Jackson vs. Fuji-San

Now this wasn't technically Jackson's first summit of Mt. Fuji.  He did do it once in utero, but this time around he couldn't sit back and enjoy the ride.  The official climbing season is July-August and then unofficial from September 1-15.  After that it is closed for the winter as conditions are too unsafe.  So of course we waited to September 12th for our attempt.  The initial plan was to do it right away, but my sprained ankle got in the way.  Then, September is typhoon season in Japan and everyday I checked the weather forecast, rain was predicted.  Finally, yesterday I just  felt it was now or never as the temperature was dropping rapidly too and I would rather be just wet, than wet and cold.  So off we went.

Just getting to the trailhead was an adventure.  We needed three trains that were timed so that there was only three minutes to change at each station.   If we missed any of the connections we would miss the only bus that would then take us up to the trailhead for the day. All the stations were large and unfamiliar.  Everything had to be timed perfectly.  In Japan when a train is due at 10:01 it arrives at 10:01:01 and doors shut at 10:01:59.  There is no margin for error.  So it was a little stressful each time we pulled into a station.  The instant the doors opened, we would run to find the right exit, then the right platform for the new train line and invariably accost some commuter in poor Japanese to confirm that I wasn't hopping on the right train line but in the wrong direction.  Phew!  But we did meet some nice helpful people along the way.

Jack and an Obasan/grandma

This woman ended up giving us candy and juice boxes for the climb.  Her second daughter spent a year in Boston at the Walnut Hill School and she was showing me her Brahms Requiem as she was off to choral practice.

Our last train was a little unusual.  There were about 15 of us trying to get on in time and unable to purchase tickets, so they waved us through the turnstyle and the conductor collected money once we started.  Looking around we realized our nephew, Ziggy, would have been in heaven.

The conductor even proved them a special hat to wear

A special seat for little riders

It was a Thomas the Tank train!

So we approached the bus in style!












We arrived at the trailhead in the early afternoon.  It is a destination within itself and many come to take pictures of Mt. Fuji and the views with no intention of climbing.

Yoshida trail closed from Sept 6 due to construction!

The climb is broken into stations and when we got to the 6th station we discovered this sign.  I sort of panicked but we met a climber coming down who said that you can ignore the sign and circumvent the barrier.  And off we went!

Ascending Fuji-San

Now Mt. Fuji is 12,388 Ft high and the air thins rapidly.  People do get altitude sickness so at the huts along the way the sell various snacks, drinks and even oxygen.  Prices increase steadily along with the altitude.

combatting the elements

The Eighth Station and climbing, starting to get chillier

We reached our mountain hut to sleep before resuming the climb a couple hours prior to sunrise.  It was not Mt Washington luxury to say the least.  We "feasted" on airplane-like curry rice, 2 vienna sausages and one small bottle of water.  A second bottle cost $6.00 and the bathrooms cost $2.50 a visit.  The hut can hold up to 500 in the high season which I never understood how that could be possible until I saw the sleeping room: think Dacchau.  Luckily, we had only 80 or so climbers that night.  But the Japanese do things by the book and although there was room to spread out, they made us sleep body to body to body and interestingly all the "gaijin"/foreigners were put together with a large gap separating us from the other climbers.

Each person gets about 3/4 of the space of a sleeping bag with bunks on two platform levels

The wind, which was fine throughout the day picked up around 7 pm and started to rage.  Throughout the night it felt like the roof might be ripped off.  Jackson said he had a nightmare that it was the dormant volcano giving signs of impending eruption.  Between the wind, the snoring, the inability to turn from side to side, and my pounding altitude headache I didn't get too sleep much.  It reminded me of camping in the pouring rain with the tent leaking and just waiting for morning to end the miserable night.  3:30 am couldn't have come soon enough.  The wind was still raging and all the large Japanese groups decided to abort and head down.  Jackson and I glommed onto to some Americans and Germans and situated ourselves between them for lighting and safety and started up.  The wind could knock you over in the pitch dark.  We made it to the top one half hour before the sunrise that never came.

sunrise from Mt. Fuji

the highest point in all of Japan

It was very cold and very windy on the top.  Jack was tired and we huddled for a while against a closed hut trying to shelter ourselves from the wind, but not moving just made us colder.  The winds at the summit we now 50-60 mph and I started to think we were in a bad situation.  We couldn't stay up awaiting a break in the wind that might not come for hours, but going down was treacherous.  Most people had started down and there are no park rangers or people to come find you if  you don't show up at the bottom.  Especially since we had disobeyed the sign postings.  I felt that we needed to descend as best we could knowing that every hundred feet down would make a difference.  Jackson was not a happy camper at this point to say the least and in full panic mode.  He made me promise never to take him hiking this high again. We took it slowly and hey, they don't call it an adventure for nothing.  Right?  Once we got down to the eighth station the sky broke and we got our first real view.  At this point Jackson said the view made up for the wind.

the valley of Hakone taken with my cell phone

heading back down

We made it back! (really no worse for the wear)

Jackson said it was worth it in the end and it was.

And no rain!

a celebratory Fuji shaped, melon flavored cake