Fuji-san Part 1

Ok, here's the long-awaited story on Mt. Fuji... (a.k.a. my own personal Mt. Doom)

FuJET (a.k.a. Ryan McDonald) was kind enough to organize a trip so us Fu'ken JETs could all have a go at Mt. Fuji ("Watch out now!"). The chartered bus pulled away from Iwaki at 11 in the morning on Saturday, July 16, after having picked up the last group, consisting mostly of Iwakese. 7 hours later we arrived at the 5th station (a.k.a. base camp).

The Iwaki posse excitedly gathered 'round for a pre-climb pic:

Back row (L-R): Logan, Nicole, Harry, Leonard, Kristin, Michael
Front row (L-R): Juan, Liz, Me

Fuji-san didn't look so tough from base camp... (although she is & stands 3,776m tall)...

Relaxed and confident, a group of us lounged in one of the base camp restaurants, eating over-priced ramen & hydrating with sports drinks.

The sunset was decent.


We had no idea the adventure that awaited us...!!

At the last minute I caved to peer pressure & bought an official Fuji walking stick, complete with jingly bell. I highly suggest you rip the jingly bell OFF your stick after 5 minutes of climbing when the initial 'aww what a cute bell' euphoria wears off. Also available at each stage are stamps branded into your walking stick for an additional 100 yen each (God bless the Japanese capitalist machine).

We began the climb just after dark around 8pm after some group stretches led by Harry. I think the onlooking Japanese approved. Here's Harry & I about an hour into the "climb" (I use quotes with "climb" because it's more of an uphill hike, albeit a very difficult and loooong uphill hike)...

That was the only picture I took during the entire climb due to several factors: a) it was dark as we were climbing at night b) I looked too delicious for words, red-faced and sweaty from exertion - except for Harry, who mysteriously seems to not sweat - how unfair is that? c) it rained/sleeted the latter half of the climb d) as a result of c, my fingers were too frozen to actually take pictures.

On to the good stuff, yes, it started raining around 2am. Then we got pelted with sleet. If it weren't for the thin air I probably would've been muttering every swear word I could think of & then some. I didn't have waterproof gloves - dumbass move of the century.

As we semi-neared the top around 3am, we hit traffic. Big time. Our super speedy, passing everyone in the fast lane acension turned into stop-and-go traffic. I'm talking inch worm pace here, people. Step, stand for 30 seconds, step with the other foot, stand for 30 seconds. Unbelievable.

This went on for 3 HOURS. What should've only taken 6-7 hours from base camp to top ended up taking 10 hours. Those last 3 hours were some of the worst in my entire life. Freezing, numb hands & feet, getting rained on, can't go forward, can't go back, had to use the toilet so bad I thought I was gonna die... A-R-G-H!

Having gotten separated from Kristin in the maddening uphill rush, Harry & I finally made it to the top around 6am. Too miserable to enjoy having conquered Fuji, we rushed to get in line for the toilet only to find another massive queue. That took another 30-40 mins. My fingers were so cold I could hardly get my pants down & I'd held it for so long I could hardly go. The pain of having held it for so long lingered for the next several hours. Are we having fun yet? (^-^)