Ken Fujikawa had skied the Japanese Alps from Murodo to Kamikochi before. His record-setting, twenty-hour traverse, was fuelled by 20 Powergels and one and a half litres of water. He and Kei Karino were supporting our attempt at the traverse but this time there was nothing fast nor light about it. No records were in sight which is just as well as their rucksacks weighed in at a back-breaking 22 kilos whilst mine was a mere 16.
We took seven days to cover a slightly longer, 95km route with about 7000m of vertical gain. I’d made the journey in 2008 and again in 2009 but had completely forgotten how tough it is. Day one was one of the hardest with 14 hours on our skis to reach the Sugo Nokkoshi hut whilst the easiest day was a mere seven-hour affair. It was hard going but everyone rose to the challenge, finishing the journey with smiles and sense of humour intact!
Good weather is essential, and we were lucky. Despite the packs and the arduous nature of the terrain it was pure joy travelling on skis with the moon and then the rising sun each morning. Just wonderful.
3776m Mt Fuji was our final objective which I had tried on three previous occasions only summiting once. Was the success rate to increase to 50%? For our ascent the sun shone, the wind held off yet again and the snow was perfect. No ice, no boot crampons required. There was considerably less snow than in 2008 but what was there was excellent, allowing fast, easy skinning to the summit and great skiing on the way down. The beers and pizza on the shores of Lake Yamanakako rounded the day off in style.