Conquering Fuji-san
"...Mt. Fuji, which we've heard is no cakewalk..."
We found out the hard way that Fuji-san deals in neither "cake" nor "walks" - it was an all-out battle on Friday night/Saturday morning to get to the top by sunrise. I guess this is why it's called CLIMBING a mountain, as opposed to anything else...
Seven of us left directly from our afternoon class for the bus ride out to Kawaguchi-ko (at the base of Fuji) on Friday evening, armed with backpacks full of warm clothes, disgusting Japanese energy bars, dried mystery meats, rain gear and lots of water. Within the first hour of the climb, before the real climb even began, we were already down to our core of five remaining group members. To shorten a long, punishing story, which I don't particularly wish to relive unless the topic comes up in a job interview, we spent just under 6 hours climbing Fuji, reaching the summit's literally freezing temperatures about 20 minutes before sunrise at 4:30am. Despite the cold, we were extremely lucky with the weather, which was crystal clear with a brightly moonlit sky, negating the need for headlamps; the mountain tends to "create" its own weather, making predictions almost impossible, and since it is the rainy season, many climbers this time of year have to scale the mountain through pouring rain and hail, as some of my other classmates found out on Sunday night. Hitting the summit, guarded by a traditional torii, was quite emotional (lots of shivering, awkward fist-pumping and uncomfortable dude-hugs), and the sunrise was one of the most beautiful and rewarding things I've ever experienced. After spending a couple of hours hanging out in the hut at the summit and briefly exploring Fuji's volcanic crater, we began the 4-hour trudge to the bottom, which is the last thing you feel like doing after you climb a mountain all night long.
I bought a hiking stick at the beginning of the journey, and as we climbed the mountain, I got it branded at each of the huts along the way to the summit. Here it is, just before I got the final two brands at the summit hut; this thing is probably by far the most worthwhile souvenir purchase I will ever make.
So, that's my weekend/week so far in a nutshell - here are the rest of the pictures. Within a span of one 23 hour journey, I began and ended a successful mountain climbing career - I swore to Fuji-san himself that I'd never climb another mountain, and I plan on keeping that promise. I figure that I 'm better off retiring now, while I'm still batting 1.000.
I've spent the last couple of days writing papers, resting (I slept for over 14 hours on Sunday), and destroying my vocal chords at the karaoke bar with my classmates. Sarah's FINALLY coming in this afternoon, and we're taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe for a few days to visit one of Sarah's college buddies, which should be lots of fun.
We found out the hard way that Fuji-san deals in neither "cake" nor "walks" - it was an all-out battle on Friday night/Saturday morning to get to the top by sunrise. I guess this is why it's called CLIMBING a mountain, as opposed to anything else...
Seven of us left directly from our afternoon class for the bus ride out to Kawaguchi-ko (at the base of Fuji) on Friday evening, armed with backpacks full of warm clothes, disgusting Japanese energy bars, dried mystery meats, rain gear and lots of water. Within the first hour of the climb, before the real climb even began, we were already down to our core of five remaining group members. To shorten a long, punishing story, which I don't particularly wish to relive unless the topic comes up in a job interview, we spent just under 6 hours climbing Fuji, reaching the summit's literally freezing temperatures about 20 minutes before sunrise at 4:30am. Despite the cold, we were extremely lucky with the weather, which was crystal clear with a brightly moonlit sky, negating the need for headlamps; the mountain tends to "create" its own weather, making predictions almost impossible, and since it is the rainy season, many climbers this time of year have to scale the mountain through pouring rain and hail, as some of my other classmates found out on Sunday night. Hitting the summit, guarded by a traditional torii, was quite emotional (lots of shivering, awkward fist-pumping and uncomfortable dude-hugs), and the sunrise was one of the most beautiful and rewarding things I've ever experienced. After spending a couple of hours hanging out in the hut at the summit and briefly exploring Fuji's volcanic crater, we began the 4-hour trudge to the bottom, which is the last thing you feel like doing after you climb a mountain all night long.
I bought a hiking stick at the beginning of the journey, and as we climbed the mountain, I got it branded at each of the huts along the way to the summit. Here it is, just before I got the final two brands at the summit hut; this thing is probably by far the most worthwhile souvenir purchase I will ever make.
So, that's my weekend/week so far in a nutshell - here are the rest of the pictures. Within a span of one 23 hour journey, I began and ended a successful mountain climbing career - I swore to Fuji-san himself that I'd never climb another mountain, and I plan on keeping that promise. I figure that I 'm better off retiring now, while I'm still batting 1.000.
I've spent the last couple of days writing papers, resting (I slept for over 14 hours on Sunday), and destroying my vocal chords at the karaoke bar with my classmates. Sarah's FINALLY coming in this afternoon, and we're taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe for a few days to visit one of Sarah's college buddies, which should be lots of fun.
posted by corbinski at 8:27 AM
<< Home