“I couldn’t even let go with my right hand, let alone try the move,” says Yuji. “It felt like my finger would explode!” When I ask about Byaku-dou’s rating, Dai explains: “Initially, I was thinking V14, but Fred convinced me that it was harder.” Rouhling had been working on Dreamtime, then considered the benchmark for V15, “and had worked out all the moves, although he never did it. So, considering this crux move, and figuring in the first half of the problem, which he didn’t try, he insisted that Byaku-dou was harder than Dreamtime. I guess I buy that, although that’s a weird way to rate a problem, without his having tried half of it, and based on another problem he didn’t complete. Basically, someone needs to repeat Byaku-dou before anything more can be said.”
Having satisfied the media, Dai spends the rest of the day brushing green slime off his newest discovery, a severely over-hanging face with what looks like, at the most, poor excuses for crimps, off which he explodes, trying crazy opposition moves over and over.
Dai took off for Australia shortly after our visit and caused an international stir by repeating every V14 in the Grampians, some in four tries or less, putting up a new V15, and doing a monster linkup that had been termed “Hollow Mountain’s last big problem” by locals, now named the The Wheel of Life by Koyamada. V16 mutterings have been heard again for the latter, although Dai figures that at sixty-plus moves, a route rating of 5.15a is probably more appropriate.
While there is a general hope that more climbers will make Japan an international destination, many locals are the first to point out that the country doesn’t offer the large-scale variety or aesthetic appeal of other places. Rather than towering over deserts or mountains, the crags are mostly tucked away in forests. Tectonics and high precipitation conspire to make Japan’s big-mountain faces hideously unstable. The general opinion seems to be that there are no undiscovered crags left for roped climbing, although new routes may still go up. The existing routes are mostly short, but will get you pumped in a hurry — few crags in the western U.S. come close in steepness.
Bouldering may be Japan’s strongest suit. There are many areas still unexplored, and with the recent popularity, Koyamada, for one, figures that Japan could evolve into an international bouldering destination in a couple of years. In terms of variety, difficulty, and a zen rock garden ambience that’s hard to find elsewhere, the existing options are already impressive.
For me, Japan’s main attraction will probably always be the food. Topher has now onsighted fish in any form, shape, and state, including for breakfast, and a botanical garden’s worth of different kinds of pickled plant matter. He’s even redpointed natto (soybeans’ answer to stinky cheese) in three tries, to the marvel of one of my Japanese cousins, who can’t stand to be in the same room with the stuff. My ticklist of lost childhood culinary delights is nearly complete, and if I go for a second lap, I’ll be unable to even waddle up to yet another crag. It’s time to go home.