Now that spring is more or less over, I thought I’d reflect back on the season since I did a lot of hikes in spring this year. Before we go any further though, lets define spring.

Generally, the sakura season coincides with the arrival of spring, so this starts in late March until the end of the rainy season, which is around the middle of July. In Japan, seasons on mountains can roughly be divided into 冬山 (fuyuyama – winter mountain) and 夏山 (natsuyama – summer mountain), with a transition period inbetween called the 残雪期 (zansetsuki – period with remaining snow). Spring for mountains around Tokyo with elevation lower than 2000m generally do not have the transition period because they hardly accumulate any snow.

How do we know which season a mountain is in? Well, one can look at the snow (or lack of) on the ground. However, since many mountains often have a history where they were once worshiped for religious reasons, there is often a day of ceremony that marks the transition from a winter mountain to a summer mountain. This day, 山開き (yamabiraki), literally meaning “opening of the mountain”, signals the start of the hiking season for summer. Conversely, 山じまい(yamajimai) is closing of the mountain, usually late in autumn when the winter closing n.

For most the mountains with an elevation of 2000m or above the Japanese alps and those north of Kanto, spring is still very much snow season. The difference with winter is that there isn’t any new snowfall, and the day is much warmer.

Whether and when mountain is climbable in spring depends largely on one thing – when snow removal starts. For routes that start nearly well populated or popular areas or, snow removal happens all year around. An example would be Mt Iizuna (飯縄山), which lies on the route to Togakushi Shrine, a popular tourist attraction. On the other hand, some roads like those on the far side of Oze only gets cleared of snow in late June. The majority are cleared at the end of April just in time for the golden week holidays. Checking for road closure information right before you leave is crucial as there are often last minute changes.

Spring can also be technically difficult and exhausting. With the receding snow comes new challenges. In winter, you can often put on crampons right from the start since the entire course is covered in snow. In spring, there are often large patches without snow in between. These areas could either be rock, or vegetation poking out. This can lead to a lot of time taking off and on crampons and awkwardly climbing over vegetation. The melting snow also often cause the path to be waterlogged and muddy. It’s important to plan and give yourself more time in spring.

That being said, spring can be a fun time to get a headstart on popular mountains before the summer crowd arrives.