Day 1 – To the Hut

In the end, their Couchsurfing host in Sapporo, Hiro, also came along, and early on Friday the 24th of February, we found ourselves driving very carefully north from Sapporo along the Japan Sea coast towards Mashike. I say carefully because the very weekend I chose to do the trip, the entire island of Hokkaido was caught up in a massive storm. So massive in fact, that the high winds had cause waves to breach the road along the coast, closing the coastal road to Mashike. We had to make a 2.5 hour detour back inland via Takikawa and Rumoi in order to get to our destination. Even then, we were slowed at times to a crawl as great gusts of wind blew drifting snow across the road so thick that visibility was reduced to zero.

After finally arriving in Mashike, picking up the hut key from Cafe Polku, and getting to the end of the snow-cleared section of access road, we were running about 3 hours behind schedule. It was already around 1pm, so we’d likely be arriving at the hut around 3pm. We quickly suited up, and were amazed at how the Shokanbetsu River valley seemed to be nicely isolated from the raging storm elsewhere. There was hardly a breath of wind.

The 5km skin to the hut was a chance to re-acquaint ourselves with heavy packs on a ski tour. Inspired by prolific Hokkaido wilderness guide Leon Roode, I now like to make meals at mountain huts an event, rather than simply a necessity. This meant heavy packs for all of us. But I was determined to make it worth it.

Hiro seemed to have the right idea – a cheap 700yen plastic sled turned out to be the more popular way of lugging gear and food to this particular hut. We would discover other people at the hut that night, who had also used sleds to transport drinks, food, and home comforts to the hut with them. The relatively flat approach was definitely suited to this mode of moving luggage.

Just as Shokanso Hut came into view, we noticed interesting animal prints in the snow. They seemed to be from a fox-like animal, running around and around in circles. They had us scratching our heads until the pint-sized culprits came bounding towards us. There was another party already at the hut (they had been there three nights), and they’d brought along their hopelessly adorable shiba-ken Japanese dogs with them. They really looked like they were in their element – completely happy.

The occupants of the hut were also surprised and excited to see us. There were four of them (three sisters and a older gentleman), and they’d been coming to Shokanso Hut for many years. They said that it was extremely rare that anyone else would stay at the hut during the season where the road was not cleared. It was lucky for us that they were there, as we were treated to the luxury of walking straight into a nice warm hut, the large wood stove already pumping out the heat.

On our menu for the first night was what I call ‘shabu-nabe‘. It is a fusion of two very similar communal meals in Japan – shabu-shabu and nabe. I tried to insist to the Japanese there that they are essentially the same thing – a large communal pot of very light soup into which pork, tofu, and vegetables are put in rounds, until a thick hearty soup remains. Into this goes udon noodles to finish. The time taken to eat this meal makes it a very social event. There is time to check maps for the next day’s route, and there’s time to show off one’s nifty gadgets – such as Hiro’s new (and very powerful) alcohol stove.