Facken' Fuji

In honor of my JET friend's first wedding anniversary, a group of 8 of my friends decided to do something crazy. Somehow, we came to the unanimous decision to climb Mt. Fuji.

Fuji is Japan’s highest mountain, topping out at over 12,000 feet, and is surprisingly accessible to newbie hikers (like yours truly).

It's legit when you have a backpack

     It was pretty touch and go right up until the moment we left because the forecasts were calling for thunderstorms and possible snow. However, the weather reports cleared up the day of our scheduled departure, so we lugged our gear to Tokyo and boarding a bus for the 5^th station.

   You would have thought living in San Diego would have made me painfully aware of “micro-climates”. I forgot about them.

   What happened on Fuji-san that night was nothing short of memorable, although we ultimately failed in our goal to do a night hike to the summit in time for the sunrise.

  We started out walking in mist, and our headlamps gave us tunnel vision. Not that there was much to see, mind you, but we walked along anyway-Me, Sabina, Kelly, Clint (the honorary couple), Peter, Makiko, Peter’s former student and said student’s friend, occasionally greeting other hikers attempting the climb.

As we walked, we noticed flashes of lightening and growling thunder. Soon, the mist turned to fairly heavy rain.  The younger boys were incredibly fast walkers, followed by Sabina and I, who really didn’t want to stop and rest quite as often as we were, but that’s the thing about group travel. Gotta stay safe.

As the rain became heavier, Group Leader Peter essentially issued an “Every one go at their own pace, see you at the next station” since some of us were faster than others.

Sabina and I scrambled up some rocky inclines, and finally found ourselves at the 7^th station- just as our waterproof jackets and pants were loosing their…waterproofness. The younger boys were no where to be seen. Soon, the rest of the group arrived, and the lightening had become more frequent. We decided that it was too dangerous to continue up a barren mountain in such weather, but the younger boys were still missing, so Peter and Clint set off in search of them.

Us ladies managed to book a space in one of the huts at the 7^th station, came inside and attempted to dry ourselves off while we waited. And waited. And waited.

Waiting and keeping warm

Eventually, the guys called, said they had climbed all the way to the 8^th station, hadn’t seen the boys and were soaked to the bone so they were coming back down the mountain.

Of course, by the time they returned the rain and lightening had stopped, but the wind had picked up. We ended up deciding to stay the night in the hut and see what the morning brought (Most expensive little 6 foot by 3 foot sleeping space I have ever paid for!). The guys were drenched, and it was unlikely we would be able to walk to the summit in time for the sunrise. The hut workers said we still had more than 4 hours ahead of us. The boys texted us and said they had carried on at Hyper Billy Goat Speed and were near the top.

Needless to say, we were all a little irked at their inability to follow rules and stay together and WAIT at the 7^th station.


Gah, it was incredibly frustrating!

Around 4:30, one of the workers at the hut woke us up to say the sun was rising, but it was cloudy so it wasn’t the greatest view. I disentangled myself from Bina under our comforter and crept outside.

Well, it wasn’t the summit, but it sure was a heck of a view. A cold and windy view.

The rest of the gang went back to sleep for a few hours, while I sat up and chatted with one of the workers. I wasn’t feeling too good having been up most of the night; it was along the lines of how I used to feel when I worked graveyards. 

Going down Fuji was fun. Bina and I were still the fastest ones, and we found the boys waiting at the bottom, looking tired but proud of themselves. From them we learned the summit sunrise had also been cloudy, so we both felt a little better about the entire misadventure.

Sunrise from the 7th station

 In the end, Sabina and I decided we are going to try again before the climbing season is finished. I also decided that I am going to ride a horse from the 5th station to the 6th station-because I can and because I am a Japanese Princess. 

Maybe the 3^rd try will be the charm? This was the 2^nd, and the 1^st was when I was an exchange student and freak snowstorm dumped a foot of powder on the mountain in mid-July.

My "I am unimpressed" face

Jeez Fuji-san, why you gotta be such a jerk?