Waking up, I originally intended on going to the supermarket as early as possible to buy my stock of food to devour for the overnight climb. By some strange turn of events, I woke up earlier than the store opened. I probably should have checked the times before planning but I had no time to fret over that because I needed to get to Kyoto Station as soon as possible. Packing dried goods that could last me two nights, I took my belongings out to the bus stop right by the apartment complex. Luckily, I grabbed the bus that went directly to the station. Unluckily, I had no idea that not every Tokaido Shinkansen train stopped at 三島 (미시마/Mishima), where I would make my way over to 葍土山 (후지산/Fuji-san). So I had to wait an extra hour.
Great.
Managing to get on an useful train, I made it to Mishima in around 90 minutes, but it was already around 2 PM and I knew the bus out to 富士宮 (후지노미야/Fujinomiya trail) took about two hours.
God damn, waking up early meant nothing.
The turn of events weren’t so bad as I met a German who was doing the climb over again with his visiting father and a French man they met by chance just two days earlier. Instead of doing the climb alone, I decided to join them. We were going to climb the mountain all in one go during the night.
Well, my plans changed quickly.
With this new decision, once we reached the 5th station of Fujimomiya, we had about 5 and a half hours to get accustomed with the oxygen levels at 2400 m (about 7874 ft).
Here went nothing.
At first, you could definitely feel the difference in your breathing and it was a smart idea to both rest and stretch before doing too much of anything. Light snacking, joking around, and taking photos here and there was done. In fact, we were basically waiting outside to catch the gorgeous sunset above the clouds since the Fujimomiya trail had the best view.
I’ll let you be the judge but quite frankly, that view was pretty kickass.
As soon as the sun went away, you could start to feel the cold crawl up around you. Along with some changing, we decided to get some soup before the 5th station service ended. Pricey indeed as with everything else Japan monetizes. (I would try to lower the amount of times I mention how Japan monetizes everything, but quite frankly it’s absurd how they monetize every little aspect of life, whether or not you’re a tourist. I strongly disapprove and would like to say it strongly made me dislike Japan.) While climbing, I would soon find out how far this dirty habit Japan keeps up would go.
Finally the shroud of night had cloaked us and a number of other climbers determined to accomplish the night hike. I felt it would be wise to attempt and get some shut-eye so I rested upon the wooden floor they had nearby the trail entrance. Possibly the excitement got to me, since I failed to fall asleep once. Seeing as no sleep would come, I instead meditated for a bit. That at least relaxed my body.
Chris, the German student, and Estébane, the Frenchman, were trying to capture shots of the cities and their lights below us with the lack of clouds around us. Nicholas, Chris’s father, continued resting on the wooden platform where I had just risen from. I joined in but my mediocre camera lacked the ability to get a good shot with such darkness. Looking up at the sky made it worth it and I could care less for photos. I never saw so many stars so well before, and I didn’t even make it to the top yet.
After what felt like ages, it finally came to the time we would ascend. Well here goes nothing.
10:30 PM
Getting from fifth station to the sixty station didn’t seem bad at all. A lot of volcanic ash and crumbly rocks, but a challenge that took no strength to overcome. However, to approach the climb wisely, we took a break as one should at each station to recuperate a bit.
11:00 PM
Starting ascent part two took a bit more energy out of us as the steepness this time angled up on us quite a bit. The vertical increase quickly shifted to never ending plane and back again. What was this witchcraft. But every now and then, we came to a corner of the trail and could look out behind us at the cities grew smaller and smaller. With that, the stats multiplied and coated the sky with a dim shine. The beauty of nature gave us the push we needed.
The rest this time around required a bit more time, which I utilized to layer up an extra one. Although the mountain wind seemed absent for the the moment, I knew it would be lurking to treat us horribly later. If it was gonna take me out, it would need be vicious.
11:50 PM
With the second break over, the ascent continued. Nicholas had greater travel and climbing experience than all of us youngsters combined but he knew the mountain would take a greater toll on him being both very tall and old. We took a smaller break midway between the new seventh and old seventh stations. With some hydration and inspiration from the night sky, we caught a second wind and worked our way up. Ironically enough the breeze started kicking in with out vertical increase, it came time that it would make its unwanted appearance. God help us.
Landed. It felt like we landed in a new world as there were many more people. But this was not a land one would merrily approach as we already started seeing why the population was larger. A good few already were forcing oxygen into their systems with these tiny cans you can buy on and around Fuji-san. Not a pleasant sight, but we had no choice but to focus on some recuperation and preparation to continue our ascent. I changed my outermost layer to a thicker one so I would not sweat overtly and the snacking continued. Once Nicholas got a quick snooze out of the way, we were out once more.
12:40 AM
It became apparent to us that we were ascending with great speed and just spent extra time with rest. If we continued at our rate we would be at the summit a little too long and freeze our skin off before the sunrise. Not a pleasant thought. We changed pace so the ascent was more steady and we could elongate our breaks a bit so we could spend a bit more time accustoming to the decreasing oxygen levels.
In the darkness, I had no idea how ridiculous these trails look but there is a reason why I prefer the ascent over the descent: it’s easier on your legs. On the way back down the trail between the eighth and old seventh stations, I would have my reasons strengthened.
Another micro-rest proved itself necessary. It gave us an extra push and another opportunity to star gaze. As we restarted the ascent, I could feel the lack of water flowing through my Camelbak bladder. It seemed about time after using it as my only water source that it would start running out now. Luckily I has a spare two liters in my pack to refill it. As soon as we came to the eighth station to recover, it was refill time. Lord, there were a few folks napping along different parts of the trail. One boy was essentially making out with his oxygen. I felt the need to breathe a bit more but overall my body was good to go. Thank god for all that cross country and hiking under my belt. It really proved itself with this ascent.
1:40 AM
Okay, good move in re-layering up because the wind finally decided to play a little number on us. It kept on shifting directions and raining down on us in all kinda of ways. Quite frankly, it beat down on us with zero sympathy.
(Insert vulgar slur here.)
Still, the ascent meant more than our bodies. The glory of the climb kept us going, even if the monetizing habits of the Japanese throughout the mountain took away from it. So much for a World Heritage Site. Once we got to the ninth station, we really elongated the break this time by taking an hour off. We got some ¥400 hot chocolate and coffees (that’s ¥400 each). Essentially the purchase was to legitimize our stay and get something warm in our body. Poor old Nicholas and Estébane needed to get a snooze in and the station manager came by to quickly scold them. And I’m like, but these are all people trying with great effort to ascend a 3776 m high mountain, like they could use some rest. But no pay, no rest. Being the only station on this altitude on the trail gave the folks reason enough to torment all those passing by. It ran pretty counter to all the other nice Japanese folk I met throughout my trip thus far.
3:45 AM
No time to waste, the way up to the summit was lit up by various headlamps and flashlights of all those climbing.
The summit would be eminent and despite all that nature was doing to stop us from going further, we would not let it best us. We even skipped taking a rest at the 9.5 station to shave off some time. However, the people narrowing the way up did delay us. In fact, it start delaying us so much, it seemed we were bound to miss the sunrise.
Oh, hell no! I did not make and remake my plans and wait hours on a mountain to miss this damn life-changing sunset. I did not get so ratchet to the point I was snaking my way up to the summit, but I did start trailing up along the side of other folks. The sun was coming. I had to feast my eyes upon it.
4:45 AM
According to the Japanese weather channel, we made to the summit with about 12 minutes to spare to catch the sunrise. Folks from each trail already started picking spots all along different parts of the crater. We sprinted to the side by the Yoshida trail, since the viewpoint there was the best for the sunrise. My, oh my!
Stunning, to say the least. That very moment became my favorite memory of Japan. Despite the freezing temperature, we made the most of our time on the summit and collected photos everywhere.
Although we wanted to run the entirety of the crater, our running short on time made sending postcards our only other viable activity.
Somebody is going to feel really special back home when she gets that card.
It was already 6 AM and we needed to descend down to make it time for the 9 AM bus. The bane about the Fujinomiya trail is that the path you ascend is also the one you descend.
Damn.
No matter, we had places to go and no time to waste. Others had already started descending so we had to navigate slowly on the narrow trail down to the ninth station. Now that the sunlight coated the mountain, seeing what we struggled through made us wonder how we got to the summit in the first place.
Ow.
That thought kept on cycling through my head. As I mentioned, I love the ascent, which makes you feel all powerful, whereas the descent basically beats up your feet and makes you wish you never came. But my final destination was calling. Once we reached the eighth station, I layered all the way down to the clothing I started the ascent with.
Go time.
At this point, I was no longer very careful with my footing entirely, but kept on leaping down or catching safety ropes to trail down as I let gravity take the wheel and let myself fly down the mountain. The whole activity might have been even more exhilarating had it not made my feet feel like they were going through a woodchopper. On the flatter parts, I sprinted down. Everyone kept up relatively together until we reached the long trail between the new and old seventh stations. That was a doozy but we overcame.
Admittedly, by the last trail, I was whining a bit. Mostly in part to the fact that I get grumpy when I have sore feet. Mid-cross country season would always bring out the worst in me, too. This was really no different. But when we finally reached the fifth station, I knew it was over and I kicked off my shoes, got on the bus, and knocked out.
