Mt. Bandai

1,816-meter stratovolcano in Fukushima Prefecture whose northern face was dramatically reshaped by a steam-blast eruption in 1888. The explosion caused the collapse of one of its peaks and triggered a landslide that destroyed 11 communities, dammed several valleys, and formed around 300 lakes and ponds now central to Bandai-Asahi National Park. Six trails of varying difficulty lead to the summit. Between late May and October, the routes follow paths used for centuries by practitioners of Shugendo mountain asceticism. The cross-section exposed by the peak's partial collapse makes the volcano a significant geological site.