Mt. Fuji

Another hot and humid day here in Tokyo but how would it be at the top of Mt. Fuji? I'd been warned to pack plenty of clothes to keep warm but was also told that the temperature would probably be from 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. In spite of what my Japanese friends thought, I didn't think that was so bad, especially for someone from Minnesota. I left home at 5:45 AM and caught a couple trains to Shinjuku to meet up with the rest of the group, 12 of us in total. It was about a 2 - 2.5 hour drive but even at that early hour there was some traffic that slowed us down. When we finally reached the national park, there was a long line of cars waiting to get in. Evidently a lot of people wanted to climb Mt. Fuji today. We sat and waited for over an hour until they let us through, then another short wait at the parking lot. Finally we were at the 5th station and ready to go.

It was really quite crowded with even more people coming down the mountain and filling the already crowded square. As we made it through the crowd I was surprised to see that the number of people coming down far outweighed the number of people going up. I realized that these were the people that went up the night before, many of them in the darkness, in order to see the sunrise from the summit. They were all tired and haggard in contrast to our energy and enthusiasm.

At first the hiking was quite easy. Walking, mostly up and some down but no actual climbing. Gradually, almost unnoticed, it became quite steep. I walked with a slight forward lean so as not to lose my balance and fall backward. In some spots I found it easier to scramble up on all fours. I started using the makeshift handrail (long metal spikes driven into the ground with ropes or chains tied to them) more and more. It seemed we were going quite slowly; methodically placing one foot in front of the other from one station to the next. Each station was a shack where you could buy candy bars or drinks and use the restroom. Since we had experienced climbers in our group everybody carried their own supplies. I smartly froze my 2 liter bottle of water so I would have a cold refreshment all day long. I guess I wasn't so smart since my drinking came only a few swallows at a time and at the end of the day there was still a frozen block in the bottle. So I ended up being able to use only half of what I lugged around all day. Curse my brilliant idea!

Our group quickly segmented into 2 or more. I was in the front group so I didn't know what was going on behind us. All I knew was that our fearless leader, a veteran of 10 or more climbs, wasn't resting at all. He speaks only a little English so every time I asked how much further? or how much longer? I was answered with a string of Japanese of which I could only understand a few words. Oh well, we'll get there when we get there. Finally we were blessed and cursed with our first glimpse of the summit. There it was, so close yet so far. After every 15 or 20 minutes of climbing I would glance up only to see that we were no closer than the last time I looked up. However judging by the number of people we were passing, we were making very good time. I was impressed by wide range of people doing this climb. There were the very old, moving slowly but surely and the quite young, in groups of boy scouts or families being urged on by their parents.

Up close Fuji isn't the beautiful, peaceful, snow-topped mountain that appears in the classic pictures. It is steep and rocky and sharp. In the summer there is little snow but a few plants dare to grow between the lava rocks. The rocks are large and small and gravelly and make you stumble and slide down as you try to ascend. It was mostly sunny towards the top as we climbed through and above the clouds. It wasn't overly hot or cold. I wore my shorts and t-shirt almost the entire day.

Finally we reached the top. I was told it would take 3 to 3.5 hours but we were there in 2 hours and 40 minutes. I was a little unsure at first because we walked down between a row of shops. There were souvenir stands, cafes and vending machines. This is the top I wondered? I was looking for the crater of a volcano. We chose a shop and had a lunch of ramen noodles. While we were eating I was told that the crater was just a little further. Slowly our group continued to straggle in with most arriving an hour after we did. Later we wandered down the row of shops and came to the end, it was there that I finally saw the crater. Quite impressive with sheer cliffs that fell deep into the mountain. A little dirty snow was still clinging on the side. Incredibly I still had cell phone service so I called Robyn from the summit and emailed a picture. We spent a couple hours on the top and then started back down.

The route coming down is different than the one going up. As we climbed I was wondering about that because I thought it would quite hard to go down over some of the same rocks that we were climbing. The path down was 2 or 3 inches deep of dirt and gravel. Our movement consisted of sliding, stepping and jumping. I kept thinking that there must be a more efficient way to get down. Maybe a hang-glider, alpine or water slide or even skiing. However since none of those methods were available to us, we kept trudging. Finally I was able to recognize some of the terrain that we crossed at the beginning of our ascent. We started passing some people, whole busloads of tour groups, that were just heading up, presumably to see the sunrise the next morning. We started climbing at 11 AM and returned to the 5th station at 6 PM. Quite an enjoyable day. The effort was more than I had hoped but about what I expected. The shower and soak at the onsen afterward felt wonderful. We topped off the day with a traditional Japanese supper, sushi, noodles, seafood etc. All in all, I'm glad I did it but not something I plan on doing again anytime soon.