Snow Hiking

I went hiking in the snow with my friend Japan Hiking the other week. Down in Matsumoto city itself we've had little snowfall yet but go up a bit to the surrounding mountains and you can see winter has arrived. The ski resorts open soon and I look forward to enjoy probably my last Japanese ski season.
I've never been hiking in the snow before so it was a real experience. We climbed Yakedake which means "burning mountain" and appropriately enough is an active volcano. I was wearing full winter gear; crampons, thermal underwear, gloves, ski jacket etc. I needed it because there was considerable snow fall. We started at 1600 metres and climbed up to 2350 metres. The summit was just another 100 metres but by that point the snow was so high we couldn't find the path. We headed back disappointed. It was a great experience and a first for me (I've never had my trousers freeze before!). I hope to go again.