Climbers Head Up Remote and Soaked Japanese Rock

In August 2018, a handful of climbers travelled into the spectacular Japanese wilderness to dive into the realm of Sawanobori – the revered art of scaling mountain streams, despite mother nature doing all she can to push them back.

Powering through conditions that rendered traditional climbing shoes completely useless, this was unlike any adventure the team had done before. On the trip are top climbers James Pearson, Caroline Ciavalini and Yuji Hirayama.

Sawanobori – Waterfall climbing!⁣ .⁣ Of course, no trip to Japan would be complete without Yuji @stonerideryuji Hirayama! We've been travelling with Yuji since 2012, sharing ideas and each other's views on the world. He's been to visit us in France, and the UK, and we've been several times to climb with him in Japan.⁣ .⁣ Yet even though this trip was going to be on his home turf, Yuji was just as much a beginner as us. He'd never climbed a waterfall before, which made us feel happier about this nutty prospect… if a little nervous at the same time!⁣ .⁣ Photo @honngy⁣ .⁣ @thenorthface @thenorthfaceuk #sawanobori #xstreamclimbing #neverstopexploring⁣

A post shared by Caro&James Ciavaldini/Pearson (@onceuponaclimb) on Mar 27, 2019 at 12:00am PDT

Sawanobori