Route
Name: Natsukoya-sawa (夏小屋沢)
Location: Matsuki-sawa valley (松木沢)
Map sheet: 13 [Yama-to-kougen-chizu (山と高原地図) series]
Time: 1 day
Grade: WI4 / Overall grade 2+ alpine route
The Matsuki-sawa valley, near the old
copper mining centre of Ashio, is not only a beautiful and remote location with
a fascinating recent history, but is home to a handful of the best frozen sawa
ice climbs in the Tokyo area. The Kuro-sawa gully is probably the most popular
classic in the area, but its immediate neighbour Natsukoya-sawa is a little
harder and slightly more sustained, packing 7 icefalls into the same
approximate route length.
Mid-February usually offers the best conditions here,
and whether you choose a one-day climb or a full weekend combining it with one
of the neighbouring routes, you are unlikely to be disappointed with this
excellent outing.
Getting there:
If travelling from Tokyo (東京) by car, take the Tōhoku Expressway as
far as Utsunomiya (宇都宮), then change onto the Nikko-Utsunomiya
road until it turns into Route 120. Turn left onto Route 122 and stay on this
until it meets Route 250, then turn right onto Route 250. Keep going straight
on up the Ashio (足尾) valley on this road until you reach
its end at the small car park above the Akagane Water Park (銅親水公園).
Description:
From the car park, you need to walk a
little further up the road you drove in on, go past the barrier blocking the
road, and cross the bridge to get over the river on the left. Walk along the
road as it doubles back round to the left and then swings northwest again
towards the entrance to Matsuki-sawa (松木沢). Once into Matsuki-sawa you need to keep
walking for about 1.5 hours until you reach the entrance to Kuro-sawa (黒沢). Initially you will be on a good dirt
road until you arrive at the Matsuki village.
From there onwards the road
becomes less maintained, and in several places has been completely covered in
boulders from landslides and rockfall from the mountainside on your right.
On
the left side of the valley large rock faces begin to appear, and the summit
ridge of Nakakura-yama (中倉山) can be seen high above. This ridgeline
eventually leads over Koushin-san (庚申山) to
Nokogiri-yama (鋸山) on the main ridge before the summit of
Sukai-san (皇海山), and is a dramatic and high-quality
hike in its own right.
Eventually you will arrive at a large
concrete dam next to the Kuro-sawa valley coming down the mountainside on your
left. Continue past the dam for a short way and then drop down to the river.
Cross the river by whatever means you find easiest, and then walk upstream
along the left bank. Natsukoya-sawa is the second sawa entrance that you will
meet.
You will be rappelling down and back out
the same way, so leave any gear that you don’t want to carry up the route here
at the entrance.
F1 and F2 are fairly short and not too
steep, easily soloed. They provide a nice warm-up for the climbing above.
After about 80m you will arrive at the crux
F3 icefall. It is about 20m high and vertical, and depending on conditions, it
can be quite chandeliery and serious for its relatively short stature. There
are trees to anchor from just above it.
Now continue a short way around an
S-shaped bend in the sawa, and climb F4 via its two steps, each about 8m in
height. As usual for this route, you can anchor to a solid tree beyond the top.
The next pitch continues up the stream
bed and around a corner where it hits F5, a superb narrow 20m runnel with rock
walls on either side, with a tree anchor at the top.
F6 is quite gentle and follows a broader
section of the stream up for about 40m with no real difficulty until the bottom
of F7.
F7 is a short-lived but plumb vertical icefall
of about 8-10m. Above F7 the gully continues, but the ice is finished and there’s
no real reason to continue.
To get back down, simply rappel off the
tree anchors at the top of each icefall (in-situ cord on most, but consider
replacing it with your own if unsure). A doubled-over strand of 60m rope should
be long enough to get you down any individual rappel.
Overall:
An excellent route in a beautiful
setting, much more akin to alpine climbing than to single-pitch ice cragging.
Climb it in a one-day hit, or make a weekend of it by combining it with one of
the neighbouring routes.
If your goal is to climb one of Japan's most classic alpine routes, make sure you pick up a copy of Climb Japan's guidebook on Amazon!
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