2-day Basic Rock Climbing Course in Mt. Ogawa

First of all, our guide changed. The new guide Suzuki Hidetaka was everything and more you can hope for in a guide. His expertise is truly incredible and he is quite a famous rock climber, well respected in the scene. He completed insane routes all over the world, particularly in the USA. With all the vindication I can muster in words, it was an honor to climb and talk with him. The trip was fun overall; however, it was very different than advertised. It was titled “2-days basic rock climbing at Mt Oyama” and the itinerary described it as a rock climbing/camping/campfire trip, which was immediately intriguing to us. Yet, the other guide informed us right away that Mt Oyama was not an option as it is high season and he recommended that we look for a hotel in Tokyo and drive to the rock-climbing site on the day of the trip as it was not clear at this point where we would go instead. We informed him that we were going to wait until the location was set, since we at least wanted to stay in the countryside – as a crucial part of the trip was the get away from our time in Tokyo. The guide change was quite short noticed as well (only 5 days before the trip) and the rock-climbing location was still unclear. Luckily, Suzuki Hidetaka was quick to react to our wishes. On the first day, it rained and the alternative of climbing outside was an indoor climbing gym in Yokohama. This was not an issue at all! You can’t control the weather and it even helped us to get used to the equipment and the technique. However, we had to pay the entrance fee for the gym on top, which was suprising because that is something you can control and should definitely account for. On the second day, we enjoyed the rock-climbing site of Takatori, which was a bunch of fun! In all honesty, we had a great time! Only the overall organization was not what we had expected – in particular, the lack of camping and the campfire trip was disappointing. Even if it was due to the weather conditions, it should be clearly communicated beforehand what the alternatives are in such a case.

Our climbing trip was amazing - despite being during the wettest & hottest season in Japan! Due to the weather, our original destination was not possible. Yet Cveto was able to quickly coordinate an alternative plan that would get us on the rocks. Both Cveto & Chiharu were highly communicative & responsive with us (as we planned our trip from Australia). Cveto himself was easy to get along with as well as being extremely knowledgeable. He helped us grow, both in terms of learning climbing skills and pushing mental barriers with lead climbing and rappelling. Overall a really enjoyable course with plenty of practical application of the new skills packed into the two-day course. We highly recommend Cveto for anyone looking to actually apply these skills on rock rather than practicing endlessly on the ground. We are hoping to travel next year to climb & learn with Cveto again.

Guide was very helpful and knowledgeable about climbing. Can recommend routes fit for our level. The site was also breathtaking.