Day 15: Dawn of the Dead

At 3,776 meters (12,389 feet for those of you who work in old money) Mt. Fuji is Japan’s tallest mountain and last night, under cover of darkness and in the freezing cold, we climbed it. I’d love to say it was a walk in the park, I would, but it was grueling and exhausting, it hurt to walk, we started to suffer from altitude sickness which brought waves of dizziness and nausea, and my ankle (the one I dislocated a few years ago) felt for a while like it had that first day I wrecked it. We were shivering, we were sweaty but the moment that sun rose across the perfect blanket of clouds everything melted away.

The hike through the stations was difficult to say the least, scrambling up volcanic rocks and slag. There was so much dust in the air and though I started wearing a vest in the 17*C air at 10pm by the time I reached the 7th station (2,780m) I was pulling on additional layers and in the low single digits of the 8th station (3,250m) I was wearing everything I’d brought.

Above the 8th station was where the climb became frustrating for us and the Canadians we’d been climbing with. There are a number of Torii as you reach the summit and people climbing were taking photos there, having to stop every 10 meters or simply misusing their oxygen (some so much you could see the narcotic effect it was having); it was like a zombie march. As the trail ground to a halt and everyone (the Japanese included) began to abandon their proper etiquette. This was there our 5 man team was able to let loose. Running the final kilometer to make the sunrise was the only way and we all shot off, we abandoned the trail and scrambled over rocks and along ash banks, we had genuinely believed we wouldn’t make the summit for dawn. I made the summit first out of us, my legs must have burned but I didn’t notice, as I entered the temple at the top I was taking the steps at full sprint, 2 or 3 at a time and I know I was getting funny looks.

I walked out along an east facing, rocky outcropping and withing minutes was joined by the rest of the team. With ten minutes of sunrise we had made it to the peak and we were ecstatic! We took videos and photos as the sun slithered into view over the cloud, it was beautiful and we sat there, eating breakfast at 04:30 and let the warmth of the sun heat us up.

The route down was hard too, ashy and loose. All of went over at one time or another but simply knowing what we’d achieved in those 10 hours was enough to push us onwards and to a warm bed at the end.

It might well be a waste of precious holiday day but I’m not ashamed to say we were asleep moments after we climbed out of the shower. Now we ache, we’re sore and raw and out joints are seizing but that doesn’t matter because last night we took on something huge, we did it and that makes us mighty.

Jack
(Mighty Morphin’ Mountain Racer)

Day 14: The Great Journey

I’m tapping this out quickly before I set off to catch a bus, only one hour of travel left today on top of what has already been nearly 8. It’s 2015 local time and I’m in a hostel at the base of Mt. Fuji. Tonight I will climb the tallest mountain in Japan.

I’ve been waiting for months for this and I’ve been getting more and more excited as time has gone on and tomorrow morning, around 0430 I’ll watch the sun rise across the land of the rising sun. It’ll be tough, it’ll be long and it will definitely get wet, but who care about that,

There isn’t much to report for today, just a great number of hours at the mercy (and it was be merciful) of the Japanese transport system, so I’ll leave it at that for now. I hope the next 8 hours are as good for you as they are for me.

Jack
(now with a Pack)