FUJI-SAN

Dear Friends,

Sorry the post about Fuji has been so long in coming. It was an exhausting experience and maybe I was afraid that writing about it would bring back the exhaustion. But I need to stop procrastinating and get this story down. So here goes.

Mt. Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan reaching slightly over 12,000 feet. It is also the most recognized feature of Japan. When it is covered in snow, as it is most of the year, it makes a picture-perfect postcard volcanic cone.

There is a saying in Japan, that you are crazy if you never climb Mt. Fuji and you are crazy if you do it more than once. Even still a very small percentage of Japanese people do climb it. They are content to view it from afar. That however, was not the case for me. Thousands of tourists come to Japan and climb Mt. Fuji every year. And I wanted to count myself among them.

The mountain is divided into 10 stations, with the 10th station being the summit. There are buses that will take you up to the fifth station, which is where most people begin climbing. From the fifth station the only feasible way to the top is under your own power. The classic way to climb Fuji is to begin around 9 or 10 pm and climb all night so as to reach the top for sunrise. So that was how we chose to do it.

So on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm I set out with a friend from training and some of her friends and some of their friends to conquer the mountain that is Fuji. There were 7 of us, 3 Americans and 4 Japanese. We took a train from Tokyo to a bus station at the bottom of the mountain. There we boarded a bus in the dark and drizzling rain to the fifth station of Mt. Fuji. We got to the fifth station about 8:30pm,thankfully the rain had stopped. We were told that it is miserable to climb Fuji in the rain. We took some pictures, put on some more layers of clothes, and set out to climb the mountain.

It started out very easy on a wide trail with a minimal incline, but that didn't last for long. We were soon picking our way among steep rocks and looking for good places to put our feet and sometimes hands, remember all this is happening in the dark. I had meant to bring a headlamp from America for this specific task, but when the time came to pack I couldn't find the stupid thing anywhere. Fortunately the moon was full and I had a handheld flashlight.

Most of the trip was pretty uneventful, it was dark and windy. There was a time or two that I literally thought I was going to be blown off the mountain by the wind. When you are on the tallest mountain in the country, there is nothing to block the wind. Thankfully, that didn't happen.


"I'm tired, is it time to go to bed yet. " This picture was probably taken at 3 or 4 am.
We climbed and climbed, stopping to make breaks at the various stations along the way. But we weren't allowed to go in the huts without reservations. So when we stopped it was never for long, because the wind was so strong and you get cold really fast just sitting there. So we kept moving in order to stay warm. We did find a hut that would let you come in and warm up if you bought something. So we went in and got the cheapest thing on the menu, hot chocolate for $2. It was nice to sit and be warm for a few minutes. But we had to keep moving the sun was coming and it was not going to wait for us.

It is also customary to buy a climbing stick at the bottom of the mountain and get stamps burned into it at each station along the way, to show your progress. Really its just another money making scheme. They charge about $7 for the stick and each stamp is an additional $2, except for at the top, that ones $3. By the end of the trip my stick cost me $20 and I didn't even get all the stamps because I was running low on cash. But it really is a great souvenir, and if I can figure out how to get it home, I'll be really glad to have it.

It was a hard climb, Erin, my friend from training, started saying early on, "Its gonna be hard, its gonna suck, but its gonna be worth it." That became our little motivation speech and just something to make us laugh.

After the 8th station our little American team broke up and we were all hiking at different paces. I knew that I couldn't keep up with them, and I knew I would be ok if I didn't get to the very top for sunrise. First light on Fuji, still not to the top. I wasn't willing to kill myself to see the sun. So I didn't get quite to the top for the sunrise, but I think my view was pretty much the same. I was above the clouds, and it was magnificent. The sun rose at 5:30. Me and the sunrise. And it was about another 30 minutes before I got to the very top. This was my YA-TA pose. "Ya-ta" is "I did it." in Japanese. I was still feeling pretty good at this point. I had tried really hard to stay hydrated and take breaks along the way, so I wasn't really feeling any altitude sickness. I was just glad that I was finished, sort of. Still had to get down off the mountain.

Here are those of us that made it to the top. Some had to turn back. I'm in the red. Erin is behind me in green, her co-net is next to me. And their Japanese friend is on the right. It was his second time to do it.

Then even once you get to the "top". It is still not the highest point of the mountain. So we climbed up over to that point. Here is where I started to feel a little funny. I knew that I shouldn't stay up there very long. A lot of people hike around the crater at the top, which takes about an hour. But we were all just happy to be at the top. And were content to take pictures and begin the trek back down. Here is a photo of the crater. Fuji is still classified as an active volcano. It took about 8 1/2 hours to get to the top and then about 4 hours to get down. And I think down was equally as bad as up, if not more so. They don't let you go down the same way you went up. Instead, they send you down a "road" that is used by bulldozers to bring supplies up to the stations. The "road" is just a series of hairpin turns leading down. The terrain was very steep. My toes were constantly being jammed into the front of my boots. After about thirty minutes I was sure that my toes were bloody inside my shoes, but when I took my shoes off at the end of the trip, my feet, much to my surprise looked fine. For the record, my toes still don't feel right, I think I killed some nerve endings.

I spent most of the trek down alone, because everyone was moving much faster than me. For a lot of the time, I wasn't even sure if I was on the right trail anymore. My fear was that I would end up at the wrong 5th station and have no way of meeting up with the group. This fear was not irrational, I had read about something similar happening to someone else.

Fortunately, I did finally end up at the correct station. But not until many hours and a few tears later. I was tired, hungry, dirty and in pain. It was about 12:30 in the afternoon.

At the fifth station, we took a bus back to Shinjuku (Tokyo). This is where everyone else in the group lived, but I still had to get a train back to Nagoya then Toyota. So they pointed me in the direction I needed to go and I set off for home. Three trains, three hours and more tears later I was home.

Fuji was fun, I'm glad I did it. And I never plan to do it again. :) Here ends my account of Fuji, I hope you enjoyed it. And for the record it was tiring to write about.