Conquering Mt Fuji

One of my most memorable experiences from Japan has to be the time myself, Richard and some friends climbed Mt Fuji. Standing at an impressive 3,776m, it is by far the highest mountain I have ever climbed. Although I have loved hiking since I was young, I have honestly always hated steep hills. Add to this the fact that Fuji is high enough to get altitude sickness and the mountain claims lives every year, I was more than a little nervous. In fact, I had a proper panic a few days before the climb and was close to backing out. I’m pleased to say that my worries were unfounded and it was a much more enjoyable experience than I had imagined.

This may sound like cheating but we started our climb at the 5th station, which is already 2,305m above sea level. It is possible to climb from the bottom but I don’t know why you would do that to yourself, the 5th station to the summit is quite hard enough! The difference in temperature from the sticky streets of Tokyo was immediately noticeable but I found it comfortable and refreshing – being British came in handy here.

We opted to climb through the night in order to reach the summit at sunrise so began walking at about 9pm after spending an hour or so acclimatising. Surprisingly, the start of the climb was downhill, followed by some small inclines through a forested area. We couldn’t see anything in detail (a blessing as we also couldn’t see how steep the drops were) but you could make out the shapes of trees and boulders. At one point we all turned our headlamps off and gazed in awe at the blanket of stars above us. Looking down on a sprawl of glimmering city lights and shadowy mountains was just as amazing and reminded us of how high we already were.

The ascent started in earnest with some steep switchbacks and makeshift stairs. I really didn’t enjoy this part as I found it quite tiring and monotonous. Seeing as we’d only been climbing for about 45 minutes I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it to the top. Our friends Joe and Rowan were playing games like trying to name all the US states so I joined in with that to distract myself and it really helped. We soon made it to the 6th station and stopped to take some photos and enjoy the view. Looking up you got an idea of how huge the mountain was; it just seemed to go on forever!

The climb soon got more interesting as we had to clamber over steep rocks, using our headlamps to illuminate the best route up. When I was reading about the climb I was most nervous about the bits where you had to scramble but I actually found that to be the most enjoyable part. I had to concentrate so much that there was no time to think about being tired and I never felt out of breath during those sections, it was the seemingly endless switchbacks that were the worst for me. The climb to the 7th and first part of the 8th station was really enjoyable as there was lots of climbing and we were all in good spirits. We rested at each station and had some high-energy snacks and lots of water. We were genuinely having fun at this point – chatting, laughing and taking photos. Not all the other climbers were though; we passed loads of people that were curled up or sucking on their oxygen canisters. The most worrying was an old lady who was really wobbly and was walking dangerously close to the edge. We were quite surprised that people were feeling so ill as none of us felt bad at all. In fact, we felt great, the mountain air was invigorating and none of us were tired, yet….

The 8^th station was spread over a few different levels, which was really disheartening because every time we got to another level, desperately hoping it was the 9^th station (the last station before the summit), it turned out to just be another part of the 8^th. This was when my legs started feeling like lead and my mind started to give up. The switchbacks seemed to go on forever and I just couldn’t imagine making it to the top. Joe and Rowan had gone on ahead so Richard was stuck with me going at a snail’s pace. Somehow we made it to the 9^th station, which consisted only of a wooden torii gate. This was where the queuing began. I had heard that Fuji can be ridiculously crowded but we honestly only experienced it at the very last part and I can’t say it annoyed me that much as it gave me a chance to rest and take in the view. It was about 3am and light was starting to appear on the horizon, casting a gentle glow on the red rocks at our feet and illuminating more of the landscape.

It was slow progress up the narrow rocky path but we just made it to the final stone torii gate in time for sunrise. The excitement was palpable as the first rays burst over the horizon and all I could do was smile – we had made it. It was surreal to think that we were so high that we were looking down on the tops of other mountains and were even above the clouds.

Richard hadn’t been feeling so great during the last stretch and he felt even worse at the top so we found our friends as quickly as we could so that we could head down. The summit was absolutely packed! It was probably the worst part of the climb as it was so crowded and full of expensive souvenir stalls and vending machines. Although you have to marvel at the fact that there are stocked vending machines at the top of a 3,776m tall mountain – only in Japan!

The descent was very steep and although the path was wide, it was an odd vertiginous sensation to be looking down on a sea of clouds. It took me a while to get used to walking on the loose volcanic rocks and I almost fell over more than a few times! Poor Richard was really suffering at first - his face had turned grey and he had to keep sitting down. Once we had descended enough that the Mars-like volcanic landscape had changed to green forest, he felt better and we managed to find our friends (two of whom had fallen asleep at the 6th station on the way down!). 

We all felt the greatest sense of achievement but I think we would have to agree with the famous Japanese proverb,

"A wise man climbs Fuji once. Only a fool climbs it twice."

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