Asama yama

Last weekend I climbed Asama yama (浅間山), a 2600m active volcano near where I live. It is one of the most active volcanos in Japan; its last eruption was 3 years ago. To get to the mountain path I took a train to Komoro (小諸) and then a bus up to the start of the mountain path. The weather forecast for the day was clear, sunny weather and for the first hour it was sunny. However the rest of the day it rained and as the day wore on the rain became stronger. During the climb I saw many other people: pensioners photographing flowers, Tokyo residents on a trip to the countryside and organized hiking clubs.
It took me three hours to climb up and two hours to climb down. About 1hr 3omins from the summit I saw the first of several warning signs saying "Possible eruption at any time! Proceed at your own risk!" This made the climb look a lot more dangerous than it actually is. As I climbed further up the vegetation got less and less and eventually disappeared as the volcanic soil got more poisonous. The last 30 minutes there was thick, pungent smoke which made breathing difficult and I had to take regular breaks. About 100 metres before the crater is a rope barrier. Beyond this point you are at serious risk of passing out from the smoke or the ground subsiding underneath you and falling into the crater. I was intrigued to see the crater but I resisted the urge to get myself killed and went no further. The journey back down was much easier and I stopped halfway down in a mountain hut and had a hot drink. At the bottom of the path I waited in the rain for a bus. A nice Japanese man took pity on me and offered me a lift back to the train station. Regular readers may recall my previous mountain climbing trip last summer ended in me getting lost and wading down a mountain stream so I'm glad this trip went well.