sawa-nobori

[slothrop]

I was in Feathered Friends today browsing the book shelf and saw a ratty Japanese book with a note in English taped to the cover. The note explained that this was a book about sawa-nobori, stream climbing. Apparently, it's a big thing in Japan to climb a mountain by ascending one of the streams coming down from it. It looks like vertical canyoneering or really melted-out ice climbing. Anyway, this book contains topos of various stream climbs all around Japan. It looks like a "Selected Streambed Climbs of Japan" sort of thing.

 

I don't read Japanese, but those of you who do should go check out this book, it's wacky. Perhaps you can uncover some tips on how to ice climb in summer .

 

Soon the Canadian Rockies will be overwhelmed by Japanese climbers doing first summer ascents of all the hard ice routes!

[Matt]

I own the book.

 

Stream climbing is fun when the temps are cold and it hasn't snowed yet!

 

The only bummer about ice climbing in Japan is the massive amounts of people. I mean, talk about picked out-- I did many climbs where I hooked my way to the top, never having to swing a placement. And the Japanese have a different concept of safety-- they are much more willing to climb right above you/below you/next to you on ice, which personally I don't care for.

 

There is so much ice in Japan you can't even imagine! I don't think Canada or the US has to worry about the Asian invasion-- this isn't the 80's you know. They've got plenty of good stuff to climb.

 

BTW, about climbing ice in the summer, many of the slab areas in Japan would be attacked by ice climbers training for mixed routes-- the climbers would climb the rock in their boots and crampons, scratching up the route much the way the South route on the Tooth is scratched up, except even more so. Ugly, to say the least.

[Fence_Sitter]

you should try out the gole\den ears trail in B.C. in the spring... knee deep water is waht we encountered 90% of the trail/streambed as we went up in the springtime... eeeeenjoy!