Mount Yōtei in Winter

Listen to the sounds of wind and snow falling at Mount Yōtei, Hokkaido.

It’s midwinter and Mount Yōtei is covered in dense cloud. The weather changes quickly in this part of Hokkaido, but the clouds seem to cling to the mountain as the wind brings more snow to the region. The temperatures are already way below freezing point and dropping further.

As I walk around to find a good vantage point from which I can get a better look at Mount Yōtei, I can’t help but stop every few steps so I can take the soundscape in. The wind gusts are staggered, so every now and then I feel rather weightless, suspended until the next gust hits. Immediately after the wind comes a small selection of sharp sounds – pieces of frozen ice crust, dead vegetation and other detritus.

Between the distant sound of wind in the trees and the very present sharp impacts, there is not much else. The soundscape is vividly monochromatic, in tune with the landscape, as everything is made up of atonal noise. I can see a small flock of birds in the distance, but their calls, if any, don’t reach me. This is a time for sparse and stark ambience, not completely out of place in Hokkaido, Japan’s northern frontier.