「季節の狭間 - 谷川岳」 鈴木優香 Valley between the Seasons - Mount Tanigawa - Yuka Suzuki

Mount Tanigawa is twin-peaked mountain; the peak in the foreground seen from Kata no Koya, a cabin on the shoulder, is called “Toma no Mimi” and the one in the distance is called “Oki no Mimi.” When I visited the Mount Tanigawa five years ago, I was only able to go to Toma no Mimi, thus I only recently became aware of the beautiful shape of Toma no Mimi seen from Oki no Mimi.

It was a gray morning in mid-November. I took the Mount Tanigawa ropeway to climb up to Tenjindaira. The mountains below me had lost their colors, and the trees covering the surface of the mountains were just standing there, exposing their fine branches.

I couldn’t see any snow on the ridgeline of the Tanigawa mountain range. The covering of snow of a week ago seems to have been completely melted by subsequent rainfall. Fall still lingers on this mountain, fighting against the winter that comes which brings snow from time to time. While mountaineers like myself have conflicting emotions when we see such scenery, we give thought to what we should wear and what kind of equipment we will need as we set out for the mountains.

As I alighted at Tenjindaira plateau, I couldn’t help but shiver and brace myself against the freezing cold air. I walked along the gently sloping path covered with beech leaves and came to Tenjin-one. Here, I could hear the pitter-patter of snowflakes falling on the leaves round me as it started to snow. Here and there, little particles of ice rebounded and fell to the ground, disappearing without a sound.

After passing through several rocky tracts with chain guardrails, the mountain range with mountains such as Mantaroyama and Sennokurayama draws near. Here and there, one can see parts of a sharp ridgeline that one really wants to traverse, and a beautiful mountain surface adorned with a mixture of deep green and golden yellow. What appeared to be white were traces of snow. Although this sight is not unusual, I wonder why I feel happy when I find it.

At the peak, buffeted by strong winds, freezing rain could be seen everywhere on the branches of shrubs and blades of grass. Freezing rain is rain that does not freeze even at 0℃ or less and adheres to all kinds of objects, forming transparent ice. As I took photographs, captivated by the beauty of this spectacle, light suddenly shone from between the clouds and no sooner had the freezing rain begin to sparkle than it melted.

It was a day when I walked through the valley between seasons where fall and winter come and go.

【Our route this time】
Tenjin-one course
Tenjindaira Station on the Tanigawa Ropeway (1,319m) – Kata-no-koya – Toma no Mimi (1,963m) – Oki no Mimi (1,977m) – Tenjindaira Station
Course time: Approximately 4 hours 30 minutes

【Items worn】
W 260 TECH LS CREWE (color: K)
W 260 TECH LEGGINGS (color: K)
W SIREN SS SWEETHEART (color: K)

【Profile】
Yuka Suzuki
After graduating from graduate school, she joined an outdoor manufacturer, where she worked on product planning and design, before going independent in 2016 and starting her own project, "MOUNTAIN COLLECTOR," in which she makes handkerchiefs from the scenery she sees in the mountains. She continues to express herself through photography, design, and writing, with mountains and travel as her life's work.
www.mountaincollector.com