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I took an easy steady pace because I didn't want to get altitude sickness and have to stop before the top and I quickly found some hiking partners. The hike was a lot more challenging than I had anticipated! And I use the term hike loosely! There were large sections of trail where you had to scramble up rock faces and do some light bouldering. In near total darkness with a 20 lbs pack and nothing but a stick and a headlamp I soldiered up the mountain.
If you've never climbed Fuji before let me tell you this one thing, Fuji sucks your soul dry. As you climb you start to realise that you've been awake for far too many hours and there is a hell of a lot of mountain left to climb. You have to make goals for yourself that start of grand, like making it to the summit for sunrise, and end with "just don't die up here!" You become frighteningly aware that there is no way for help to reach you if you slide over the edge or break an ankle. You are on your own. Sure there are thousands of people struggling up the volcano with you but unless they had a really well packed med kit and know trauma procedures, help is going to be a long way off.
I lost my travel companions a little past have way because one was suffering from asthma and altitude sickness and the other realised that trying to climb Fuji was crazy so she stayed behind at a shelter. So I trudged on alone telling myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other and to rest when I got dizzy. All I had were my little jingle bells for company and they merrily jangled away as I contemplated my sanity. But I can be hella stubborn sometimes and I wasn't about to give up.
But I finally made it and all was well with the world. I had a really crappy ¥900 bowl of ramen and spam, looked at the crater and then realized that I had to head DOWN the mountain TT_TT
Thankfully there was an easier path to follow that didn't involve climbing over rocks but it was steep and covered in really slippery, loose rocks. The only thing that kept me on my feet (mostly) was my trusty companion stick. After almost 3 hours of zigzagging back and forth in the hot sun I reached a bathroom. Halleluiah! Now I could drink some of the water I had been carrying all over the place that I couldn't before for fear of exploding! There were plenty of washrooms on the way up, just not on the way back down. So after the pit-stop I figured I was almost home free because I couldn't see anyone further down so I figured the rest of the hike back to our starting point would be fairly level. Wrong! Well at least it would be close right? Wrong! Fuji hates you.
An hour later I stumble into the starting area and nearly collapse. Ever muscle in my body is screaming at me. The little jingle bells that kept me company all night abandoned me somewhere along the decent and all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep for a thousand years. But we had to hike back to our car which was another 20 minutes away. I could have cried.In the end I don't really feel that I conquered Fuji. Sure I made it to the top and back down again without resting or much food but the amount it took out of me can't be put into words. I take my hat off to you Fuji-san, you kicked my ass.
2 comments:
Your climb sounds very different then mine, so it was interesting to hear what it must of been like during climbing season. I feel like I missed out as the food stalls were mainly closed, and I didn't have a stick with bells. As for the bathrooms on the way up, there might be as much of a test of dedication as climbing the mountain.
Yay! You did it!
Anna-san. I bow to you with heartfelt Namaste's. Unbelievable accomplishment. You have always been a fighter, and I'm not at all surprised that you made it all the way up and down. Wanna do it again???
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