Mt Fuji: Making it to the Top

I'm back from Mt Fuji, alive! Woohoot! Well, half-alive!

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1134hrs, 10th August - Preface

This is where I'll be by tomorrow morning... Well, if we make it...

1950hrs, 10th August - Departing from Shinjuku
Boarded the bus at Shinjuku. There were seven of us.

Ogikubo and Kuramoto (my classmates)
Takeshima (we used to be in the same class but he's now in another major)
Martin (from Argentine)
Ying Ying (from China)
Chew (friend of Ying Ying who's under a student exchange programme in Waseda University)

When we came out into the highway, it started raining. Although we have brought along raincoats, hiking in the rain is no joke. Just on the previous day, a 52-year-old hiker was killed by lightning. (cf: nikkansports.com) There was a hailstorm too.

It was on the next day that we found out that it rained heavily in Tokyo that very night. Luckily, weather was favourable at Mt Fuji.

2200hrs, 10th August - 5th Station (2305m)
We reached the 5th Station 10 minutes before schedule. We tried to look for a changing room in the souvenir shop but later decided to change in the dark outside just to save 100 yen fee. Jeez, misers...

It was at the souvenir shop that I bumped into... Gosh, Kim! She's a Malaysian post-graduate in TITech. I haven't got many chances to meet her even in the school. But here at Mt Fuji? Wow, talk about coincidence. (Photo by Kim)

"Oh my God, Dai Kah Zheh (Big sis in Chinese dialect)! What a surprise. Are you going up or down?"

"Wow! Thought I got the wrong person. Yeah, We're going up."

With her were Yeap from Kuala Lumpur and Danny from Singapore. All fellow TITech-ians. It happened that Yap's birthday is on 11th August. They brought a cake along to celebrate the occassion.

Phew, birthday celebration on Mt Fuji...?

2300hrs, 10th August - Starry night
After taking a group photo (need to get it from my friend before posting it up), we started our climb from Yoshida-guchi, in high spirits.

In the beginning, everything was easy-going. We chatted and gazed upon the starry night. And hell, there were plenty of shooting stars! I counted a total of three throughout the whole journey!

"Gosh, this is better than a planetarium," someone commented.

Yes, indeed. The stars were shining bright. That's not something you can see back in Tokyo. Of course, most importantly, we were lucky because the sky was clear.

In no time, we reached the 6th Station. It was rather crowded there. So we only stopped for a while, took a snap and continued our ascend to the 7th Station.

2400hrs(?), 10th August - Comes the tough part...
I didn't take note of the time. But I suppose we reached the 7th Station around midnight. There were plenty of rest houses along the route, serving drinks, food and accommodation. But things were damn expensive. A bottle of Coke was 500 yen.

A simple rule of thumb: Price α Height
Or, we called it "inflation"

I met Kim and company more than a few times on the way. Gosh, they looked tired. As Kim told me then next day on MSN, "You look bubbly..."

Yeah, I was, but not for long...

0100hrs, 11th August - "8th Stations"
We could see the lights from the rest houses on the 8th Station. But it took us almost forever to get there. Well, honestly, we didn't really know which one was the 8th Station. We came along many "8th Stations". All the rest houses had different names and they were all "8th Stations".

When we came to the first "8th Station", it was barely 0100hrs. Our initial plan was to make it till the 8th Station by 0430hrs for sunrise... Which meant we were 3 hours ahead. Though we were all very sleepy, we decided that it'd be hard to wake up once we fall asleep there. So, we started off again. Our target was to get to the summit, if possible, before sunrise.

But the route got tougher. Landscape changed from easy slopes to loose pebble and stone paths... Everytime we came to the next rest house which we thought was the 9th Station, it appeared to be the 8th Station. Spirits were low.

One... Two... Three... I don't know... Hell, I lost count... But there were so many rest houses and they were all "8th Stations"! By 0400hrs, we came to yet another "8th Station". There, we decided to rest and wait for daybreak. It was cold up there, with temperatures hitting as low as 5°C. To worsen the situation, the wind was strong.

0400hrs, 11th August - Puking on Holy Mt Fuji?
Kuramoto immediately fell asleep. I would have done so too if I felt better. At first, I thought it was going to get better once I take a short rest. But instead, it got worse and I eventually puked.

Oh my God, I puked on Holy Mt Fuji!

Luckily, all was well after that (at least for the meantime). I managed to pull myself together and got the camera ready for sunrise.

Martin had his tripod set up at the cliff. I didn't bring mine along because my backpack was already overloaded. 50% of it food. And now that I think of it, the throwing up was probably partly because of overeating. If only I knew I didn't need that much.

0430hrs, 11th August - Then, There was Light
At about 0430, the eastern sky started to glow in an orangy fire. The moment we were anticipating was about to come.

Daybreak!

Snap, snap... Snap, snap. Martin and I took many photos. We spent one whole night just for this moment. Neither of us wanted to miss the chance. This photo was taken at 0457hrs. (F7.1 17mm, HDR, 3exp ISO400)

I didn't manage to capture the clouds well. Martin has got a better one on Flickr. But somehow, he's not satisfied with it...

Martin was busy snapping away when we took this group photo. Nice backdrop! Notice that both Kuramoto and I had the same cap. We got them when we visited Hitachi a month ago. Kuramoto brought it along because it's the only cap he has; while me on the other hand, thought that it might look nice in my resume should I consider of working in Hitachi! (Photo by Ogikubo)

0515hrs, 11th August - Making it to the Top
The ascend after that was terrible. We were roughly 500m from the peak. But each step was torturous. Pressure was about 620mmHg (compared to the 720mmHg at sea level). Air was thin up there. Many people suffer from the so-called high altitude illness. In worse cases, hikers die.

I almost died too. To go on or to turn back, it was a difficult decision to make. Whether it was a wise choice, I don't know. But I didn't have the courage to turn back. Afterall, we made it all the way up here.

Taking every painstaking step slowly, I proceeded ahead. (Imagine taking a 2-minute rest everytime after taking 10 flights of steps.) Takeshima and Kuramoto walked behind me.

"I thought you were going to black out and roll down the slop!" Takeshima later recalled.

Well, thanks to everyone, I made it up there. Without their encouragement and help, I wouldn't have made it, or worse, I could have gotten killed!

0700hrs, 11th August - Woohoot! The summit!
Woohoot! The summit! The very place that took us more than 3 hours to get to although we could see it from the "8th Stations"!

Back at the 8th Station, there were many hikers. But not everyone made it up here. Most turn back after sunrise. But the summit was already crowded enough.

Photo of a random hiker.

At 3772m, on top of Japan! (Photo taken by Ogikubo)

I was totally worn out and was not in the shape to scout the area. We made a brief stop at the crater though. Much to my disappointment, there was no bubbling lava...

0830hrs, 11th August - The Descend
After a short rest up there, we started our descend. Thank God it was easy as pie compared to the ascend. I galloped down the slope, braking with the hiking stick every now and then so as not to rush down the cliffs and be gone forever.

We were like trekking on martian landscape. Brown soil at first, then pebbles. Further down, rocks and finally black volcanic ash.

Another random hiker in orange. He looked like a ghostbuster. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts! 'Cos I've got my hiking stick!"

There's nothing much to talk about the descend though. Except that it was a long way down! Longer than the ascend! When we later checked the map in the souvenir shop at the 5th Station, we discovered that the descending route took us on a long detour. Okay, it wasn't psychological.

1300hrs, 11th August - Dirty, Hungry and Sleepy (and retarded?)
14 hours of hiking without a proper nap. Everyone was dirty, hungry and sleepy by the time we made it to the cafeteria at the 5th Station.

Ogikubo and Kuramoto were acting like retards. Obviously, they suffered from brain damage due to the lack of oxygen up there.

We booked the 1600hrs bus, which was a miscalculation. We were thinking of entering a hot spring but it appeared that there is none!

So we spent our 3 hours in the cafeteria, eating... and sleeping...

...Sleeping on the table like Takeshima here! It's a must-know skill every university students have to acquire!

Took this photo at the entrance of the hiking route before heading home. Mt Fuji was covered in thick mist. (Photo by Martin)

2030hrs, 11th August - Home
Finally, got home. Went to the shower directly. Gosh, was I dirty. I could rub black volcanic ash off my face! Even my nose was stuffed with ash! And when I looked into the mirror after a satisfying bath... there I saw, pink cheeks and a pink nose... Hahah!

Footnote
I have been thinking whether I'd go to Mt Fuji again. But the answer now is, no. At least not in the near future! Though it was an invaluable experience, you have to really earn for it. And if you do think of attempting the feat, never do it alone!

Useful links (Japanese)
For those who're planning for a trip to the summit:
富士登山に行こう！ - A comprehensive guide to
富士吉田市登山ガイド - Another guide maintained by Toshida City
後悔しない富士登山 - A guide to various hiking routes
富士山御来光時間 - Timetable of sunrise