Spring Archives | InHokkaido

In the beginning of May 2019, I climbed Mount Bandai with a friend from the Photography Club of Tohoku University (東北大学学友会写真部). We rented a car in the morning and drove to the foot of Mount Bandai from Sendai, which took about 2h using the high way.

The weather was beautiful and no other cars were parked at the trail head – probably because the hiking season was only just about to start in Japan.

This time around, I only took a film camera along.

The beginning of the climb was through a ski area which was hardly exciting atall, however we quickly reached the Red Swamp (赤沼), now a lake infront of Mount Bandai.

The trail was well built out although still wet from the melting snow.

Izumigatake (泉ヶ岳) is the Hausberg (local mountain) of Sendai. Actually, there are two – namely Mt Taihaku (太白山) but its elevation is with 320.7m much lower. The main peak of Izumigatake is 1172m high while the north peak (北泉ヶ岳) rises 1253m over sea level.

The main building of the Izumidake Nature Centre

Izumigatake boasts a smallish ski area and at the foot of the mountain a Nature Exhibition Centre. You can camp there, do BBQ or inform yourself about the nature in the region. The best part about the Centre is though, that a bus goes straight to it four times per day from Izumichuo Station (泉中央駅). You can see the bus schedule from Izumichuo Station to Izumidake Shizen Fureai-kan (泉岳自然ふれあい館) here and the bus schedule from the Nature Centre back to Izumichuo Station here. The bus ride takes about 50mins and costs 720jpy one way as of April 2019. The website of Izumidake Shizen Fureai-kan (泉岳自然ふれあい館) can be found here.

Izumigatake trail head — The trail head of the hike up Izumigatake

The there are multiple trails up the mountain but the main course up Izumigatake is called Sujin course (水神コース) and from the trail head its about 3.7km and 630m in elevation change to the summit.

Tag: Spring (page 1 of 1)

Climbing Fukushima’s Mount Bandai

A Quick Hike Up Sendai’s Izumigatake

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