Nguyen Van Hoai, 28 years old, is currently an input quality inspector for an automobile company in Japan. He has spent 8 years working in this country.

Having never had the opportunity to climb mountains in Vietnam, it was not until 2021 that Hoai came to love this sport. Before that, he had a strong passion for photography. When he saw the amazing photos taken on Mount Karasawa and Tateyama, he decided to climb these two mountains to get the most perfect shots.

Nguyen Van Hoai, 28 years old, is currently an input quality inspector for an automobile company in Japan. Photo: Nguyen Van Hoai

After the two most memorable first trips, Hoai began to feel passionate about the natural scenery, mountains, and forests of Japan. Since then, he climbed mountains regularly and achieved admirable success.

Hoai can not remember how many mountains he has climbed so far. For those that are covered in snow, he had conquered more than 10 peaks, including Karamatsu, Fuji, Yarigatake, Kitadake, Norikura, Tateyama, Kiso, Karasawa, Ibuki, Daisen, and Arashima. There are several peaks he has climbed 3-4 times because, in each season, it has its unique beauty.

After the two most memorable first trips, Hoai began to feel passionate about the natural scenery, mountains, and forests of Japan. Photo: Nguyen Van Hoai

Recently, a photo set of climbing Mount Karamatsu with friends at the end of December that Hoai shared on his page received a lot of attention from the Vietnamese climbing community.

Karamatsu is a mountain in the Northern Alps with quite gentle terrain. From the foot of the mountain, guests can travel by cable car to the starting point.

After more than 2 hours of climbing, the group reached Happo Lake - where you can look over Goryu Peak with long, steep slopes covered in snow - a breathtaking scene no different from mountains over 5,000m high in Nepal or India.

Hoai and his climbing team. Photo: Nguyen Van Hoai

Van Hoai, who has climbed mountains quite a lot was also impressed by this scene both visually and emotionally.

The most dangerous moment was when the group reached an altitude of about 2,400 meters, and they encountered a wildward mountainside. The wind was blowing very strongly at this time, reaching more than 20 m/s. Combined with the deeper cold than expected, it took the group more than 1 and a half hours to cross this mountainside.

“That day, the weather forecast had light winds and the lowest temperature was only about -7 degrees Celsius, but in reality, the temperature dropped as low as -20. The bitter cold at night can make people lose sleep if they don't bring enough clothes to keep their bodies warm. At the same time, the water bottles they brought with them were also susceptible to freezing, so the group had to regularly boil water to make it drinkable,” Hoai said.

The 28-year-old man shared that soon, he plans to climb Mount Fuji again even though he has climbed it twice. Photo: Nguyen Van Hoai

Hoai was not worried since he had a lot of experience already, but he was concerned for his team when they passed through this windy mountainside. There was a moment when some of you were exhausted by the strong winds, hypothermic, and wanted to quit. However, with the companionship of the whole group, the members successfully overcame this challenge. When the campsite appeared right before their eyes, everyone was over-excited.

Because of the strong wind, the group's speed was slower than expected. The group took the opportunity to set up a tent and quickly climb to the top 30 minutes away, just in time to catch the sunset.

“The feeling is wonderful and hard to describe when standing on the top of Karamatsu Mountain watching the sunset. Everyone forgot about their hunger and fatigue after a long journey. The bright yellow sky with streaks of sunlight at the end of the day dyed all the surrounding mountains covered with white snow. The whole group congratulated each other on their successful summit and took advantage of every moment to capture wonderful moments,” Hoai remarked.

The next day, everyone got up at 4:30 a.m. to cook and clean the tent in time to climb to the sunrise point at 6 a.m., 20 minutes away from the tent field. At 7:00 a.m., the group started going down the mountain.

The snow-covered Karamatsu mountain. Photo: Nguyen Van Hoai

The special thing about this journey is that when the group descended from the top to the camping ground, they met a man who was also looking for a place to set up camp.

“At first, my group thought he was Japanese so we greeted him in Japanese language. But surprisingly, he is Vietnamese. No one could imagine that they could meet fellow countrymen in this place. The group quickly helped him set up the tent because it was already quite dark and cold. After that, the group invited him to have dinner with 2 spicy and sour hot pots and a bottle of whiskey," Hoai said, then added, “Climbing mountains gives me completely new experiences - relaxing and immersing myself in nature to temporarily forget the chaos in life. It also brought me new relationships and friends with similar passions all over Japan and Vietnam.”

Soon, he hopes to climb some famous places in Nepal such as Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp. Photo: Nguyen Van Hoai

The 28-year-old man shared that soon, he plans to climb Mount Fuji again even though he has climbed it twice. Soon, he hopes to climb some famous places in Nepal such as Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp.

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