Mt. Tanigawa-Bateikei climbing record

For this climb 　Exertion Level：★★★★☆ 　Difficulty Level：★★☆☆☆ 　Scenic Level：★★★☆☆

For this climb
Exertion Level：★★★★☆
Difficulty Level：★★☆☆☆
Scenic Level：★★★☆☆

This Mountain's Information

□ Altitude：1,945m
□ Location：Tsuchitaru, Yuzawa, Minamiuonuma District Niigata Prefecture (Click to view larger map)

Schedule

□ Duration：1 Day
□ Term of Climbing：12.03.2016 ～ 12.03.2016
□ Date at Summit： 12.03.2016

Weather

□ Weather：Mostly Sunny
□ Highest Temperature：17.0°C
□ Lowest Temperature：0.0°C

Climbing Course

□ Distance：23.7km
□ Cumulative Elevation：1,849m
□ Course：From Mt. Shiragamon to Shirakaba Ridge via Mt. Asahidake and Shimizu-Toge
□ Further Information：Climbing toward to Mt. Shiragamon was terrible because of bad conditions. -- There was just a little snow, a steep path, not much of a view... It was so boring. After Mt. Shiragamon, the snow got deeper and deeper, so I expended a lot of energy. I struggled to conserve my energy during this climb.

Approach to Starting Point

□ Transportation：Car
□ Time to Starting Point：About 3 hours one way
□ Further Information：From Omiya to Bridge Doai via Minakami IC of Kanetsu highway.

※Don't worry about the parking space. there is a really big parking lot next to Bridge Doai.

Location

The Map of Climbing Course

Mt. Tanigawa-Bateikei The map of the climb

Altitude × Temperature

Download GPS Data

2016-12-03_Mt.Tanigawa-Bateikei.gpx　

My Impressions

Bateikei means horseshoe-shaped in Japanese. There are some famous mountains one after another, and the line of summits makes a half-circle shape, a horseshoe. Hence the name. The Kanetsu highway tunnel is over 10 km and goes through and under the mountains. It is also located on the border between Gunma prefecture and Niigata prefecture. Especially in winter, we can see completely different scenery on each side of the borderline between the two prefectures because of deep snow. The snow becomes suddenly gets deeper as we go toward to Niigata prefecture.
Mt. Tanigawadake is also called The Mountain of Dead. Almost thousand people have died on this mountain because of the severe weather conditions. In this area conditions are subject to sudden change. Making it a very dangerous place for the name Mountain of Death. Despite the fact that it only has an altitude of just under 2,000m, I wouldn't recommend this climb for inexperienced mountaineers.
This time, Mt. Tanigawadake was not my target. I wanted to challenge myself to go around the Bateikei in one day. In winter, no one enters this area, so I had the beautiful scenery all to myself. After getting to Mt. Asahidake. Mt. Shiragamon is the best place from which to see Mt. Tanigawadake. And I could see the big shape of the ridgeline at Mt. Asahidake. After walking over 15 hours, I was completely exhausted. But I didn't give up. It was worth the effort.