Vietnamese guy conquers dozens of snowy mountains in Japan

Having worked in Japan for 8 years, Van Hoai is passionate about mountain climbing and has conquered dozens of beautiful snow mountains in Japan.

Hoai has conquered dozens of mountains in Japan.

Nguyen Van Hoai, 28 years old, is currently an input quality inspector for a car company in Japan. He has worked in the Land of the Rising Sun for 8 years.

Having never had the opportunity to climb mountains in Vietnam, it was not until 2021 that Hoai became acquainted with this sport in Japan. Before that, Hoai was passionate about photography. When he saw the amazing photos taken on Karasawa and Tateyama mountains, he decided to climb these two mountains to take photos.

After two memorable “first” trips, Hoai began to feel fascinated with the natural scenery and mountains of Japan. From then on, he climbed mountains regularly and achieved admirable achievements.

Until now, when asked how many mountains he has climbed, he said “can’t remember them all”. As for Hoai Tuyet Mountain, he has conquered more than 10 peaks, including: Karamatsu, Fuji, Yarigatake, Kitadake, Norikura, Tateyama, Kiso, Karasawa, Ibuki, Daisen, Arashima. There are many mountains that he has climbed 3-4 times because each season has its own beauty.

Recently, the photo series of climbing Karamatsu with friends at the end of December that Hoai shared on his personal page received a lot of shares and love from the Vietnamese climbing community.

Karamatsu is a mountain in the Northern Alps with a fairly gentle terrain. From the foot of the mountain, visitors can take a cable car to the starting point. After more than 2 hours of climbing, the group reached Happo Lake - where they could see Goryu Peak with its steep, long slopes covered in white snow - a scene no different from the mountains over 5,000m high in Nepal or India.

Even someone who has climbed mountains quite a bit like Hoai was impressed by this scene both visually and emotionally.

The most dangerous moment the group overcame was when they reached an altitude of about 2,400m, when they encountered a windward slope. The wind was blowing very strongly at this time, up to more than 20 m/s. The wind blew sideways, the mountain slope was narrow, with valleys on both sides and the terrain collapsing, making the risk of falling into the abyss quite high. Combined with the colder than expected, it took the group more than an hour and a half to cross this mountain slope.

“The weather forecast that day was light wind and the lowest temperature was only about -7 degrees Celsius, but in reality the temperature dropped to -20 degrees Celsius. The bone-chilling cold in the evening could keep people awake if they did not bring enough warm clothes. At the same time, the drinking water they brought along was easily frozen, so the group had to regularly boil water to replenish and warm their bodies.”

Having extensive experience climbing in harsh weather, Hoai was not worried about himself, but he was quite worried about his friends when they crossed this windy mountainside. There were moments when some of them were exhausted by the strong winds, had low body temperature and intended to turn back down. However, with the companionship of the whole group, all members successfully overcame this challenge. When the campsite appeared right before their eyes, everyone shouted with joy.

Because of the windy part of the mountain, the group's speed was slower than expected. The group quickly set up tents and climbed to the top 30 minutes away, just in time to catch the sunset.

“It was an indescribable feeling standing on top of Karamatsu Mountain watching the sun set in the middle of the famous Tsurugi Mountain, making everyone forget about hunger and fatigue after a long journey. The sky was golden with the last rays of sunlight dyeing all the surrounding mountains covered in white snow. The whole group high-fived each other to congratulate each other on reaching the summit and took advantage of every moment of the most beautiful sunset to capture these wonderful moments.”

The next day, the group woke up at 4:30 a.m. to cook and clean the tents in time to climb to the sunrise spot at 6 a.m., 20 minutes from the tent site. At 7 a.m., the group started to go down the mountain.

Mount Karamatsu is covered in thick white snow.

The special thing about this journey was that when the group went down from the top to the campsite, they met a man who was also looking for a place to set up camp.

“At first, my group thought he was Japanese so we greeted him in Japanese. But surprisingly, he was Vietnamese. No one could imagine that they would meet a fellow countryman in this place. The group quickly helped him set up a tent because it was quite dark and cold. Then the group invited him to dinner with 2 hot and sour hot pots and a bottle of Whiskey.”

That is also one of the "benefits" that Hoai thinks mountain climbing has brought him.

“Climbing gives me a completely new experience – to relax, immerse myself in nature to temporarily forget the hustle and bustle of life, and to admire breathtaking sceneries that not everyone has the opportunity to admire.

“Climbing has also brought me new relationships and new friends with the same passion across Japan and Vietnam. At the same time, this is also a sport that trains me in perseverance and determination in the face of difficulties and challenges,” Hoai said.

The 28-year-old man shared that in the near future, he plans to climb Mount Fuji again, although he has climbed it twice. The previous times he felt “unsatisfied” because the weather was not ideal. In the more distant future, he cherishes climbing some famous places in Nepal such as Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/chang-trai-viet-chinh-phuc-hang-chuc-ngon-nui-tuyet-o-nhat-post286120.html