This weekend I tackled a goal I've had since September of last year: to climb Mt. Yotei (羊蹄山). Mt. Yotei is a conical dormant volcano in the Kutchan area of central Hokkaido. It's nickname is "Ezo Fuji" (Hokkaido Fuji) because it resembles Mt. Fuji. Whereas Fuji is 3,776m high, Yotei is only 1,898m tall. But the hike up to the summit is about as long and as steep as Fuji's is. (Yotei climb = about 1,400m from stage one; from Fuji's fifth stage the climb is about 1,350m.) At the top there's a big caldera (crater), which you can walk around and get spectacular views of Hokkaido, including the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Here's a link to the photo album.
I conquered this beautiful mountain with five other JET friends. Our crew was myself, Ido Gabay, Jaime Murdoch, Alexander Wilson, Adam Smylie and Graeme Cheadle. Everyone except me and Ido were Canadian. (I love my Canadian JETs!)
There are a couple of different approaches a person can take to reach the summit of Mt. Yotei. We took the Kyogoku course, about 7km from Kutchan town to the east (4-5 hours to the summit). Because the mountain is cone-shaped, it was one of the steepest treks I've ever done! In many places it was like going up very steep stairs, only the "stairs" were made of mud, tree roots, logs and big stones.
Because the trail is so steep, you quickly rise above the lowest layer of cumulus clouds. There are many excellent views along the way up, as the forest starts to get shorter and shorter until there's practically no large plant life near the top. Needless to say, the lack of dense foliage gave us excellent views of the farms and countryside down below. Just halfway up the mountain you could see the mountains near Sapporo, the town of Kutchan, Eniwadake, Lake Shikotsu, and Lake Toya. (Which is where the G-8 Summit will be held less than a month from now!)
Allow me to digress here for a moment and explain the physical challenges I faced. I was carrying a hiking backpack with about 20kg (44 lbs.) of food, water and camping gear. (There was no potable water source on the way up.) The trail grade was, at times, almost vertical. (There was a portion with ropes, loose rocks, and an upward grade of about 70 degrees!) Other times we had to scramble over rocks and narrow paths that had sheer drop-offs on either side. To top it all off, I wasn't as fit as I'd hoped to be before the trip, so I was often out of breath and my muscles burned.
On the plus side, the air temperature was cool, and there was no wind or rain to contend with. Also we took our time, and there were two other hikers in our group who also didn't go very fast, so I had some slow buddies to hike with. :-)
Despite the physical challenges, I did make it to the top. On the way up, I had doubts as to whether I'd make or not. But I didn't entertain those thoughts for very long and just focused on the area immediately in front of my feet. I also took lots of small breaks. (Probably about 30 seconds to 2 minutes each.) Granted, the many small breaks slowed me down a lot, but they enabled me to gather up enough energy to conquer each part of the trail piece by piece.
Whenever tackling a physical challenge like this, the key is to be in the right state of mind. My mind was trying to tell me "You can't do this. It's too steep and tough with all this gear," but I didn't listen to that nonsense. Instead I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, pacing myself, focusing on my breathing and not worrying about how far I've come or how much trail still lie ahead.
Like a painting, mountain climbing has a thousand brush strokes. Mountain climbing is basically a few thousand skillful footsteps and maneuvers that add up to a goal: making it to the top. For me to succeed, I just had to focus on the present moment and do the best I could, one step at a time. In this state of mind, a person can make it anywhere and do almost anything. Soon enough, I found myself at the very top of Mt. Yotei!
I have to admit that once I made it to the top, a tremendous amount of joy and energy pulsed through me. I dropped my pack, ran over to the edge of the mountain, raised my hands in the air and shouted, "Woooooo hoooooo!" into the clouds and fields down below. Then I wished that all people everywhere may someday experience something as free and liberating as this. Honestly, there really is nothing like climbing a mountain, folks! :-)
Jaime and I were the stragglers of the group, but we managed to make it to the top together, and we were only about 20 minutes behind the front runners. At the top, the front runners had just started boiling some tea for everyone to enjoy. We made it to the top, and it was worth every ounce of energy to get there! Although I felt physically tired, mentally I had lots of energy and was probably riding an endorphin high.
At this moment I also realized that I didn't suffer as I climbed up this mountain, Sure, there was some physical pain and discomfort, but physical pain is different from suffering. (Suffering is not wanting the pain to be there/wishing it to go away.) When I started climbing that day and realized how steep and tough the trail was going to be, I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to suffer all the way up this mountain for the next 5 hours. Granted, there were dozens of things I could have complained about or let bother me, but instead I vowed to just accept the pain and discomfort as it comes, and try not to get caught up in a "woe is me!" state of mind. That kind of thinking doesn't help the situation any, and it can cause a person to give up.
Focusing on the "now" really works folks! It's not only great for climbing mountains, but it can be applied to almost anything you do in life. Choose to be in the moment, rather than thinking about "could have," "would have," or "should have" or "woe is me!" Those thoughts cause you to suffer because you hope and wish for something different than what is. In this case, I didn't think too much about how far I had to go, or how much my shoulders and back were going to hurt the next day, or how much my calf muscles burned. Instead I became very aware of the pain in my body and the area just in front of my feet. This brought me directly into the present moment, and before too long I began to notice that I was nearly at the top! The last steep climb went by real fast, and I had achieved my goal - without having to suffer! :-)
At the top I didn't think about all the pain I just endured for five hours. Instead I just cheered for that present moment of being on top of such a beautiful mountain, with such wonderful friends. The power of now is quite a remarkable thing, because it takes suffering out of the equation and enables a person to truly be a human in whatever moment they find themselves in. It also focuses the mind in such a way that you can achieve almost anything.
Back to the hike: After we had some yummy Rooibos tea (a great natural anti-inflamatory medicine, BTW), we headed around the caldera toward the mountain hut. That evening we couldn't see the caldera because it was clouded-in. But this made for an ethereal trek through the clouds to a spectacular lookout point high above the farmland and other mountains. We all sat down in the soft grass and sod and watched the fading rays of sunlight touch the tops of the thick cumulus clouds down below. It looked like a sea of clouds swirling below us, and higher clouds near us swirled in and out of view. Words can't describe this moment very well, so I'll just say that it was one of the many highlights of the trip!
When the sun had set, we set off to the mountain hut, which is located a little bit below the caldera. This was a very nice hut, complete with a caretaker, pit toilets and a wood-burning stove. It cost 800 yen per night, but the caretaker made a fire and we had the entire second floor to ourselves. It was a cozy little place to spend the night, and it was very clean.
Because Jaime and Graeme were leaving the JET program in a month and would return to Canada, I decided to make some special food for this trip. That night we ate three kinds of Indian curries, rice and some flatbread I made. The three curries were chana dal, lentil dal and mung bean dal. Everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot, and I was more than happy to get rid of the extra weight in my pack! But seriously, it was a wonderful night to eat Indian curry high up on a mountain. To top it off, I brought along some Darjeeling black tea and Jaime brought along some tea candles to give us some natural light to eat by. What a yummy dinner among friends!
The hut was warm for the first part of the night, but the caretaker put out the fire before he went to bed, so the rest of the night was pretty cold. (Probably about 3-4C outside.) Inside it was a bit warmer, but I'm really glad I brought my cold weather gear with me, along with an extra sheet for my sleeping bag. I managed to stay warm and I slept OK, however not as well as I had hoped. My body was tired enough, though, and I fell asleep very quickly. My dreams were scattered and strange, but I awoke to the smell of soba noodle soup being cooked.
Everyone was up around 10AM, and Ido and Jaime were making some soba noodle soup with veggies and tofu. I know that might not sound like and appetizing breakfast, but this is Japan, and we were at the top of a mountain and needed a high-carb, high-energy food to start off the day. (Plus I think soba's yummy anytime of day!) After a nice breakfast of soba noodles, veggies, hard-boiled eggs, pancakes and lemon ginger bread, I made another pot of Darjeeling tea. Then we all packed up our gear and headed out at around 11:30AM.
While we were stretching before the hike, we heard a helicopter approaching. Because the G-8 summit was being held not too far away, we thought it was a security patrol and that they would ask us to show some ID. (Lately everyone coming in to Hokkaido via air or rail is being carded by plainclothes police officers. And they only target foreigners, which is blatantly racist in my opinion.) But instead it was just the park service ferrying supplies up to the hut. My guess is that the helicopter was carrying firewood, blankets, water and emergency stuff up to the hut ahead of the peak hiking season. It was a very cool surprise to see this helicopter land on the side of the mountain and air drop stuff. As we moved higher up toward the caldera, we watched it drop more cargo down near the hut.
When we hiked back up to the caldera, the views were spectacular. Luckily it was completely clear, and there were views from almost every side of the mountain. From the top we could see the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean, the mountains behind Hakodate, the mountains just south of Sapporo, Lake Shikotsuko, Lake Toya, the Niseko ski resorts and many, many fields, towns and villages. It was like being on the highest lookout tower possible, with no obstructions other than clouds and Earth's own horizon.
The entire rim of the caldera is a trail, which can be done in about an hour and a half. We already did one half of it the night before, so we decided to do the other, rockier half, which took us back to the same trail we used to climb up the mountain. This half is indeed rocky and narrow, and there are places where you have to climb over jagged volcanic rocks and slide down boulders. With a large pack on, you do indeed have to watch your step and think ahead. Sometimes all that's between you and the caldera and the mountainside is a thin ridge of boulders about a meter wide! These kinds of places don't spook me though, because I've done a number of them here in Japan. In fact, I kind of like them because they afford the best views and it's not as physically demanding as hiking up a steep slope is. Instead you're exercising your upper leg muscles and your mind by planning out your next move and hopping from one safe point to another.
I quite enjoyed picking over the rocks to the summit, which stands at 1,898 meters above sea level. Here there's a stake marking the exact point, and we stopped to take pictures there. A number of other hikers and groups were also filtering in, so we soon left, as it was almost 1PM and we wanted to get down off the mountain to catch a train home that evening.
Working our way back to the trail head for the descent, I said goodbye to the beautiful caldera and the summit and then gripped a rope and carefully made my way down the steep upper slope. Going down with less weight in our packs was faster and less physically-demanding than going up was, but in some ways it was more challenging because of the slope. It took an incredible amount of control and upper thigh muscles to go down the trail. Toes, ankles and knees bore the brunt of all the weight as we walked down the mountainside. It wasn't easy at all. The trail was too steep to be able to run down quickly, plus it was slippery and rocky in places. My toes were always jammed up against the front of my shoes, and my thighs stabilized my torso and the backpack. Do this for four hours and you'll quickly understand how hard going down a mountain can be!
Luckily nobody's knees, ankles or other joints gave out on the way down. Once we got to the trailhead, though, I felt a bit like Gumby! But the important thing was that we had all made it up and down safely. When I got to the end of the trail, Ido was there waiting for me, cheering me on like I just won a marathon or something. I raised up my arms, put on some speed and acted like I was running through a finish line. I yelled, "Yotei.........yosh!!!" as I crossed the "finish line."
In Japanese culture. people say "yosh" after doing even the slightest physical exertion, like stapling some papers, moving a stack of files or paying a bill. It roughly translates as an expression of determination, i.e. something got done, something that needed to happen, happened. Well, Yotei certainly got done! And I was so happy that I did it with such a great group of friends.
After the descent, we soaked our aching muscles in some nice hot water at a nearby onsen (hot spring bath). The onsen had an outside area which looked right up at Mt. Yotei, which was icing on the cake for this trip! Sitting naked in the hot water, we watched the clouds roll into the area and partially obstruct the mountain. We got off the mountain at just the right time because about and hour later it started to rain. Looking up from the onsen, it was really cool to be able to say, "Woah! We just climbed that mountain an hour ago!"
"Yosh", indeed
!
Comments