Chino, Nagano Pref. ¨C My first two swings of the ax glanced off the frozen waterfall. Somehow, I managed to keep my grip on the handle as the head sprang away into frigid air. I was 9 meters above a slope blanketed in snow ¡ª but nowhere deep enough to cushion any fall.
I swung again: solid contact. After a few sharp, cautious tugs, I pulled myself up to my new position and took a slow, deep breath to calm myself.
I was deep in Nagano Prefecture, midway up the third frozen waterfall of Mount Yatsugatake¡¯s Uradoushin Gully, a well-known route among Japanese alpinists. After picking and kicking my way up icy facades up to 30 meters high, there was still one more frozen fall to climb ¡ª then an exposed traverse along the skirt of the Daidoushin Pinnacle before a descent along the top of a ridge.
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