Monday, July 13, 2009

My Fuji-san (富士山)...

Our hike began at 5pm on July 11th, we reached the summit at 6am the next morning and I finished at 9:40am on July 12th....The hike lasted 16 hours and 40 minutes...many of us (like me) went w/o sleep for 30+ hours consecutively...but in the end, we pushed our bodies to the top of Japan and joined the thousands of other hikers that day in a celebration...the best way I can describe the experience is this...

...Imagine you are driving through the night to reach your destination by morning...but as it turns out everyone else had the same idea as you. you wonder where all these people came from and whats more, you wonder where is everyone going at this hour? You think...is this a Holiday weekend? Hmmm...nope. But its the worst traffic jam in the history of traffic jams. Crawling like a snail seems like warp-speed compared the pace of traffic. You wonder if this is a dream...Nope its REAL! Now imagine there were 4 people in each car...take the cars away, put them on a rocky trail the width of a one-way street swithbacking up the side of a mountain, w/ headlamps, backpacks and a 30+ mph wind. THIS is Mt. Fuji!

We arrived at our trail head (the 5th station -- 2,305 meters / 7,562 feet) at 4pm or so...the scene was more like Disney Land than the beginning of a mountain adventure...tour buses dropping off loads and loads of would be climbers and others just making a pilgrimage to the highest point you could get to by car. Restaurants and ice cream stands and vending machines crowded this concrete and asphalt platform...the start and finish of our climb. Our climb leaders were from a tour guide company (Sun & Sun)...our two guide's names were Yamamoto-san and Kobayasi-san. Yamamoto-san said he had climbed Mt. Fuji like 1,000 times...and as the trip continued, everyone saw that this may in fact be true. Kobayashi-san was on his 10th climb of Fuji and as he was the younger of the two, he was relegated to the back of the pack w/ our group of "first time Fuji foreigners"...while Yama-chan (as he liked to be called) was leading the charge w/ about 30 or so Japanese climbers. As we learned later, Yama-chan was concerned our group of 10 foreigners would hold everyone up by "taking pictures!" Well, we didn't want to dissappoint!...I took my fair share as I usually do :)

Our plan was to arrive at a hut at the 7th station...relax for 2 or 3 hours and then begin our summit bid around 11:30pm...and that's exactly what we did...well, "relax" is relative b/c as we laid there, the sounds of "sawing logs w/ a chainsaw" came from other climbers nasal passages...so, I just laid there listening to those "sweet lullaby's" and a shooting pain behind my eyes...but it was nice just to be off my feet.

Up to this point the traffic jam was pretty light...not too much waiting around and idling. But as we shook off the haze of "relaxing" the noise outside grew...we threw on our gear and were surprised to see armies of climbers w/ headlamps blazing and guides barking their orders for breaks, bathrooms and next steps. It took our group of 40 about a half hour to get our stuff together and begin our summit bid...and thats when the traffic jam began...a rocky staircase w/ several spot lights led the way all the time our faces staring at someone else's bum.

It was a bit of a race against time...the sun rises at 4:40am this time of year...and to be at the summit to watch a new day begin is where we all wanted to be. I don't remember much about the way up other than...it was dark, it was like a stair stepper on steroids...and the wind was gusting around 30mph+...ahhh...this IS Mt. Fuji.

Then around 3:30am...the glow of the sun on the horizon warmed our tired and chilly bones...the colors were pink, orange, blue and everything in between...then as we looked up to gauge the distance between where we were and the summit, we wondered...would we make it? The hope of making it to the summit for sunrise faded w/ each step...it seemed like Santa Claus was at the top of Mt. Fuji and there was no limit for how many presents the kids could ask for...so the result was a lot of cold and tired parents and children barely moving. I looked over at one of our guides and saw him open his mouth like a lion for a loooooong yawn for like 10 seconds straight...then...he started shivering and the chatter from his teeth echoed up and down the trail. At 4:30 am we were guided off the main trail to a rocky perch to catch the sunset...it was amazing...and then as soon as it came, it was gone...the ceiling of clouds swallowed up the sun as it continued to rise and we continued our climb...one slow step after another.

We finally reached the summit at 6am...our leader gave us about 35 or 40 minutes to enjoy the moment...everyone scattered like ants...some going to sit down, others catching the views and well for me...I was trying to collect myself...a bit nauseous...very tired and very cold...I just breathed...within 10 minutes, I got myself back and became a puppy....looking over here and then over there...dodging people and trying to find the perfect spot for some pictures...and then, slowly, the cold and fatigue set in again...

Going down the mountain was on a different path, but still tons of people...I plunge-stepped my way down...and three hours later, I was back at Disney Land ready for my ice cream...

Next up...a shower and an 8 hour bus ride home.

THIS WAS MY FUJI-SAN!

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