After my last post, my main concern was preparing for climbing Mount Fuji. It is the higheset mountain in Japan at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet) and I planned to climb all the way to the top. I signed up with a huge group of friends for a special trip that included: a bus ride to Fuji, an overnight stay in a hut at around 3000 meters, a couple of meals, and an onsen (hot springs) visit after the climb. The weeks leading up to the climb were filled with lots of stress for all of us. We all wanted to make sure we had the proper gear and information to climb safely. I have never hiked a day in my life, so I had to buy a lot of equipment to ensure I would be able to do it. I got lots of rain gear, warm clothes, a water bag that I could drink from while walking, head light, hat, sunscreen, wool socks, gloves, power bars, a backpack tarp to keep my gear dry, ponchos, towel, first aid equipment, and more. I read many accounts of others that had climbed and I did my best to prepare. One of my biggest concerns was altitude sickness. It can happen to anyone and if you get it you have to head back down the mountain or you can actually die. I was worried about that and a little worried about the physical demand of climbing the mountain. I work out and exercise pretty frequently on a normal basis, but I ramped up my cardio leading up to the climb to prepare.
The Monday and Tuesday before the climb, I went to class as usual. Then after class I got some equipment and then went for a run. I lifted weights and ran 5 miles on Tuesday and then stopped exercising until the climb on Saturday to give my body time to fully rest. On Wednesday, I woke up at 5 am with a group of friends to watch the USA vs. Belgium World Cup Match. We lost a heartbreaker in overtime but I was proud of the team's effort. After class Wednesday, I went to a special Ramen shop with Barbara and got Tomato Flavored Ramen. It had cheese and egg in it as well. It tasted kind of like spaghetti and it was seriously delicious.
Tomato Ramen
On Friday, it was Fourth of July in Japan. Technically it wasn't the 4th in the U.S. until 1 pm Japanese time but we celebrated all day. Many of my friends and I dressed very patriotically and I had a friend paint USA on my face in red lipstick. After class, I went with a group to an American BBQ restaurant in Harajuku. It was so good and it felt just like home. I had a pulled pork bbq sandwich, fries, and banana pudding. I hadn't realized how much I had missed barbecue.
A very rare BBQ Restaurant in Japan
Pulled Pork Sandwich and Fries
Patriots
After lunch, a group of my American friends headed back to hang out with me at my dorm. We watched movies and hung out. When it got dark, we played with sparklers on the roof of my dorm before I had to go to bed to prepare for the climb the next day. I went to my room to try to sleep around 10 pm, but I couldn't sleep due to excitement. I fell asleep around 1:30 am which was not good since I had to get up at 5 to go to Fuji for the climb.
On Saturday morning, we got up at 5 am and gathered up all of our gear. We took a train for about an hour to Shinjuku where got on the bus to go to Mount Fuji. We already knew we were in for a rough day since it was rainy and cold outside. We took the bus for two hours to Mt. Fuji's 5th station, where everyone starts the climb. It is about 2300 meters, which is 7500 feet. We hung out for an hour on 5th station to acclimate to the altitude. During that time, I got some lunch, checked my gear, and bought an air canister. If you start to feel the altitude on the mountain, you can inhale oxygen from these cans to help fight altitude sickness. I had a little extra time so I went to the shrine they have on the station as well. I had been there before when my dad visited but it was still cool to check out. I bought a fortune for our trip. I accidentally bought a fortune for my love life though, so I don't think it really applied. The fortune said my luck was average which wasn't great but I wasn't too worried.
Messin' around at 5th station
Getting a fortune
This little guy gets it for you
He then drops it in the slot for you to pick up
Here's the "Before" picture that we took at 5th station
(I'm on the right in a blue raincoat)
At 12:30, we started the climb. It was rainy, cold, and foggy right from the start. The air was thinner but not too bad at the start. My group was pretty happy and optimistic and we started strong. We walked up the trail for a long time while talking and joking. My layers kept the cold at bay while my raincoat and backpack tarp staved off the rain for the most part. After about an hour it started to be less fun. We were all already soaked and we knew we still had such a long way to go. The trail also got steeper and progressively more difficult. So we talked less and just concentrated on climbing. Some parts in the first couple of hours were really tough and really got your heart rate up. We would stop and take breaks every once in a while where some people would eat snacks, drink water, or use their oxygen cans to inhale some air. After about an hour, I really started feeling the altitude. My head was hurting and my breathing became harder even after fairly easy climbing areas. I fought through it and kept going.
Start of the climb (fairly easy)
Start of climb
After a while, we finally reached the 6th station. I ate a snack there and we rested for a few minutes. I also went to the bathroom and had to pay two dollars to use it. Everything costs a lot of money on the mountain and restrooms are no exception. You also cannot throw anything away on the mountain so you have to hold on to all of your trash which was super annoying. After 6th station, the climb got really hard. The climb started to be extremely steep and rocky. It was basically rock climbing on all fours at some points. I was soaking wet and it was getting progressively colder so I was adding layers. We were also pretty mad that it was so foggy you couldn't see any of the great views that the mountain was famous for. My optimism was fading fast and the next part of the climb really dragged on. We got to the 7th station after a couple more hours and were not happy knowing how far we still had to go.
This part was really crowded because you had to go slow due to the precarious rocks
Almost to 7th station
7th to 8th station was probably the toughest part of the climb. It was really cold and we were so soaked that there was no way to get warm. There was snow everywhere at this point also. Plus the mountain was getting incredibly steep and you had to climb rocks almost the whole way. The rocks were tough to climb so it also made the climb extremely crowded in this area. It was slow going and honestly miserable. I listened to Kanye West on my ipod to try not to think about it but I was still not a very happy camper at this point.
Great pic by John
That's Corey right there looking ecstatic
A rest stop between 7th and 8th station
SNOW
We finally reached the 8th station hut where we would be staying the night around 6:30. We had climbed about 6 hours in the freezing cold, rain, and fog and we were wiped out. We checked in and changed in to dry clothes. We were assigned these barrack-style beds that were super small and cramped. Even though we bought rooms, we still had to pay to use the bathrooms. I stored all my wet clothes and shoes in a bag and tried to get warm. After an hour we were served a pretty terrible dinner of a beef patty, rice, and curry. We were also given some rice for breakfast the following day but most of us went ahead and ate it then. At around 8:30 we went to bed since we would have to get up in a couple of hours. Even though I was super tired, I only slept for about 30 minutes before I woke up. I could not get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. I just laid awake and listened to the weird noised that the other 50 guests in the small room made. One dude a row away from me started puking randomly in the night. He puked all over the bed and he and his neighbors had to clean it up. It was insane. Altitude sickness is no joke. I was feeling sick most of the night too, but it was just a bad headache and I just dealt with it. I also had to go to the bathroom for a couple of hours but couldn't go. To get out of the bedding area I would've had to crawl over 6 sleeping people so I just held it in. The room was smelly and the air was stale and I could not wait to get out of there. Being in that cramped hut made me feel sicker and I was ecstatic when it was time to wake up to head to the summit to catch the sunrise.
Dinner
Dinner
Barracks
You had to crawl in the dark to get to your spot
Most people in our group wanted to sleep until 1:30 and then head to the summit for the sunrise. I looked at the weather and it was supposed to be clear and 40 degrees Fahrenheit at the summit so I didn't mind getting there early and waiting for the sunrise. From my research, I learned that the summit gets so crowded that you can miss out on a good view of the sunrise if you don't get there early enough. With these facts in mind, I decided I wanted to head to the summit earlier than 1:30. 5 of my friends agreed with me and so we decided to get up earlier and leave the hut at 12:45. We started the climb and it was pitch dark outside. We had headlamps so it wasn't super dangerous. The climb from the 8th station to the summit was probably the steepest and rockiest climb on the mountain. Plus the air was extremely thin since we were so high up. We maintained a fast pace and so my heart rate was very high almost the whole time. We took some breaks because it was so difficult. The best part was that the weather had FINALLY cleared up. This meant we had great views of cities at night and the stars. I knew the sunrise would be spectacular which inspired me to climb faster.
My camera couldn't capture anything so this is from my friend Sam's nice camera
We got to the summit around 1:45 even though this climb was supposed to take about an hour and a half. We were some of the first people at the top so the route wasn't crowded and neither were the sunrise viewing areas. We scoped out the place and walked to the crater of the volcano before we staked out our sunrise viewing spot. We got one of the best viewing spots on the summit. We laid out all our stuff and prepared to wait. This is about the time it started to get extremely cold. After about 20 minutes, I was miserably cold. A lot of my stuff was still soaked from the previous day, which only made it worse. We all put on all of our layers really quick. The 5 of us were there for two hours before the rest of our group joined and by then we were seriously miserable. My feet were hurting a lot and I was honestly a little concerned about frostbite. My shoes and socks hadn't dried and so my feet were freezing. My friend Mie let me borrow some of her wool socks which helped a little but my feet hurt a lot for a few hours. (Note: they are fine now, no harm done).
Here's 5 out of the 6 of us that were first to the summit
I literally put on all the dry clothes I had to stay warm
The summit was extremely crowded about an hour and a half after we got there so it was a good thing we got there early or we would not have had a great view. We ended up waiting almost three hours for the sunrise and it was miserable as heck the whole time, but it was worth it for the view. The sunrise was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Words cannot describe it. The whole ordeal of climbing up and down the mountain was definitely worth it for this view.
Just before sunrise
Me before sunrise
Just before sunrise
The Sun finally starts to show
Probably the best pic I have of the sunrise
Gamecocks conquered Mt. Fuji!
After the sunrise, we went and checked out Mt. Fuji's volcanic crater in the light. It was filled with snow and it was really cool to see.
Crater
Crater
Right in the middle of the crater
Crater Pics
I did it!
Around 5:15 am we started the trek down the mountain. It was so crowded on the way down that we moved extremely slowly. It was like bumper to bumper traffic in Atlanta at rush hour. I got back down to 8th station at 6:30. We took a different path down that was basically all loose gravel. It was incredibly difficult not to fall each step. It wrecked my knees because your legs are constantly tight trying to make sure you don't fall. Going down from 8th station back to 5th station took about three hours. We got lost once on the trail but managed to recover. I was very tired and it was very hard going down so I was once again not a very happy camper. My friend Sam and I passed the time mostly by jokingly (or seriously) complaining about how miserable we were. Luckily, the weather was nice so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Plus we got amazing views all the way down the mountain.
View on the way down
View
View
Rocky trail
Towards the end, I tripped on a rock and rolled my ankle which was very annoying. It hurt a lot and the rest of the trek got even more difficult. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I made it back to the 5th station. We had some lunch and then hung out before getting back on the bus.
After Pic!
Our bus group then went to an onsen hot spring. This was the first natural hot spring I'd ever been to. You get a locker, put all your clothes in and then head to the main area. You take a shower and then go soak in the boiling water. It was super relaxing and felt great after the huge workout I put my body through. We then had a traditional lunch and headed back to Tokyo on the bus, which took a few hours. After the bus, we took a train home for 45 minutes. My friends and I decided to go get some victory McDonald's and it was delicious. I quickly did my homework and then I crashed really early.
Climbing Mount Fuji was easily one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was extremely taxing both physically and mentally. Apparently you burn around 8,000 calories on the climb which is crazy. I also was working on a total of 4 hours of sleep for two days, so my body was not happy. There was a lot of hardship during the climb, but it was all worth it for the views at the top. Plus I can forever say I climbed Mt. Fuji. 12,500 feet later, I feel like a new man. (A tired, super sore, old man). The friends I went with were awesome and I couldn't have asked for a better group! I love them all and we had such an amazing experience together. I can barely walk today, but it was definitely worth it!
There's a proverb in Japan that translates to: "He who climbs Mount Fuji is a wise man, but he who climbs twice is a fool." I definitely understand that proverb now and I do NOT plan on climbing it again!
Sayoonara for now!
-A.J.
