We made it! And it was tough – probably one of the most physically difficult things I have ever done or am likely to do.
We got up at 8 in our hostel in Tokyo and had some breakfast and packed two small rucksacks to take up the mountain. Down in Tokyo even in the morning it was about 30 degrees, so it was weird packing a fleece, a wind breaker and a jacket, as well as a sleeping bag and a head torch.
After some guide book reading and some guesswork about how to get to the start of our trail we bought some suppllies of water and high energy food and took the metro to Shinjuku station. We got ourselves on a bus to the Fuji five lakes area and anoher train to Fuji Yoshida, the town at the start of the traditional pilgrims route up the mountain. You see, we were determined to do things properly and that meant not taking a cheater bus to the fifth Fuji station. How lame wouldn’t that have been?
By the time we had done all this and had been to the tourist information centre to get a map it was about 3pm. We knew it takes about five and a half hours to get to the fifth station from the town so we were under a bit of time pressure before it got dark.
But it was important to get into the spirit of things so we visited the shrine at the start of the path and bought a traditional hexagonal hiking stick with bells on it for about £8. The idea is that you get your stick stamped as you progress through the stations. As it turned out the stick is also a vital indespensible climbing aid and gives you a lot of respect if you carry it around on the Tokyo underground. As with most days in August we couldn’t actually see the mountain at all because it was hidden in cloud.
The first two ‘stations’ on the trail are not numbered but named. The first hour and a bit of walking is through mixed forest but close along side the motor vehicle road up to the 5th station. It is not very steep but also not very relaxing because of the cars – there aren’t many but they do break the silence. And then before you are expecting it you arrive at a traditional little hut in the middle of the path. This is the soba restarant that also happens to be the last place to buy food before 5. The menu is simple – cold or hot soba noodles and chilled fuji spring water – but oh so welcome!
The second named station goes past unnoticed but the first station gets the full treatment. There is a small shrine with flags and candles. Along the path are lots of standing stones that have been brought up by previous climbers. And then you pass through the two monkey statues and are on your way properly. Station 2 is the highest point women were traditionally allowed to climb. And then it really starts to get steep.
You are walking through forest with wild strawberrys and yellow flowers all the way up to 5. And in all that time from the very bottom we met only three other people, two coming down and one going up. Light really started to fade from station 3 and onwards so we were really pushing hard to get to 5 with some daylight remaining. The path is very well established with prepared steps at parts but we were concious that with no one else around and our mobiles not working it would be very problematic if one of us twisted an ankle. Still in the trees it got very dark at about 6pm so we used our head torches for the last hour up to 5th.
5th station was pretty Spartan. There was a small hut with about ten people sitting in it and eating. We ordered some curry and rice which bought us an hour of resting time before we would need to pay a lot of money to rest there, so rather tired and very concious that everyone else would be starting fresh from this point we set out again.
The main difference this time was that there was no time pressure. It was about 8pm and we needed to reach the top by dawn which was 5.04am. But the first climb from 5th to 6th was absolute murder. The path was straight upwards and wide. But we were walking on thick volcanic ash and it was sooo steep that our calfs were taking a beating and breath control was difficult. When we reached 6th we got our first reward for our efforts though. We sat on a boulder to rest and for the first time we were properly above the tree line. The clouds always clear at night so we could see the distant small lights from Fuji Yoshida, the town we started at. Already we were higher than all of the other surrounding mountains.
From 6th to 8th was much the same routine. Walking up a meandering but steep path in single file with many other people in front and behind. This is not actually annoying though cause overtaking was possible and the collective light of everyone’s torches allowes you to see where you are putting your feet. But you are walking in a bit of a herring bone fashion and it is proper stamina demanding stuff. We stopped every half an hour or so for a minute or two to get our breath back.
And then the path gets both busy and dangerous and very difficult. You are now climbing vertically on sharp volcanic rock formations almost like spikey steps. The pressure on you knees in intense and you are walking in tight single file with multiple hundreds of people in front and behind. There is no choice of pace other than what everyone else is doing and it is almost trance like walking looking at your own little pool of light in front of your feet. This is where the stick really comes into it’s own as a third point of ballance. The rocks are so sharp you cannot use your hands and the fall to either side of the path is so steep it would be almost fatal. If climbing Fuji wasn’t a religious undertaking there would be no way you would be allowed to climb it at night.
And it was also starting to get really cold. Our t-shirts which were adequate up to station five were now causing problems as our sweat evaporated. We had to put on coats and eventually fleeces as the temperature dropped to zero. Resting at the station huts was now dictated by how long we could cope with the cold. And of course we had to get our sticks stamped. Up until this point we had been making good time, reaching each station in two thirds of the time the guide said it should take. And then our perspective started getting distorted. We reached a hut which I was sure would be ninth station, a mere 40mins from the top. But – calamity – it turned out to be the 8th which was over two hours away from the top. By this point everything ached and we only kept going through force of habbit. You just keep on following the light of the person ahead ignoring everything else.
But as I said we made it. By about 4am. After walking with only an hours break since 2.30pm the day before. And having been up for 20 hours. 3776m above sea level is a very long way it turns out!
We got into our sleeping bags and perched on a bench. It was the only way to keep some semblance of warmth. It really was sooo cold. We looked like a pair of maggots sitting up in our sleeping bags with the draw strings tight and woolly hats on. We ate some victory prawn crackers.
At 4.30am the people around us got active so we got out of our sleeping bags to see what was going on. The first crack of light had appeared in the sky and we could really see what we had conquered. Many metres below was a layer of cloud with the very tips of the surrounding mountains above it. We were more than twice as high as these. And could see the tiny tiny twinkling lights of Fuji Yoshida. What an incredible feeling! And the sides of the mountain just dissapeared below us precipitously. It was sooo steep, sooo barren and sooo high. The air was crisp and incredible. Hundreds of us waited taking photos of the emerging light. We were all so cold but there was so much anticipation. And then the first sliver of sun came above the clouds and people made noises of amazement. Truely incredible and impossible to describe – a feeling of victory with adrenalin pumping and surviving on stubborness and lactic acid.
We looked down the crater which was awesome. Properly ripped apart rock in reds and purples and blacks and whites. And then we had to start down to keep warm.
On the way down...
The way down was a nightmare. We were on such a high and then we were faced with endless scree slopes to half slide half stumble down. Again the sticks were indespensible for ballance. But it was such hard work and so painful with our aching muscles. And we still hadn’t slept. More than three hours of this and we kept on thinking we were close but we weren’t. And then an hour of gentler slopes. All the time getting covered in dust which was really dehydrating and got everywhere. To cap it off it got really warm and sticky again. At very last we got to back to the fifth station bus station and waited 2hrs for the first bus of the morning at 10am. 26hrs with no sleep. We stumbled on and past out for two hours.
All I can conclude with is: what and experience. The toughest challenge ever but ultimately one of the most rewarding things I have done. Top of the world like no other place. I love Japan, it is incredible.
