Climbing Fuji-san

Hello and I hope you are doing well. It sounds like everyone is back at school or working and so it is with me.



This week the big news is that I climbed Mount Fuji (Fuji-san) starting around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and finishing the morning of Sunday the 29th of September. Fuji-san is 12,390 feet tall and there are four trails or so up to the summit. You normally start at what is called the 5th stage which is around the tree line.



I started with two people I work with - a Malaysian woman and a guy from Qatar. I got separated from them and thought they had turned back. I was foolish enough to continue. The big problem was that I wasn't dressed properly. I had on blue jeans, running shoes, a head lamp, and a good gore-tex coat. Thank goodness for the coat.



All the Japanese people had on North Face equipment and looked like they were on an expedition to Everest. I sure wish I had my rain pants, gore-tex boots, and gaiters. That volcanic rock isn't much fun when it gets in your running shoes. And I couldn't have gotten wetter if I were sitting in a tub.



I climbed hard the first evening on the Kawaguchi-ko trail and got to stage 8.5 which is less than 400m altitude from the top I think and less than an hour away at the rate I was climbing. This was a very good pace - much faster than average. It was raining lightly and dark. I was tired and had an altitude headache but could have made it easily. At that point I was still relatively dry. But I was the only person climbing and I couldn't see the trail because my glasses were wet so I thought it better to stop.



This was the last place where there was a climbing hut so I spent the night there. You can get a spot on a wooden floor laying beside other people for $60. The spots are arranged in rows with a rack built above the floor to get a second layer of people in. You get a warm blanket under and above you and a pillow that feels like it is full of sand. Fortunately there weren't that many people on the mountain and there was nobody beside me or across from me or I would have been very crowded.



I was hoping it was going to stop raining, being an optimist and all. Of course it started raining harder but I managed to sleep about 4 hours. The bed was uncomfortable and it was cold, humid, and noisy in the hut. When I woke up about 3:00 am it was raining hard. I heard people outside starting to climb. The idea is to climb at night and then watch the sunrise. Around 3:45 am I started climbing again.



Unfortunately I was soaked with 15 minutes. It was raining too hard and very windy. It was also cold. I don't know how cold for sure but probably in the 40s. The mountain was slippery. I fell in with a Japanese group that had a guide so I was pretty sure I would stay on the trail. The night before I wasn't so sure. But within 20 minutes there was a continuous line of people climbing to the top. It took more than 2 hours stop and go to finally get there because it is mostly a single file trail and because some people were having trouble. (I saw people gasping for air stopping to smoke a cigarette).



At the top there is a shrine where you can get your climbing stick stamped, a noodle shop, post office, and a weather station. There isn't really a summit - it is a crater rim which I had planned to walk. But I was so cold and miserable I just got my stick stamped and started down. Most people don't make it to the top - they just walk for a while and turn around. I didn't take any pictures - it was raining too hard and I didn't want to get my camera wet. You definitely couldn't see the sun rise.

I found out at work the next day that my friends had made it. In the text message they sent to my cell phone they had a typo and said they were at Station 5 (the start) when they were really at Station 8. I wish I could have stayed with them because it would have been more fun (except when Zaharah was getting sick).



All in all, this was one of the more uncomfortable things I have done in my life. I couldn't wait to get off the mountain. It was a tough slog up and even tough down because of the mud. I didn't have my spare clothes properly packed and they got soaked in my pack so I couldn't wear them. It was 4 hours back to Tokyo wet and cold the whole way. It seems like most of the really miserable things I have done were either in the deep open ocean or on high mountains. Maybe I should stay somewhere in between (or at least plan better and maybe look at the weather forecast).

If you go, pick a nice day when the sun is shining and not when a typhoon is passing by. Of course it makes for a good story either way.



Mata ato de - see you later