hey all,
Michi and I did in fact go on our rock climbing trip together, and it went about as well as it could go, which is to say it was amazingly fantastic.
We met up at the train station, and I gave her a Casablanca lily as a make-up present. Made it over to Yugawara, and headed over to Maku-yama koen, which is where the rock climbing is. We spent almost the entire day there, and decided to leave just as it was starting to rain. Other than the rain as we were leaving, the weather was really good: a little on the cold side and a little cloudy, but when you're rock climbing, both those are advantages. We got to climb some routes we hadn't tried before, and also visited some ones we had tried on the outdoor club trip to Yugawara this past September.
The hotel we stayed in was incredible. Traditionally dressed Japanese hostesses greeted us and guided us to the room, and we took an hour long bath in the public onsens that the hotel had. After soaking away some of the soreness from climbing all day, we were treated to a tasty multi-course Japanese meal in our own room: first 5 or so dishes of appetizers, miso soup that was cooked right at our table, rice, ume-shu (plum liquor), several types of fish, etc. And finally the dessert: some sweet tofu with fruits.
For Sunday, I had originally thought we might go hiking, but we were still feeling really good, so after another delicious Japanese meal in the morning, we went back to the park and climbed all day Sunday too. Re-visited a few sites from the first trip there, and tried some new ones. The weather was warmer and sunnier than Saturday, so we tried to climb in the shade as much as possible.
I've been teaching Michi how to lead climb, so she practiced that on some easy routes, and she is really good at coaxing me into climbing routes that are just outside my comfort range, so we're both improving quite a bit. I'm consistently climbing most 5.10's and even doing passable on some 5.11's. For reference, 5.12 is widely considered the cut off between professional rock climbers and amateurs.
Please just listen to "Woman From Tokyo" by Deep Purple or "Such Great Heights" by Postal Service so I don't have to get all gushy here.
Cheers,
