Mount Fuji

Climbing Mount Fuji was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. The official climbing season does not begin until July 1st, but since I was leaving Japan on June 29th, I had no choice but to climb it before that. After lots of research on the internet, I quickly came to the conclusion that climbing by myself in the off-season would not be the smartest move. So while surfing the net, I came across a website where I found a post by another traveler looking to climb Mount Fuji with others on June 27th. So I quickly replied to her message indicating my interest. A few back and forth emails later, and I was having dinner and drinks in Tokyo with my new found climbing friends – Esstee and Rene. It’s really nuts how much the internet has made things for the solo traveler. Between the dinner and the actual climb date, two more climbers were added to the group.
After taking the bus to the 5th station (the base camp), we had some coffee and pancakes, and starting climbing just after 4pm. Now, our goal was to reach the summit for sunrise, which occurs around 4:30am, and the climb itself was supposed to take only 6 hours. So we had a huge buffer time for lots of rest at all of the different stations and huts. It was a good thing we had all that time, b/c given the conditions, there’s no way you could comfortably make it to the summit in 6 hours. Once we reached 8th station (the 2nd last station before the summit) at around 1am, the wind and cold was almost unbearable, and we finally hit the snow that we were able to see way up there while looking up at Mount Fuji from the base camp. Up until this point, I had taken all of the warnings and worry expressed by the locals and other travelers about the perils of climbing Fuji in the off-season as exaggeration – warnings that were more suited for the weak and elderly. But after the 8th station, it was clear that climbing Fuji really is an intense ordeal. It probably also didn’t help that I didn’t dress appropriately for the conditions. The continuous gusty winds carried with it a numbing cold that I’ve seldom felt, even in Winnipeg in the dead of winter. After getting to about 3000 metres, I had sporadic feelings of dizziness and headaches (due to the decreasing levels of oxygen – common symptoms of altitude sickness), but luckily it didn’t last long. Climbing in the dark, in inclement freezing temperatures, was a mental and physical battle, but well worth it when we finally made it to the summit. The view of the sunrise, above the scattered clouds, with all of the smaller mountains that appeared to be floating on top of clouds, was something really amazing to see. Immediately upon reaching the summit, I was chugging champagne and beer, and even decided to go shirtless pose, which didn’t help much for keeping my body temperature up.
The summit was really cool to hang out on, but the weather was so shitty that we didn’t stay long. We did a half circle around the crater of Fuji, and decided to start our descent. The descent was much faster, but also much more painful on the knees, since you’re continuously stomping your way down.
I’m so glad I climbed Fuji, but honestly, I don’t think I’ll be doing that again. Too much work!!