This summer I had the opportunity to climb to the top of Mt. Fuji. This was the one thing I wanted to do the most during my time in Japan. We climbed Mt. Fuji on July 28, 2007.
Our team consisted of for people: Dan (my room mate), Kiyomi Kawamata (Taga firefighter chief), and Rie (friend of Kiyomi's). We left Hitachi around 8pm on a Friday evening; Kiyomi driving to Fuji in his BMW! We reached the base around 12 am midnight. We parked the car and started our hike around 1:30 am. It was so dark when we first started, almost too dark for pictures but the sky was flooded with stars. There were many other climbers starting around this same time all with the same goal; to see the sunrise from Mt. Fuji. Even though it was summer, the temperature was very cold because of the high altitude, plus it was the middle of the night. The base of the mountain was covered in trees and other foliage; however, as we worked our way up the mountain the greenery was reduced to mostly rock and ash. (FYI Mt. Fuji is a dormant volcano, and this is the 300th anniversary since the last eruption.) Every hundred meters or so there were rest stations. They would have benches out side where you could rest or you could rent a spot inside to rest and warm yourself. Many people actually will hike half way one day, sleep at a station, at hike the other half the next day! Not our team; our plan was to go up and down that thing in one day! These stations also had bathrooms but you had to pay 100yen (about one US dollar) to use it.
We got to see the sun rise at about 4:30; at that point we were about half way up the mountain. The view was really too amazing to describe. All the Japanese people around us kept yelling, "Banzai!" This means, 'long live the Emperor.'
About 3/4 to the top I started to have a little difficulty breathing. Maybe it was the thin air or it could have been mountain sickness, I am not sure.
Anyways it took about six and a half hours to get to the top. At the top we rested for about one hour. The view from the top was beyond beautiful, we could see at least halfway down. Many people were still working there way to the top. (F.Y.I. Mt. Fuji is about 3700 meters tall). I still had a little mountain sickness at the top, but I lost it slowly as we descended.
We started our decent around 9:30. The path down was a steep winding road covered in lava rock. It only took us about three hours to reach the bottom, but it seem longer because the road was terribly monotonous.
We reached the bottom of the mountain around 1:00 pm and headed to the onsen (hot spring). Kiyomi had rented a big room at the onsen for 6 hours. There we took a bath, ate, and slept. We were all so exhausted, sleep had never felt so good.
Climbing Mt. Fuji was a big challenge, not only physically challenging but mentally as well. The physical challenge obviously needs no explanation. The mental part was having to deny your own fear of the mountain. Many times it was easy to get discouraged and want to quit climbing, because there is still a long way to go. Not only do you have to push and encourage yourself, but push and encourage your other team members. I also received and gave encouragement to and from other stangers climbing the mountian.
I really would like to try to climb it again next year.
Here are some pictures from our journey! Group shot, shot down the mountain, Station 7, me climbing, sunrise.
