Tsurugidake

Count the chains before you go: the standard Bessan ridge route has 13 chain sections, numbered 1 to 9 on the way up and 10 to 13 on the way down, because the ascent and descent lines split near the top. Number 9, the Kani-no-Tatebai, is a rock wall climbed on chains and iron pegs. Number 10, the Kani-no-Yokobai, is a ledge traverse where the first step down is hard to see. Getting to the start is the easy part. The Tateyama cable car climbs from Tateyama Station to Bijodaira in about 7 minutes, and a highland bus covers the remaining 23 km to Murodo, at 2,450 meters, in about 50. From Murodo most climbers cross Tsurugi-gozen and sleep at Kenzanso or Tsurugisawa Hut, then make the summit push the next morning and walk out on day three. In 1907 a survey party reached the 2,999-meter top and found an iron sword and a staff later dated to around the 8th century, left by an earlier mountain ascetic. Bring a helmet and gloves. Rockfall from people above and slips on loose stone around Maetsurugi cause many of the accidents, and on summer weekends the chains back up.