Part II: Me vs. Mt. Fuji, Round 1

If you looked at my pics from the previous post, you may have figured out that I attempted to climb Mt. Fuji, Sunday into Monday.

Me and 3 friends took a 2hr 30min bus ride to the Mt. Fuji 5th station, from Tokyo. Fuji has these things called stations, staggered up the mountain; they are merely markers surrounded by small collections of buildings, mainly huts for hikers to stay in. The 5th station is at around 2200m, which saves us a lot of hiking (peak is at 3776m, around 13,000 ft., the tallest in Japan).

I had a feeling the weather wouldn't cooperate. We said to each other if the weather is bad, we'll just go home. It was OK when we got there and therefore we set out. Initially, as we went up the trail, we saw large amounts of people going the other way. We thought nothing of it and continued. 30 mins into it, one member of our party decided she couldn't climb anymore and she decided to turn back now before she got into serious trouble up the mountain. Our goal was to get to the 7th station (3-4 hrs hike), rest and eat, and then set out in the middle of the night for the summit, to arrive for the sunrise.

Me and 2 others continued. It started to drizzle, then rain. I had brought my ski stuff, so at first the weather was not a problem. Time passed. We took frequent breaks as we climbed, talked a lot and we enjoyed each other's company. However, the weather kept getting worse. The rain increased and the wind picked up significantly. We eventually reached our hut at the 7th station, where we were to regenerate before we finished the hike to the top.

They hut people were very friendly and let us dry our soaked clothes over their fire. It was also absolutely freezing outside and so we sat around the fire almost the whole time. The friendly hut people talked to us (well, the others in my party who were more fluent than I) about who we were and what not, very nice people. At some point while we were warming by the fire, the 4th member of our party went walking by. She had decided that trying to stay somewhere else overnight or go home wasn't worth the hassle and therefore she climbed up by herself. At 5:30, we had dinner. The only other people in the hut were 2 Dutchmen, who we befriended. They're about 26 and are interning in Tokyo. At 7, we attempted to sleep in the sleeping area, which is essentially a giant 2-tiered cupboard for people. I did not sleep much, and when I did, I had the most bizarre dreams.

Part III tomorrow.