Feel the width

Attempting to completely disorientate Simon and his Gore-Tex acquiring frenzy, this weekend’s hike was in gloriously clear weather. Takao san guchi by train from Shinjuku in central Tokyo, and in less than than an hour, you’re in mountain-ville. Six of us set off up the 稲荷コース ( Inari-mountain course ) from the station, towards Mount Takao. A medium-grade 3Km hike with some magnificent views.

Mount Fuji view from the trail to Mount Takao

Mount Fuji was, for once, not hiding. Neither, seemingly, were most of urban Tokyo, who in their hundreds had popped out to do the same course. It was nose-to-tail for the first km or so, only thinning out as we neared the top. Simon was sporting his Gore-Tex spats, I was in my luminous satsuma Arc’teryx jacket, and Joe was breaking in his new North Face boots. We were, in contrast to the Thursday’s fateful expedition noted below, stupendously over prepared. I was hoping for a monsoon, a tornado, an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, preferably all four simultaneously, so I could generously offer to shield everyone with my 3-ply Gore Tex and stormproof zippers until help arrived. We enjoyed a balmy calm and 100-mile visibility. You could have hiked it in flip-flops and your underpants, but it was hard to complain really.

Takao-san summited, we ate and took some photos.

Paul, Mt Takao

Joe, Mt Takao

The Team

Revived, we set off for Mount Jimba along the Mount Shiroyama trail. Most of the day-trippers seemed to be “doing” Takao only, so we saw only a few others for the rest of the day. Poles were now out in force, as snow was on the ground. Simon, with his new Black Diamond poles, had clearly summited Mount Gear and then found a way to climb yet higher. We were all deeply jealous proud.

The correct name for the trail from Mount Takao to Mount Jimba is, and I’m being careful to translate this properly from the official map, “the trail from Mount Takao to Mount Jimba”. It is 15.3km along a ridge, past Mount Shiroyama and then on to Jimba. The trail was all snowed in, with those icicles hanging from the trees I had noticed, but not had the life-force left to photograph, on the earlier Thursday hike. This time though, the weather remained fine and the hike was genuinely enjoyable in the same way, and to the same degree, as Thursday’s hike was miserable.

Somewhere during this 15Km or so, Prateek discovered the ability to transport himself in space and time. I think the suspiciously low-tech looking pole he was using, which seemed to be absent any manufacturer logos, performance claims or even an interchangeable-basket-system, may have been involved. At various points along the trail, Prateek would fall back behind us, so far back he was not visible, and then, despite us traversing a single-file track along a mountain ridge in clear daylight, he would appear a little later in front of us, leaning casually yet meaningfully on the mystery stick.

No ordinary stick ...

I haven’t known anything like it since Mr Benn, the famous denizen of Festive Road, had some similar trouble with a shopkeeper.

As Mr Benn teaches us, the common usage of organic matter spontaneous transportation in the Seventies was by shopkeepers, to surprise customers or to escape from seamonsters. It was basically a gag. Today, times have changed. The ability to silently and instantaneously travel from one place to another must have tremendous potential for space exploration, the military, and for Thursdays, my big-meeting day.

We made it to Mount Jimba by about 4.30pm. I demonstrated that by using a modern digital camera with built-in panorama stitching and a blend of experience and skill, it is now possible to take 3 ordinary photographs and turn them into one ordinary photograph, but wider :

Mt Jimba. Feel the width.

A shortish 5Km straight downhill and we found the bus stop to take us back to Takao station. Prateek stopped teleporting himself and we all went home using conventional physics, on the train.