Miniskirts on Mount Fuji as Japan’s `Yama Girls’ Spur Trekking

There are plenty of remote places, you just have to look. It also helps to go at an off time.

When are you all coming to Jasper, AB, Canada? I can get you lost in 15 minutes with no one around. Thankfully the tourists tend to stay in a couple of places….

Hi Miguel

> I'm concerned about this. Shouldn't I be?
Not really.

What could you conceivably do about the popularity of pretty girls? Nothing. So why should YOU waste your time worrying?

Anyhow, fashions come and fashions go.

Cheers

"When are you all coming to Jasper, AB, Canada? I can get you lost in 15 minutes with no one around."

Do I have to wear a neon miniskirt?

"Do I have to wear a neon miniskirt?"

A Kilt will be fine. You might need tall gaiters, however.

del

What could you conceivably do about the popularity of pretty girls? Nothing. So why should YOU waste your time worrying?

Okay, time to get off my high horse. One of the problems with making big statements in a forum is that it is embarrassing to admit that you are wrong. But here goes: Sorry, you guys are right. I am making too big of a deal out of all this. Just needed to sleep to get my head back on straight.

It is the 70-90yr old yama-geezers I find annoying. Especially when they are overtaking me up the steeps carrying packs holding 3x my load!

You said it, Rick! I'm constantly amazed by just how strong and unflagging those elderly people are. Plus, they consistently get up at 3:00 in the morning to start hiking in the dark!

Do Fuji in the winter. When I did so, I and my two Japanese companions (whom I hooked up with at the fifth hut) had the mountain to ourselves. Japan is a very crowded island

The yama girls look just as attractive as their grandmothers did ( and doubtless still do).

Whoa! Fuji in in the winter is some serious stuff! You don't try that without some very good knowledge of mountaineering. A friend of mine who is a hardcore mountaineer tried Fuji last winter and had to turn back from the summit due to incredible winds.

Japan is very crowded, and the people are much more mobile than when you knew those grandmothers.

Just because "we're all" men, means we're hornballs?

Last I checked, the ladies are acting more "unladylike" every year…

And there 's a lot of women on this site, so it's not just "us guys" in here fartin' & talking shop. :)

"Arapiles, where are you when I need another person who has seen what's happening in Japan? And who understands what the sheer numbers of the yama girls means…."

Sorry … here now.

Yes, parts very crowded.

But I hadn't realised the extent of the yama girl thing: I always used to do the Aussie fluoro-stripe-poly-tights under shorts thing and people used to stare. I also used to just wear cross-country tights and people REALLY used to freak out. Then they started to push trail running a couple of years ago and people started to wear running tights and compression tights – CWX marketed them all over the place: but the obaasan couldn't wear them because they were immodest: hence the hiking skirts thing.

I thought the skirts were interesting because – like toilet noise generators – they were a commercial solution to a very Japanese social problem.

"I was searching the other day for info on Wild Things' epic wind shirt and noticed their Yama Girl colors."

Wild Things stuff is hideously expensive in Japan – like a few foreign brands they are hugely popular there so price accordingly. Like TNF they also have ranges made just for Japan.

"simultaneously updating their social networking pages with their status from their individual iPhones."

They don't use iphones – there were touch-screen phones in Japan back in 1995.

In this year outdoor leisure became trendy between fashion and life style in Japan.
Most yama girls go to camping or easy hiking only.
Because they are beginners and still stay fashion side.

Some of them may be going to hike the mountain better in the future.

We probably got lucky on the weather. Actually, once you have climbed one volcano, you have climbed them all. I've done ascents on Mt Humphreys in Arizona that were more challenging than that particular climb (weather was less than cooperative)

I wonder, will we see pink crampons for yama girls who get into winter ascents?

I wonder, will we see pink crampons for yama girls who get into winter ascents?

Very good possibility (I'm not saying this disparagingly. I think pink crampons would be pretty cool, even for me to use). Who knows, we might even see rubber spike protectors shaped as Snufkin or Kero Kero Kero Pi heads!

Though I personally don't like the fluorescent colors that are popular right now, I have always preferred a lot of the more sophisticated colors that women's outdoor gear has had. Every time I go to the outdoor store I always end up being disappointed with the dry and predictable colors that are offered in the men's section, and when buying gear for my wife often feel envious of what is available to her. Especially running shoes! Though I do know, too, that outdoor gear for women still doesn't offer as much as is available to men. I'm just talking about colors here.

I would agree about climbing volcanoes. As one famous writer here in Japan said of Mt. Fuji, "It's akin to climbing a giant ashtray." I much prefer climbing the other mountains in Japan.

" I would agree about climbing volcanoes. As one famous writer here in Japan said of Mt. Fuji, "It's akin to climbing a giant ashtray." I much prefer climbing the other mountains in Japan. "

Don't go bad-talking Mount Fuji too much. That was the first significant peak of any kind that I hiked up as a young man, and that planted a certain seed within me.

–B.G.–

No, no, not bad! Ha ha! I truly enjoyed my climb of Fuji. And the view from the top, where you can actually see the curvature of the Earth, is second to none in Japan. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It was also one of my first significant mountains when I was young. It's just not the most variable terrain to climb, though. As someone who has climbed hundreds of peaks and gained experience and a certain expectation from the difficulty and variability of the landforms I wander about in, it just wouldn't be my first choice these days. Though any opportunity to climb ANY mountain, no matter how low or ash-covered, is something I will always be excited about doing. I just love mountains, all of them.