Jizo-dake Snow Hike (04Feb2917) – part 1

Jizo-dake in winter — Mt. Jizo (Jizo-dake, 地蔵岳): 1,674 meters, Gunma prefecture

Hiking

Jizo-dake (Mt. Jizo) commands a very fine view of Kurobi-san (Mt. Kurobi), the main peak of Akagi-san (Mt. Akagi). How is the snowscape in the winter like?

She found Mt. Fuji.

“Let’s go snowshoeing this weekend!”

“Gee, The snowshoeing to see frozen Ioridaki Fall last year was a little hard.” my wife said.

“No, no. It’s not Ioridaki hike, I would plan Jizo-dake hike. We hiked there last October to look over the route. Don’t you remember it?”

“Year, I remember it. I took a dog for a walk at Sekai-no-Meiken-Bokujyo after the hike. We are going to there again, right? I’m looking forward to it.” my daughter said.

Thus, the Jiso-dake hike in winter was planned…

We got on the bus at Fujimi-Onsen because of the icy road conditions. The bus was full with hikers.

The bus to Akagi-san was full with hikers.

We first headed to Kakuman-buchi from Akagi-Koen Visitor Center, as we did last October.

walking by Kakuman-buchi — Wooden path along Kakuman-buchi was covered with snow.

We tried to walk the same route as we did the last October… but we couldn’t. There was no trace. There was fresh snow… I sank in.
Well, we have two snowshoes. My wife used mine and my daughter used hers. I did not use it.

“Let’s move to a roadway.”

We walkd a roadway until Torii-toge (Torii Pass). — We walkd a roadway until Torii-toge (Torii Pass)

It becomes a snowy path again from Torii-toge.

We met a few hikes at Torii-toge. One used crampons, other one used snowshoes.
On the other hand, about my family, my daughter used chain spike and my wife used snowshoes. I did not use anything. Anything goes.

view of Ono (Onuma) — View of Lake Ono (Onuma) from the path

“Look at it! It’s Mt. Fuji!”
My daughter cried.

We saw Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji) over Lake Kono (Konuma).

View of Mt. Fuji over Lake Konuma — View of Mt. Fuji over Lake Kono (Konuma)

We could see Jizo-dake in very close from us.

Jizo-dake from Lake Konuma area — Jizo-dake

We arrived at Haccho-toge, the entrance of Jizo-dake.
The route looked a beautiful contrast between blue sky and white snow.

“OK, let’s walk up to the peak!”

on the way to Jizo-dake — We could see frozen Lake Koma (Konuma) in the background.

“Oh, look at it, Daddy! I can see radio wave tower!”

There are radio wave towers on the mountaintop of Jizo-dake. Now, we could see one of them under a cloudless blue sky. The peak of Jizo-dake was almost there.