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Chubu-Sangaku NP, Nagano
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In January 1955, a climber died when his nylon rope was cut on a rock edge on Maehotaka’s east wall. The accident became the subject of Yasushi Inoue’s novel The Ice Wall, which helped fuel Japan’s postwar climbing boom.
In 1951, guide and hut founder Jūtarō Imada completed the trail now called Jūtarō New Trail. His 5-year-old daughter Kimiko played at its junction with the Maehotaka route; the spot later became Kimiko-daira.
In 1893, surveyor Kiyohiko Tate made the first recorded ascent of Maehotaka while choosing a site for a key triangulation point. On the way down, he fell about 18 m—and survived.
Maehotaka’s jagged northern ridge has 8 named peaks, numbered from Maehotaka I through VIII. Matsumoto’s conservation plan notes that mountain glaciers carved much of this striking rocky relief.
Near Shinmura Bridge, some mounds once thought to be glacial moraines are debris from rock avalanches off Maehotaka’s north ridge. Researchers dated two episodes to about 6,000–7,900 and 800–1,100 years ago.
