[𝗠𝗮𝗰'𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗜𝗩] After returning to Japan from Nepal, I became obsessed with climbing (and documenting - in English) as many of the country's peaks as I could. Japan's largest island, Honshu (the one where Tokyo is) has a mountain range called the Japanese Alps. This range is split into three distinct sections - the Northern (Kita), Central (Chuo), and Southern (Minami) Alps. I was living nearest to the Kita Alps which is where I spent most of my time. Because I was working during the week, I could only manage quick overnighters (most of the time), which resulted in a lot of late nights driving, sleeping in my car, and pushing longer days than people would typically expect of a weekend backpacker in the Japanese Alps. I discovered some of my favorites peaks, fell in love with ridgelines (particularly the one featured in this photo and the next dozen or so miles south of where this photo was taken - behind the camera). The mountains in Japan are jagged and the trails do very little in the way of switchbacking. Trails tend to gain the ridgeline as quickly as possible and then stay there - making for incredible scenery but also some serious exposure. Despite all the time I spent in the country's mountains, there were many places I didn't manage to get to (at least not at the time). Some of my favorite trails are in Japan and in addition to there being plenty of places I want to go - there are also plenty I want to go back to. The next time I head to Japan, I might have to head to and explore the mountains of Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost island - basically Japan's version of Alaska). If you've heard of people heading to Japan for winter sports, there's a good chance this is where they are going/went (if they didn't go to Nagano). Those mountains don't go anywhere in the summer (but in summer they're filled with Japanese grizzly bears).
