It’s pitch dark and I am walking up the steep path that is winding its way up the side of the mountain. Our goal is to reach the peak at sunrise. My legs are tired after hours of uphill walking and climbing. The altitude has created a headache that feels like a soft helmet. Breathing is heavy and I lose my breath after a couple of steps and rests a few seconds before continuing. Hiking mount Fuji is no walk in the park.

We arrived with the bus from Shinjuku at level five around two in the afternoon. The first part is a simple hike on soft ground for about half an hour. Then you reach the volcanic part of the mountain. Here it starts to get steep. The only way up is on a prepared path winding its way up to the top. Full of volcanic gravel the path is hard enough to hike, and with the steep inclination on top of that this mountain means business.

On the way up there are a number of huts where you can rest and buy food or drink. Our plan was to go to a level close to the summit, rest for a few hours and then go for the top in time for the sunrise. The huts on the slope offer rudimentary accommodation. Hostel style bunkbeds with blankets. After walking for five hours laying down for a nap is not really difficult. The hut we stayed at offered curry and rice for 1200 yen. Irresistible at this point. I woke up at three with “the helmet”. A kind of headache I think I got because of the altitude.

Flashlights in hand we began the last part of the hike. This was the hardest bit. The air felt as it got thinner by the meter. We also had some hard wind so this was not so pleasant. After a little more than an hour we were at the top. Only problem was the clouds. The hole summit was covered in it. A thick mist with only a couple of hundred meters of visibility. So when the sun went up at there was light, but because of the cloudy weather we really didn’t see the sun rise as such.

I didn’t mind missing the sunrise, but I would like to have seen the crater. We skipped walking around the rim since we could not really see anything up there. At this moment I wished that I wouldn’t have to climb all the way down. But there was no helicopter or gondola available. So we started the descent. At first things went all right. Seemed like it was easier to climb down than up. The air felt easier to breath as we descended too.

Afterwards I learned that there is a different path to go down. There are choices that can make the descent a bit easier. Going through the really hard parts with big rocks took the last of my energy. And we weren’t even half way down yet. At this point a heavy rain started. Now I really took one step at a time. Just put my foot in front of the other one. There is only one way down. And we did get down. Eventually.

There is a Japanese saying that goes something like “Everyone should climb Fuji once, but only a fool does it twice”. That pretty much sums up the feeling of it. Mahalo.

Links:
Facts about climbing Mt Fuji here
Be very careful with altitude sickness, It can kill you. Read this before you go.

Technorati Tags: mountain, peak, climbing, Hiking, mount, Fuji, Shinjuku, volcanic, breath, descended

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