The Climb

August 17, 2011

Don't even know where to start with this one.  Mt Fuji is one of those places everyone sees, admires, and tries to recapture in various art forms.  But there are some who want to enjoy its beauty from another perspective: the top!  Mission: Climb Mt Fuji

I came to Japan, the top one being to climb Fuji.  After hiking around Mt Rainier in Washington, I got the bug for climbing (not with ropes yet).  After commiserating with my Fuji veterans around Misawa I decided I wanted to attempt a night climb; thus having the potential to see shooting stars, avoid long exposure to the hot sun, and see the new dawn from the summit!  Ambitious, I know, but a cause-worthy goal.  A friend from the states was coming with me to make the climb as well.

The 2.5 hour bus ride took us from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo to the mountainous green landscape of Southwestern Japan.  It wasn't long before Mt Fuji was visible and the anticipation grew.  We were not the only ones there; by no means! When we arrived at the 5th station (halfway up the mountain) at 7 pm, we were met by crowds of people from all over the world!  Many others were preparing for this night climb.  As quickly as we could we made final bathroom stops and purchases of ramen and oxygen tanks-just in case!  It was quickly dark and at 8 pm we began our climb.

All was quiet and as we began our hike we could see the twinkling lights of the stars above and the town below.  Several ambitious hikers passed us moving forward with urgency, others seemed barely capable of lifting their feet to walk as they had almost completed their descent- it was not an encouraging sight, let me tell you.  We optimistically kept walking.  We made it to the sixth station (rest area) in about an hour and the terrain was mostly woodsy.  All the way up the mountain we could see a trail of head-lamps glowing from hikers making their way up.  We couldn't see the top, but that was okay as it probably would have been discouraging.

We took several rest stops and I was grateful for the cross fit workouts I had been doing.  It was comparable to climbing stairs for 12 hours!  The extra leg muscles from squat jumps came in handy! There is so much I could say about little happenings along the hike, but this blog can't drag on forever! So let me give you the down and dirty:
There were 5 stations from where we started to the top
The oldest person I saw climbing was 75 (just a guess, never can tell with Asians), youngest: 10
Diversity: German, Irish, Japanese, Chinese, American, Canadian, French (the other who knows?!?!)
Time: 14 hours (10 if you don't count the 4 hours we slept)
Distance/Elevation: 12.3 km/ 3,776 meters

We stopped mid-climb (12 am) to rest for 4 hours. We slept past our alarm and got back on the trail at 4:30 am.  It was still dark, but we only had an hour to make as much progress as possible before the sunrise. We weren't going to see it from the top, but we were definitely going to see it!  At 5:30 the sun came up  . . .  and well, here it is! Incredible seeing it from that view!

This made it all worth it.  The rest of the morning was focused on getting to the summit.  My partner in climb did not make it, to the top (missed it by 45 minutes); just too exhausted!  I made it by 8:30!  It was exhilerating to have accomplished my goal!  But to be perfectly honest, by the time I made it to the top all I wanted to do was look around, snap a few photos and race to the bottom so I could get back to my nice hotel, and shower, and devour something besides ramen!


Unfortunately, seperating from my climbing partner was not a good idea; I was running down and in my haste went down the wrong trail!  By the time I realized it I was already most of the way down the mountain. My only options were to continue to the bottom or climb 3/4 of the way back up to get on the CORRECT trail.  I was exhausted (because I RAN down the mountain in 2.5 hours)!   I got many strange looks from eager climbers with their energetic young children- I can only imagine what I must have looked like! LOL.  I decided to just go to the bottom and walk across to the 5th station from there.  Funny thing about mountains though, they are LARGE, it takes more than a minute to just walk around to the other side!  About one very expensive one-hour taxi ride!  Live and learn right?  I plan on climbing it again next year with anyone who's up for an adventure!