Hiking guides
Articles on gear, planning and choosing a route — practical reading for your climb.
- How to Choose a Mountain in Yatsugatake & the Southern Alps | Your First StepA way of thinking for finding the mountain that suits you — by difficulty, time required, season and area. With links to the mountains the Hokuto-based editor has actually climbed, to help those about to set out choose where to go.
- How to Read Course Time and Elevation Gain | The Basics of Trip PlanningWhat course time, distance and cumulative elevation gain mean, and how to put them to use in your trip plan. The course times on this site are values the editor actually measured on the trail. A guide to translating the numbers into your own baseline.
- How to Use This SiteHow to navigate Discover Yatsugatake & Southern Alps. An introduction to the flow from choosing a mountain to the videos.
- Before You Climb in the Snowy Season | The Basics of Gear and MindsetA snow-covered mountain is an entirely different thing from the snow-free season. A summary of the basic thinking to have in place before you climb in the snowy season — crampons, cold-weather gear, checking the weather, and knowing when to turn back.