Rock Climbing

Rock Climbing In Kuji

18 September 2005 - Rock Climbing in Koji
Went on an outdoor recreation rock climbing with newly met friends Ken and Lessli. About 1 hour south out Highway 45 past Hachinohe. The drive mirrors the coast, but you do not really see the coast - it is just off the field of view with tons of trees between the road and the water. We pull off the main highway, park along the side of a small road, and walk on a dirt path through the trees only to come out on the top of beautiful cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Unbelievably blue water. Gorgeous trees. Just an awesome place not only to climb, but just to see. Funny thing to think it is the other end of the pacific, and that home is literally just across the water. It was a perfect day to be outside.

Great day of climbing. They set up 4 nice routes ; one easy, one intermediate, one hard (only 2 people got up that one - me and Ken, the guide) and one so hard no one there can finish. Jenn got up the easy one , and then sliced her finger open on the intermediate one and left all sorts of blood on the route. She wasn't the only one that did that - the route is named Bloody Mary. Great day - Unreal spot

Jenn on the easy but scenic route

Jenn belays me on the hard route that I later finished, but not this time.

Jenn on the route appropriately known as Bloody Mary. The wall has lots of small, sharp finger holds. About half way up the route, Jenn had to come down after slicing the tip of her finger enough to leave a substantial blood trail all over the rock wall. She was not the only one, either. When I later went up the route, there was spots of blood all over the wall. Kinda gross actually.

Our friends and climb trip leaders Ken and Lessli get a few climbs in.

Then, I climbed the easy route. It was pretty easy, but it was on the edge of the cliff facing the ocean, so the top had an outstanding view.

At the ocean edge of the small ravine where the routes were set up there were some boulders you could scamper up and look out over the beautiful pacific coastline. The water was unbelievably blue, and the rocky coast made for a great scenic backdrop.

After playing on the boulders and taking in the sights, I climbed Bloody Mary. It was a very interesting route, with all sorts of small, sharp rock edges to guess what - cut your fingers on. Like I said, Jenn wasn't the only one that left her blood on the wall - I passed smears of blood everywhere. I kept my fingers uncut and blood free. Shooting the route from the entrance to the ravine with the ocean as a backdrop made for an awesome picture.

Towards the end of the day, Jenn tried the super hard route. She did pretty well - got about half way up, just a couple of moves away from where anyone got that day.

My last route of the day was up the hard one that only Ken had topped out. I finally made it up to the top, although, I did hang out on belay on the rope for a while at the hard move over a pyramid of rock with little to no hand holds. So, I didn't do it all at one time from the bottom to top, but I did make it to the top.

Here are some parting shots of the area. It is unbelievable. We are definitely going back next spring.