First Snow on Asahidake

Asahidake is 2,291 metres and the first place in Japan to get snow every year — usually late September, which the rest of the country finds mildly offensive.

The ropeway lifts you to 1,600 m in ten minutes and drops you into a different season. Below the station: red and gold nanakamado going over. Above it: white, and steam. The mountain vents sulphur out of a scar on its flank and the smell arrives before the view does.

We walked the loop past the ponds and then a little further up the ridge until the path was properly iced and sense prevailed.

Onsen in Yukomanbetsu afterwards, outdoors, snow landing in the water. Objectively one of the better hours of my life.