance, and decided to join them.
Shin feels Tateyama this season at Masagodake.If you look closely, you can see small ice cubes everywhere.I didn't bra to go to this mountain in any condition
"No, the upper one was crunchy, are you going home yet !? (laughs)", the Miyajima brothers jokingly said, "I finally met you!" ..When I returned to the tent, the sun began to hide in the clouds and the wind blew. "It was pretty cold this morning due to radiative cooling," said photographer Shin, "I think the weather is going down and it's going to get colder tonight. It might be a little rough."Although I was worried about such a story, we all piled up more snow blocks around the tent and prepared for the night.
After a break, toast with beer.Then, the foam of beer freezes as I see it.We will have a meeting tomorrow while drinking such a beer that is too kinky.Shin who warms sake with Jetboil in the tent and treats everyone with hot sake.The cold body is soaked with hot sake, and the tent with several people is still warmer than the outside, but suddenly I entered the top season of winter and I feel that my body is confused by the extreme temperature change.I wore down shoes at my feet and down pants prepared for this day in my clothes, and I wore a few inner downs on my upper body, but I couldn't stop trembling.Meanwhile, looking at the feet of the Miyajima brothers, they are wearing snowboard boots innerwear. "If you do this, the wet inner will dry out, and if you sleep in your sleeping bag as it is, it will be warm even if you wake up in the morning and put your feet in the outerwear. It's all for riding," he showed off his ideas unique to snowboarders.
By the time I returned to my tent, it was snowing.After a simple meal, I covered the sleeping bag with a sleeping bag up to -14 degrees and went to bed.Of course, I wore down pants and inner down, and laid therm-a-rest under the sleeping bag, but I still couldn't sleep because of the cold air from below.As the night goes on, the outside looks rough, and sometimes strong winds hit the tent.I tried to go to bed early with the expectation that it would be good tomorrow if I continued to get off, but in the end I could only sleep for 3-4 hours.
