Never Underestimate The Mountains

The upcoming Siberian storm, scheduled just a week or two after New Year, was forecasted to give us the biggest snowfall of the season. Putting our faith in snow-forecast.com, we decided to lock in a day in the backcountry, booking an experienced guide from a reputable backcountry company located in Tsugaike Kogen resort.

Having already had a blast with a local guide a couple weeks before, as a “Christmas treat” to ourselves, we were counting down the somewhat mundane days on the bunny slopes until our next adventure. We laid out our clothes and avi gear the night before, feeling like we were 7 years old, packing for a school field trip. Little did we know that the similarities would end there, this definitely didn’t feel like a kids picnic…..…

We set off early in the morning, arriving in resort around 08:30. We collected single-ride lift passes to allow us to access the backcountry, getting to the agreed gate around 09:30. Time for our first transition. Given the temperature and constant snowfall, we didn’t remove any layers, we were just focused on staying as warm as possible while switching to “hike mode”. We set off in DEEP snow, which meant cutting a skin track up the wooded face we intended to ski, this felt like a pretty strenuous start but we were confident the payback would be worth it. 45 minutes later we’d made it to the top of our magical, tree packed face. The avalanche bulletin was showing ⅗ and this face was a pretty mellow angle, with surrounding trees anchoring the snow, making it unlikely to slide today. Having done the relevant safety checks prior to setting off, we all rode down, one-by-one, enjoying fluffy bottomless POW full of face-shots. Guided by the sound of each other’s whooping and hollering echoing through the trees, we congregated at the run-out with ear-to-ear smiles that seemed to be as difficult to wipe off as permanent marker on a white board.

We repeated the same route twice more, each time skinning back and finding more face shots and fresh lines. The final ascent marked time to begin our exit, it was around 13:30 and our guide figured we’d be back in resort in an hour or so. We’d worked up a decent appetite and so leaving this earthly heaven for a burger and a beer to relieve our ravenous cravings, seemed like a great end to our trip. 

Sadly things quickly turned South, with a series of equipment failures and malfunctions that meant an hour became two, three, four and more……

The snow was so deep that boot-packing out wasn’t an option

One of our crew’s bindings parted company from his skis, requiring our guide to use an innovative “rope-method” to secure the binding onto the top of the ski. The weather started to close in, with snow falling, wind picking up and temperatures dropping, our skins started to malfunction, the glue was simply too cold to adhere to our bases and so moving through the deep snow became more and more challenging. There was an inevitable slowing of pace and a gradual feeling of exhaustion building with each push on our poles.

Daylight started to fade along with my faith of being able to escape nature’s cruel grasp

Whilst crossing a deep basin of powder one of the boarders in our party lost a snowshoe, the snow was so deep that boot packing out wasn’t an option. We spent the next 45 minutes digging, eventually finding it several feet down. It wasn’t long before daylight started to fade and along with it my faith of being able to escape nature’s cruel grasp. I was depleted of energy, freezing cold and becoming increasingly anxious. Nevertheless we donned our head-torches and soldiered on. Telling ourselves “It’s just one foot in front of the other” became harder and harder as the slope we were ascending grew steeper and deeper, in turn our progress became slower and slower. Morale was fading faster than the light and what we hoped would be the final summit was now indecipherable in the gathering gloom.

Touring bindings required several resets after 45 minutes of snowshoe searching

It was at this time that our guide decided to call for assistance. Apparently due to Japanese resorts’ backcountry rescue protocols, our rescuers could only travel to the backcountry gate by snowmobile and from there on under their own power. Whilst waiting it was decided that we should split into two groups, those who felt able / capable of continuing and those who couldn’t. Our group pushed on for home, eventually seeing light at the end of the tunnel as we crested the final climb, literally in this case as the night skiing floodlights were illuminating our path back into resort. We transitioned back to ski mode and then let gravity work its magic. As we floated back to the resort base, we clocked in at 19:30, five hours later than planned. We made it our priority to get warm and dry and then find food. We were relieved to be back but still anxious about group two, fortunately they joined us around an hour later.

The car ride from Tsugaike Kogen resort back to Happo-one was filled with quiet reflection. We considered ourselves lucky to have all made it out in one piece (even if our gear didn’t). This experience certainly wasn’t what we’d expected and it’s one we won’t forget in a hurry but not for the reasons we’d hoped! It shocked us how quickly a seemingly easy half day FreeRide adventure unravelled and into a situation with serious consequences. The specific lessons I’ve noted from this are:

1. Keep your skins as warm as possible on a cold day, stash them in an inside jacket pocket if possible to benefit from your body heat rather than in the cold air in your pack.
2. Don’t rely on being home for your next meal – carry more water and snacks that you’d reasonably expect to need.
3. Your risks aren’t just avalanche and weather. Before you head out try and consider everything that could go wrong and figure out some kind of mitigation. 

My friend’s dad ‘Goose’, who is full of mountain wisdom, has always told me “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. It isn’t until now that I really appreciate what he was trying to tell me – thanks Goose. 

If you’re interested in how I found myself on a FreeRide adventure in Japan, then check this out.

Group 1 back safe