111_Hiking at Mt. Omoshiroyama_面白山登山
日本に帰ってきてしばらく経ちます。日本にいる間にやっておきたいと思っていたことの一つが、登山です。特に東北地方では雪が多いせいで登山できる期間が短いので、今のうちにたくさん登っておこうと思っています。そこで今日は最近登った山について、紹介します。Webサイトに写真を載せておくので、ぜひ見てみてくださいね。
今回登ったのは、「面白山」という山。名前がユニークだと思いませんか？どうしてこんな名前なのかというと、別に山がおもしろいからではありません(笑) もともとは、同じ漢字で「つらしろやま」と呼ばれていたそうです。この山は、山形県と宮城県の県境にある奥羽山脈の火山の一つなのですが、仙台側から見ると面が白く見えることから、「面白山」と名付けられたんですって。それが、読み方が変わって「おもしろやま」と呼ばれるようになったんですね。標高は1,264.4mで、コースは3つ。久しぶりの登山だったので、初級者向けの短いコースにしてみました。
その日は天気もよく、まさに登山日和だったのですが…久しぶりで、急に決めたこともあり、いくつかハプニングがありました。山頂で食べる予定だったお昼ごはんの材料を忘れたのはまだいいんですが、問題は火起こしでした。今まで自分の調理器具を持っていなかったので、今回初めて自分ですべて準備したんです。バーナーやガスボンベ、鍋などを持っていって、いざ山頂で火をつけようとしたら…なんと、つかないんです！いくら試しても、まったくつく気配がありません。不幸中の幸いで、その日の昼ごはんはホットサンドにする予定だったので、そのままサンドイッチとして食べることにしました。山頂で飲むコーヒーも楽しみにしていたのに…リベンジを固く誓った登山でした。
全国的に有名な山ではありませんが、初心者から上級者まで幅広く楽しめる面白山。秋は紅葉やコスモスもきれいだそうなので、またそのときに行ってみたいと思っています。
It has been a while since I came back to Japan. One thing I have been wanting to do when I return to Japan is mountain climbing. In the Tohoku region, because of snow, mountain climbing can happen only for a very limited period, and therefore I wanted to climb as many mountains as possible during this short season. Well, today I would like to tell you about my latest mountain climbing experience. Please have a look at the photos I have posted on my website.
The mountain I have climbed recently is called Mt. Omoshiroyama (directly translated as Interesting Mountain). Don’t you think the name is unique? This name was given not because the mountain is especially interesting (LOL). It seems that, originally, the same kanjis were read as Tsurashiroyama. This mountain is part of the volcanic Ou mountain range on the border of Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures, and when viewed from the direction of Sendai its surface appears white, consequently named Tsurashiroyama (literally meaning surface white mountain). However, eventually the reading changed to Omoshiroyama. The elevation of Omoshiroyama is 1,264.4m and there are three courses. Since it has been a long time I haven’t done mountain climbing, I chose the short course for beginners.
On the chosen day, the weather was perfect for mountain climbing. However, since I haven’t gone hiking for a while, and we have decided to go on impulse, quite a few things went wrong. When it was time for lunch on the summit, and we realized we had forgotten some of our lunch ingredients, it was still OK. The real problem, however, was getting the fire started. Until now I have never been the one responsible for the cooking utensils, and this was the first time that I was the one who prepared everything. I had the burner, the gas cylinder, and the pot and pans ready, but on the mountain top, when I tried to light the fire, what the heck, it just did not want to work. It didn’t matter how many times I tried, it just would not ignite. Fortunately for us, our lunch menu was hot sandwiches, so we decided to eat the sandwiches just like that. We were really looking forward to drinking coffee as well…well, we firmly vowed revenge on this mountain.
Although it is not one of Japan’s famous mountains, Omoshiroyama can still be enjoyed by beginners as well as by experienced climbers. I heard that the autumn leaves and cosmos are also beautiful, so I would like to climb it again during the autumn season.
