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Climbing Fuji-san: Part 1, The Ascent

(Read Part 2, and check out the photos: Part 1 and Part 2)

1. The product of weeks of planning, research, dead ends, and false hopes; gee it was hard work getting this organised. But it was more than worthwhile, and we finally understood why an awful lot of Japanese have not and probably will not ever climb Fuji-san. As one of my student remarked: “We Japanese admire Mt Fuji — from afar”.

The Night Before

2. No decent expedition worth anything doesn’t send itself away without a rousing chorus of alcohol and dancing girls; good ideas indeed, though in our case we had the alcohol but lacked the requisite dancing girls. It seems to book dancing girls in Japan you need a modicum of Japanese, and my vocabulary consists only of “hello”, “goodbye”, “thank you” and “stupid”. Not so helpful in procurement of dancing girls.

3. Anyhow, a few of us had a rousing dinner followed by some rousing beers. Followed by a rousing “bugger, it’s 3am and we have to get some sleep”. Whoops.

4. Nonetheless, I and a fellow climber who had crashed at my shoebox managed to wake on time, get dressed, a bit of breakfast and head off to meet the others. After a few close calls with time, we managed to gather at the station and board the 9:19am Nozomi for Tokyo.

Tokyo

5. No amount of superlatives could describe the sheer awesomeness of the Shinkansen (literally: “Super Express”). It’s just brilliant. We covered the thousand or so kilometres between Hiroshima and Tokyo in 3hrs and 59min, exactly, which is about the distance between Sydney and Melbourne. If we had flown, the flight time would have been about an hour, but there would have been all the stress of getting to and from the airport. With the Shinkansen you can just sit back and relax, four hours later you’re at your destination. Not to mention it looks dead cool when it pulls into the station. Dead cool.

6. With some hours to kill we made our way to the bus stop at Shinjuku, home of the famous Park Hyatt Shinjuku where much of Lost in Translation was shot. We had lunch, bought some supplies with which to conquer the mountain, and had a quick look around. There’s a buzz in Tokyo that you can feel as soon as you get there. It’s hard to describe, but just knowing the incredible land area and population density that you are part of sets off a vibe that resonated with my city-boy roots. I’m not sure I want to live there for a long time, but I think that given the right set of circumstances I’d like to live in Tokyo for a little while. But just for a little while.

7. We made it to our bus after a brief flurry of confused activity, and as the bus went about it’s 3hr journey it was our first chance to get some snooze-time. I managed a couple of hours — the others had differing levels of success — but I was glad for whatever sleep I could get, since we won’t be sleeping for the next 18hrs. The bus was quiet and comfortable and very convenient, taking us directly to Go-gome (Go: 5th. Gome: station).

A Great Day Early Evening for Up!

8. We arrived at Go-gome just as the sun slipped over the horizon. First thought — wow! we’re above the clouds! Second thought — it’s cold! The temperature dropped to about 15°C in the 2000m elevation, and gave us our first taste of mountain conditions. Our first stop was the bathroom, which flushes (good) but costs 50yen a go (less good). Most of our party picked up a walking stick as well, which serves as a souvenir because you can get stamps burnt on to the stick at each station. I didn’t, since I was carrying a camera monopod which I was going to use as my walking stick.

9. The popular consensus was that we had gotten there a bit too early, and that we should hang about for a bit before starting the climb. We also heard from another two people we knew who were going to climb at the same time as us and was arriving a few hours later, so we settled in for a game of cards and a bit of dinner and souvenir shopping.

10. Soon enough, all arrived and we set off up the Kawaguchi-ko trail at 9:30pm. There was a bit of confusion as to where the trail actually started — there’s a surprising lack of signs — but we managed. The first part wasn’t so hard, being mostly flat, but that changed to a steep rocky incline followed by a steep gravel road. There was a brief stop once everyone realised that we were all wearing too many layers, once we had stripped down to essentials we were right to go.

12. We reached Roku-gome (6th Station, 2390m) at about 10:15pm, a good warm up and a taste of what was to come. After a quick photo stop, we head off to the next stop. Nana-gome (7th Station, 2700m) was a good hike up, mostly zig-zagging man made trails. The trail was not so steep, but it was obvious we were going up at a good rate. Fitness levels started to show, which was disconcerting so early in the climb, but it got easier as we settled into our strides.

13. One thing I should mention here: Fuji isn’t a mountain that’s fun or pretty to climb; most of the trail are boring zigzagging man made stuff, and climbing at night removes whatever interesting features it provides. But the summit and the daytime views are spectacular and makes up for the tedium of the trails. So if you’re planning a trip, go with a fun group; you’ll need the entertainment.

14. We reached Nana-gome at 11:30pm and took our first long rest. The air is starting to thin now, it’s not immediately noticeable but after a while you do notice things seem just that little bit harder than before. It was here the enormity of the climb started setting in — we had been climbing for two hours now and have only ascended some 300m, there was another 1000m to go! Some in the party started worry about time, since it’s only going to get harder from here. The next stage to Hachi-gome was another 300m, and the timing sheet we got from the police at Roku-gome indicated that it will be a tougher climb than the previous two stations. We would have to make better time if we were to reach te summit in time for sunrise at 5am.

15. The climb up to Hachi-gome revealed the few interesting parts of the trail, leaving behind the gravel roads for sharply rising rock faces. It was no cliff, but it provided some entertainment (and consternation) on the way up, especially when carrying a heavy pack. Here the walking sticks proved more or a hassle than a help; you needed both hands to grab hand holds at times, and the stick just got in the way.

16. We finally reached Hachi-gome (3020m) at 1:30am, and exhaustion set in. Most had been up since 8am the previous morning, with little sleep in between, and the combination of climbing and thinning atmosphere proved too difficult to some. We had to say goodbye to two in the group who elected to sleep the night at one of the huts on the 8th station. The rest of us pushed on, determined to get to the summit.

17. The next part of the trail were a combination of rock faces and gravel trails, which I found increasingly difficult. Climbing the rocks were fine as long as I held on, but the gravel was loose slippery. I found it difficult to find traction, and it felt as though I was walking up sand dunes. With a pack. And camera gear. Just as well I didn’t have my tripod as well. By this time everyone was starting to feel the effects of the thinning oxygen and exhaustion, and the stress of our schedule. The dancing girls would’ve been very well received about now.

18. (On second thoughts, probably not. All that dancing would’ve pissed me off.)

19. When we reached the Fujisan Hotel (3360m) at 2:30am, we got a bit of a shock: it’s still the 8th station! This was the original 8th station, the previous 8th station was a new stop, presumably to break up the climb for weary climbers, as well as being the location for a first-aid station. This 8th station was what we thought was the 9th station, which we now realise doesn’t exist. Still, the first thoughts were not happy ones — we thought there was another station to go before we hit the summit, and by now we were very much looking forward to the end of the climb. We made good time from the last stop though, and after a good rest and some food we hit the trail for the last 400-od-metres to the summit.

Above the Clouds

20. These last few hundred metres were, in a word, excruciatingly-painful. (Sorry, couldn’t describe it in a word, had to hyphenate.) By now, my legs pretty sore, my back, knees and ankles were aching from the load of my backpack and the constant climbing. To boot, the trail to the summit was the same loose gravel that I found so annoying previously — except now in my reduced capacity it felt like I was dragging sand bags up a sand dune. The thinner air made my heart work harder to get power to my legs, and as a result I thought my heart was going to beat its way up to the mountain without the rest of me. The slight headache I had below had started to amplify, and I could feel the bruises on my back from the straps of my backpack. I was increasingly needing my monopod/walking stick to provide balance, as well as using my arms to help haul my weary body up the slope. Things were looking a bit grim. We stopped frequently, and during one stop I took a few shots while the others marched on, and while the extra rest did me good, I lost contact with some of the others, leaving me in the trailing group with one other person.

21. If we had been the only people on the mountain, this would not have been a problem. But, since Fuji is only open for climbing between July and August, everyone comes at the same time. There was literally a traffic jam up the mountain — hundreds of people, most of whom were part of tour groups, woke up, trampled out of the huts and marched, fresh as a daisy, up to the summit. Ordinarily I would’ve been annoyed to see so many people in my way (I’ve never been known for my patience), but to be honest the slow plodding pace set by the sheer mass of people made it all the more bearable — it gave me a reason to walk slowly. Still, it seemed an impossible journey: every time I looked up to check my progress, the summit seemed just as far away.

22. By 4:15am we had made it up to within 100m or so of the summit, but it was plainly obvious that we were not going to make it to the summit in time. Most of the other climbers had come to the same conclusion, and we found a spot with a few others to sit down, get the load of our backs and enjoy the sunrise. Luckily for us the Kawaguchi-ko trail faced east, giving us the perfect view of the sunrise. Which was, really, absolutely magnificent. From our vantage point we could see the peaks of surrounding mountains rise through the cloud cover like small islands; through the clouds you could make out Kawaguchi-ko, one of the five lakes surrounding Fuji, and the towns around the area. Above that there were more clouds from which the sun burst through, its light scattered and reflected, then, gathering in strength, rises dramatically to herald the start of a new day. Around us climbers watched quietly, in awe, and perhaps with reverence: this was what we all came to see.

23. With renewed enthusiasm (and a good hour’s rest) we made the last push up to the summit. In the daylight we could finally see what it was we were climbing — a huge mound of rock made by billions of tons of lava over millions of years. And the view, the view! Daylight showed just how high we really were, and it is high indeed. And it showed us exactly how far away the summit was, which was not too far away. At 5:45am, after 8 1/2 hours, we finally made it up to the summit.

• Posted in Japan, LeftBrain on the 29.08.2006 @ 1:30:30 AM, Permanent Link
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