Kilted mountain climbing redux

**CDNSushi** · 23rd October 08, 08:52 PM

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited by a co-worker to go climb a nearby mountain. He was taking several students (and some of mine) too. Neither he nor my students had ever seen me kilted, but I figured.. Meh... What the hey, they've gotta find out sooner or later. So we set out to climb Mt. Mizugaki (2300m) with me wearing my recently-altered Hunting Stewart (if you all remember, I wrote about that in my Kiltmart review -- I had my local seamstress sew down the pleats).

It was perfect attire for the climb -- kept cool when I was supposed to be cool and warm when I was supposed to be warm. The hike lasted almost 8 hours and I was sure glad for my trekking poles.

I'm sure you're all wondering -- reactions? Well, neither my co-worker nor my students didn't make even so much as a peep about what I was wearing... And on the way we encountered other climbers, one of whom asked me whether I was Scottish. I told him that I was, in fact, Canadian and that in Canada people sometimes wear kilts too, which seemed to satisfy him well enough. A group of young women insisted on taking my picture, and an older couple remarked: "Ah. Igirisu sutairu da!" which literally would translate to: Oh! He's dressed English-style. No, I wasn't about to correct their geography, but they obviously had at least some conception of where what I was wearing originated.

At the summit, a complete stranger offered me a swig o' scotch -- an offer not lost on me and one I gladly accepted. All in all, a very good day. We got back to base around sunset and drove home in the dark. I don't think I'm quite ready to climb Kilimanjaro kilted yet, but in a few years -- who knows?

Here are some pix for you all -- some with me,and a couple views from the summit. The entire gallery is freely accessible on this site: http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/drinka...Mizugaki2300m#

On the way up:

A view from the summit with my wife:

Me, at the summit, contemplating our descent:

Looking up:

BTW, that photo was taken with my built-in cellphone camera (5.1MP) -- I'm very impressed with what it can do.

**SteveB** · 23rd October 08, 09:07 PM

Impressive mountaineering. I am glad your kilted outing went so well. The pictures are nice. Thank you for sharing
Slainte

**BroosterB1** · 23rd October 08, 09:07 PM

Very cool! Moutain climbing in Japan with a Kilt, only on X-marks!

**Alan H** · 23rd October 08, 10:15 PM

That looks like a lovely trek!

**David Duncan** · 24th October 08, 01:43 PM

Looks like you had a good time, and as you have found out the kilt is an ideal garment for mountain climbing, of course its ideal for just about any other occasion too. Thanks for the photos.

Kind Regards,

David.

www.your-kilt.com

**kakkui_1037** · 4th November 08, 02:46 PM

Sounds like you had a great day! Looks like fun and I bet the air was very fresh up there. All of us in America are envious of your cellphone's 5.1 MP camera, I'm sure.

**CDNSushi** · 4th November 08, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by kakkui_1037

Sounds like you had a great day! Looks like fun and I bet the air was very fresh up there. All of us in America are envious of your cellphone's 5.1 MP camera, I'm sure.

LOL! Yeah, I almost forgot how much cellphones are de rigeur over here. My phone has a Panasonic Viera high-def TV built-in too... It's really quite something.

Funny thing. Also, I've heard that iphone sales aren't as high as desired in Japan -- the main reason being that apparently people would have to give up many of the features they've grown used to having on their current phones.