It doesn't get much better than beautiful Kita Alps terrain. That is unless you could plonk down a natural hot bath and camping platform right in the middle of some fun slopes in said terrain. That is essentially the setup at Yari Onsen. In Summer a hut is built, and a fee is charged to use the bath. Until that happens though (and while the snow is still around), anyone is free to make the slog up the hill and soak away the muscle soreness that comes from skiing the surrounding mountains.
I set off at a pleasant hour from the Sarukura carpark, making good time up to the low point on the Obinata ridge. Half way up the climb to Yari Onsen, I met another skier heading up for the night. We had a good chat, and I pushed on ahead. Once at the onsen, I set up my camp, ate some food and had a brief soak in the bath. Soon enough the peaks above drew my attention, and I set out for a climb. I initially intended to climb for an hour and ski back down the same way, but inevitably I kept going, and within a few hours was on top of Yari. The view was beautiful, with a sea of cloud stretching out to the west and soft light to the east.
I took a fun line directly from the peak, enjoying pleasant easy skiing once past the upper slopes. I spent 15 minutes watching a raicho on the way down, before returning to camp for a tasty dinner and early night. The next morning the weather was less pleasant, and I climbed once above camp, before skiing back, collecting my bag, and heading back to the car and Myoko. The gully from Yari into Shakushi-zawa caught my attention, and is a line I would like to return and ski in the future.
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