Battling the wind somewhere around Station 7 on Mt. Fuji.
This week, I climbed Mt. Fuji. It was amazing, to say the least.
On Saturday night, James and I went to a birthday party in Osaka. We slept for a few hours in a net-cafe, before meeting up with our friends at Shin-Osaka station to catch the 9:30 shinkansen (bullet train). We went to Mishima Station, then took a horrendously long bus ride to Fujiyoshida Station, and walked to the hostel where we would stay the night. Since we got there in the early afternoon, we had a few hours before dinner to walk around the lake. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty overcast and rainy, so we couldn't actually see Fuji, but we saw the cloud that it was behind. It was a big cloud.
Delicious "houtou" lunch! Thick noodles with cabbage, mushrooms, pumpkin, onion, and tofu.
That night, we had dinner and then went for a pre-Fuji-climbing onsen, and went to bed early so we'd be well rested for the next day.
The next morning, those of us who were climbing from the bottom of the mountain headed out around 7. There were two people in our group who were going the most common route and taking a bus to Station 5 to start climbing from there. The rest of us started from Fujiyoshida Station. We walked awhile before we even came to the woods, and then walked for another hour or so before the trail started to go up. But when it went up, it went up. and up. and up. and up. and up. It took about 3 hours of going up to get to Station 5. Along the way, we were passed by runners training for the Fuji Marathon, which is a race up Mt. Fuji. I believe you have to be completely insane in order to even think about doing that.
At Station 5, we stopped for lunch and to rest and change into some warmer clothes. Just before we got there, the wind suddenly picked up, and it seemed to get stronger while we were inside. By the time we left, the wind was so strong, it was difficult to walk in it, and I felt like I was going to get blown away. After Station 5, the plant life began to quickly disappear. Around Station 6 and 7, the climb was a winding path up the face of the mountain in slippery gravel. Because of the slippery gravel, the strong wind, the increasing altitude, and sore muscles, we were only able to take small steps, so going a few hundred meters usually took an hour or more. We also had to stop a lot because the wind would blow dirt in our faces and catch us off balance. It was just a generally horrible section of the trail, and it seemed like it went on FOREVER. Between 7 and 8 was nothing but lava rock. It was easy to climb, but everytime I would try to move, the wind would always catch me off balance, so in order to make any progress, I had to climb on my hands and knees. It was actually a really amazing experience, making our way through the maze of rock, holding on for dear life with the wind and rain. I hated it, but at the same time, it was the part of the climb that made the whole thing worth it. Around that time also, there were some breaks in the clouds, and we were able to get some amazing views of everything below. We were so high in the sky, and we could see way off in the distance where we had started, and it was unbelievable that we had come so far.
About 3 hours after leaving Station 5, we arrived at Station 8, the place where we would spend the night. (And by spend the night, I mean sleep there from 7 in the evening to around 4am. And by sleep, I mean just lay there and TRY to sleep. Even though we were all exhausted from the climb, the combination of going to bed at 7pm and being at such a high altitude (3100 meters or about 10,170 feet) made a good night's sleep next to impossible.)
The clouds at sunset from Station 8.
Originally, we were going to get up around 1am and finish climbing to the summit to see the sunrise, but the wind was so bad that we decided to stay and wait til daylight. It turned out that more clouds had come in since we got there, and we never actually got to see the sunrise, which was really disappointing. We still climbed to the top (another 3 hours) around 5am, and we hung out there and had some breakfast before heading back down. We wanted to go to the crater, but it was so wet and cold and we all just wanted to get back.
The way down the mountain took about 3 hours. We only went back to Station 5 and then took a bus the rest of the way. Going down was pretty crazy, because the decending trail is all dirt and gravel, and you basically slide down. It's like skiing in your shoes. We were absolutely filthy by the time we got to the bus.
The whole way down was really surreal, because we were in a thick fog, and all you could see was people covered head to toe in raingear, volcanic rock, and black gravel. It was like being on another planet.
After we got to the station, we took a couple unnecessarily long and complicated bus rides, and eventually, and unintentionally, ended up back where we started. We went back to the same onsen we had gone to the day before, and had much needed showers and soaks in outdoor baths. Afterwards, we had some dinner before heading off to the Shinkansen, and then back home.
That night, I had Spaghettios and went straight to bed. I was supposed to work the next morning, but I was so exhausted that I didn't hear my alarm, and when I finally did, there was no way I was getting out of bed. I didn't have to teach so I just decided to take an extra vacation day. It was well deserved I think.
