Mount Gassan (月山), located deep into Yamagata Prefecture (山形県), is reknowned for the insane amount of snow it receives over winter. In fact, it receives so much snow that it cannot be accessed until spring (usually late April) and can be skied until late into July! Even though Gassan Ski Resort exists, it consists of a single lift that brings you only about 400m above the parking lot, not even as high as the smallest nearest summit (姥ヶ岳). This single lift, however, provides a most welcome shortcut to access the backcountry. And what a place to enjoy spring backcountry skiing! With meters of snow still on the mountain, gentle slopes, and a beautiful landscape that on good days extends all the way to the sea. Most people contempt themselves with skinning up Mount Gassan to its summit 1984 meters above sea level (making it the highest of the three mountains of Dewa Sanzan). However for those that want to look further, and away from the crowds, and interesing option presents itself in the form of a two days ski traverse from Gassan Ski Resort to Hijiori Onsen, a small hot spring resort located on the other side of the mountain range. Add to this an extra thrid day for the necessary logistics of coming back to the starting point by public transports. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any english description of this wonderful traverse, the best source of information being the great but japanese-only guidebook: 山スキー百山 (Mountain Skiing - 100 mountains) [Amazon]. Despite this, its great maps and pictures still allow you to get inspired and find your way around fairly reasonably.

The first day takes you from Gassan Ski Resort to the summit of Mount Gassan, before dropping down its east face all the way down to a snow covered river, and a short skinning back out to a large plain that eventually leads to the hut 念仏ヶ原避難小屋 (unmanaged, but very well maintained and furnished).

I started from the parking lot of Gassan Ski Resort at around 9am, definitely not early, but not too late either. Walk from the parking lot to the one and only ski lift, that brings you up a few hundred meters. From there, either skin up the small nearest summit (姥ヶ岳) right in front of the lift, or cut accross its slope for a more direct route. Then, follow the ridgeline and go straight up the face of Gassan. Most people either use ski crampons or walking crampons on the steepest slope. In any case, you will need to carry for the final 100m of rocky path before the summit. In my case, I had the good idea to forget my sleeping pad back at the car, and the even better idea to only notice this halfway up to the summit. This cost me a good hour and a half (skiing down, reorganizing my gear, taking the lift again and skinning back up). This mishap can clearly be seen on the track below.

After reaching the summit, head down the east side of gassan. After dropping down from the summit, you'll notice two hills on both side of what would be a riverbed. You want to stick to the rightside as much as possible. Be careful as the bottom of that slope leads to a large cornice handing over a steep drop. Keep to the right of that drop, about 50m further down you'll reach a steep face going all the way down to the riverbed. Watch out, as the transition into the face features some large deep glide cracks. In my case, I crossed over it on a narrow snow bridge, and went straight down the face, all the way down to the riverbed hundreds of meters below. Definitely a fun way, but also full of intimidating glide cracks. An alternative would be to stick to the ridgeline left of that face, and make your way down to the riverbed at its end (although the face going down from that ridge didn't look that great). Once you reach the riverbed, follow it slightly down for a while until you reach a crossing with a branch going down to the lefthand side, and another going up another river on the right. Skin up the right side until you reach an immense plateau. You're almost there, all that's left to do is skin accross it for a few kilometers until you reach the hut. If you are the first in the season, you might need to dig yourself some steps to reach the second floor's entrance. The hut is fully equiped with a pile of futons and blankets, and enough toilet paper to outlast Covid. There are also a few half empty emergency gas canister and various other items.

Navigation the second day is much more confusing, as it makes it's way up on down multiple of small hills, and the final destination is never in sight. You generally want to be heading north east. My track above should provide you with a reasonable outline of where to go, although I did not always end up taking the most direct path, and ended up backtracking a couple of times. Snow quality under 1400m was much less good, and a good chunk of that day is spent skiing under the treeline. Watch out for glide cracks and branches. The way up to the last summit barely had any snow cover, and I had to carry for a few hundred meters there. Fortunately, the long way down to Hijiori Onsen was fully covered in snow. Although the last few kilometers consist of an almost flat road full of wet sticky snow. Nothing better to make you long for that onsen. I suggest setting up camp in the woods a bit before reaching the village. You can leave your gear there, take your onsen kit and walk down the final hundred meter to the village for a well deserved rest. If you do not want to camp, you can also stay at one of the many Ryokans. Although in these covid times, Hijiori onsen looks like a ghost town, so if that's your iintent, better make a reservation ahead of time.

The local supermarket Kaneyama shop was very helpful in helping me figure out the bus schedule, and it is conveniently located next to a public onsen (single bath, no showers, no cleaning products, 300yen).

Getting back to Gassan Ski Resort from Hijiori Onsen by public transports is definitely quite a journey. I ended up taking a bus from Hijiori Onsen to Shinjo station, then a train to Yamagata followed by a train to Aterzawa station. From there I walked 9km to reach Nishikawa IC, where one can take the bus to Gassan. While I was trying to figure out where the bus stop is (it's here), a local, surprised to see me walking around in ski boots and with skis on my back decided to give me a ride to Gassan! I think a smarter way would be to take a highway bus from Yamagata to Nishikawa IC. There is a tunnel from the highway down to the local bus stop for Gassan.

This is defintely an interesting journey, bringing you deep into the mountains to places rarely explored. If you wish to flee the crowds of Gassan and find solitude deep into nature, that's definitely a good option. The way up and down Gassan is very enjoyable, although crossing all these glide cracks alone was definitely intimitating. The second day through the lower altitude hills is definitely interesting, if not for the quality of the skiing, for its remoteness and sense of adventure. An onsen at the finish line does not hurt either!