It was a beautiful day and I climbed Mt. Kurodake which is 1,984 meters high located in the center of Hokkaido island. To tell the truth, we can go up to the fifth station of ten on the path to the summit by a ropeway and to the seventh station by a ski lift, so I only had to climb the last 30 percent on foot to reach the top. The mountain had the first snow two days before and I knew it from a TV news in advance. I expected to see a patchwork-like mountain surface with red, yellow and white gradations. The trail was steeper than I had expected and there was no flat or down part at all. I really realized my lack of exercise. The higher I climbed, the colder the temperature became and it was minus zero on the summit. Although the seventh station was full of people, there were only three besides me on the top. Unfortunately the top was covered with cloud and we couldn't see the panoramic view from there. The return path was so easy and fast that I could come back to the starting point in less than half hour and my knees were shaking by that time. We say "laughing knees" instead of "shaking knees" in Japanese. Both my knees and mind were laughing when I came back to the goal.
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