Route name: Umekoba-sawa (ウメコバ沢)
Location: Matsuki-sawa valley (松木沢)
Map sheet: 13 [Yama-to-kougen-chizu (山と高原地図) series]
Time: 1 day
Grade: WI3+ / Overall grade 3- route
FA: Unknown
The Matsuki-sawa valley, near the old
copper mining centre of Ashio, is not only a beautiful and remote location with
a fascinating recent history, but is home to a handful of the best frozen sawa
ice climbs in the Tokyo area. Due to the low altitude, routes here generally
come into condition for a shorter window of time between mid-January and
mid-February.
Umekoba-sawa is less consistent than the
other routes here, with a rather lengthy approach and a bit of a walk up the
stream bed itself to reach the main centrepiece F3 icefall. But it more than
makes up for this with some of the most breathtakingly beautiful jellyfish ice
formations you will find anywhere!
Getting there:
If travelling from Tokyo (東京) by car, take the
Tōhoku Expressway as far as Utsunomiya (宇都宮), then change onto the Nikko-Utsunomiya
road until it turns into Route 120. Turn left onto Route 122 and stay on this
until it meets Route 250, then turn right onto Route 250. Keep going straight
on up the Ashio (足尾)
valley on this road until you reach its end at the small car park above the
Akagane Water Park (銅親水公園).
Description:
From the car park, you need to walk a
little further up the road you drove in on, go past the barrier blocking the
road, and cross the bridge to get over the river on the left. Walk along the
road as it doubles back round to the left and then swings northwest again
towards the entrance to Matsuki-sawa (松木沢).
Once into Matsuki-sawa you need to keep
walking for about 1.5 hours until you reach the entrance to Kuro-sawa (黒沢). Initially you
will be on a good dirt road until you arrive at the Matsuki village. From there
onwards the road becomes less maintained, and in several places has been
completely covered in boulders from landslides and rockfall from the
mountainside on your right. On the left side of the valley large rock faces begin
to appear, and the summit ridge of Nakakura-yama (中倉山) can be seen high above. This ridgeline
eventually leads over Koushin-san (庚申山) to Nokogiri-yama (鋸山) on the main
ridge before the summit of Sukai-san (皇海山), and is a dramatic and high-quality
hike in its own right. You will also walk past the imposing Matsuki-sawa Gendarme up on your left, which is home to some excellent rock routes.
Eventually you will arrive at a large concrete dam next to the Kuro-sawa gully coming down the mountainside on your left. Continue on a bit further past another dam, and then find a place to cross to the opposite bank of Matsuki-sawa.
The narrow gorge-like entrance to
Umekoba-sawa is on your left surrounded by dramatic cliffs, and it should have
taken a couple of hours of walking to get here.
As you enter Umekoba-sawa you will
quickly arrive at the first falls, F1 and F2, but these rarely form well enough
to be climbed. They can be bypassed on the right side by climbing up a short
rock face with a fixed rope, then continuing up some easy rock scrambling and
walking until the point where you arrive back into the main stream bed.
From this point on things should be
frozen and you can walk up the slab ice of the main stream. Continue up for
around 20 minutes until F3 comes into view ahead.
This stunning formation of jellyfish ice
blobs is the main event here, and is generally regarded as around WI3+/4,
depending on conditions. It is a full 50m rope length, hence double ropes are
needed to get back down in a single rappel.
From the top of F3, continue up the slab
ice a bit further, and as you round a bend F4 will come into view. This icefall
is very similar to F3 in size and difficulty, but does not form fully at the
top in every winter season, so take a good look at its condition before
deciding to climb it.
Descent is simply to reverse everything,
rappelling the larger ice formations, all the way back out to Matsuki-sawa, and
then walk back the way you came to the carpark.
Overall:
The icefalls of Umekoba-sawa are uniquely beautiful, in an austere and inspiring setting surrounded by steep rock walls and ridges. Bring 8-10 ice screws and 50m double ropes, and don’t forget your camera!
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