Fuji San 1

I made it..... TO MOUNT FUJI!!

Report by Archana Singh

Let me narrate in in as few (phew!) words as possible. Many thanks to Ichiko for doing the organising this unforgetable trip. The club is a nice bunch of people from all over the world - Japan, US, UK, Canada, Bulgaria, France, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Australia and so on. Last week 13 of us headed for Fuji on Saturday, the 11th of July. Climbing Fuji has been popular for many centuries. Back in the old days, when this was more of a pilgrimage by Buddhist monks than a hiker's attraction, climbers would start at the base of the mountain and stop at some shrines on the way up. Today we don't have to spend so much time and energy, and can go by bus upto the 'Fifth Station' at about 2300 meters. The mountain is divided into ten 'stations', most of which have some huts to stay in or to sell you food, drinks or souvenirs. So we took a bus from Tokyo to the 5th station (called Kawaguchiko) after which the only way to go up is to climb. There are big souvenir shops at 5th station. The best selling souvenir is the Fuji walking stick which you can buy for 1000 yen, and then at every station they burn a stamp on the stick (for yen 200 and 300 yen at the summit) as a proof that you have been there. The stick has two bells attached to it and an optional Japanese Flag (for 300 yen more). After walking a few minutes I had to remove the bells as they were causing a lot of distraction. Before starting we checked our fuel level. I can't walk on a full stomach so I just had some coffee but others had ice-creams and food. We knew we wouldn't be able to eat them for next two days. Food and drinks are available on the huts at every station but they are exorbitantly priced - 400 yen for a 100 ml can of drink and 800 yen for a frugal amount of ramen (noodles). No free drinking water or any kind of water (even for washing your face) is available on Fuji. So, with 3 liters of water and two days of food, clothing, camera, etc. my rucksack must have weighed over 10 Kgs. Thank goodness we didn't have to carry sleeping bags. Many climbers go up to the 7th or 8th station see the sun rise from the sea of clouds and return. We started from the 5th station around 11:30 and reached the 8th station at about sunset at 6:45 PM. The sky was covered with bright, silvery and amber clouds - in various shapes and shades of colors. Just too seductive to photographers - who had to ignore the demands of their tired body and hungry stomach to catch those moments before the sunset in their cameras. My camera film got over faster than I'd expected and I had to buy another film at the cost of 1500 yen from a shop on top of the Fuji. I felt sad paying so heavily for my sin of forgetfulness. But the lovely pictures that have come out of that evening have more than made up for it. Then we thought of re fueling ourselves for the next day. Most of the people in our club are vegetarian. Don't be so surprised. The trend for veggie has caught up on a large scale in the west and US (but unfortunately not in Japan). The only meal available in the hut was 'Kare' - Japanese version of beef curry with rice. The amount being served was too frugal to survive after hours of commuting and hiking. We knew this already - thanks to our considerate organizer Ichiko. We unpacked the food we had carried.. While dining we decided about the next and the most difficult course of the walk - from 8th station to the top of the Fuji (10th station) where is located its famed crater. If we had to reach there at the time of sunrise (4:30) we'd have to start at least before around midnight, which meant less than 3 hours of sleep. And the people were so exhausted that all they wanted to do was to sleep - me too! But then my background process was active(thankfully) and it reminded me that this may be my last chance to see the sun-rise from the top of Fuji- my favorite mountain! There were only 3 brave souls in the whole group who decided to start by 12:30. Howa (a gentleman from Bulgaria), Ichiko and myself. The majority of the group decided to see the sunrise from the hut itself and then to walk to the top. This would give them several more hours of sleep (until 4:00 am) before walking. Another small group quite confident of walking skills decided to start at 1:30 and make it rather fast to the top. The beds in the huts have to be shared in the season. It is also probably the only way to keep the dormitory warm as there is no heating available and temperatures reach subzero in the night. We were lucky as I was told that during this peak season 4 people may have to share a futon (Japanese style bedding on the floor). We were lucky to share just one between two. I was worried I may not be able to wake up in time, but the rustling sound of the plastic covered miniature pillows was enough to keep me awake, till Ichiko came to formally wake me up at about midnight. Then I went out to use the nearly open air toilet and I was frozen with cold. I came back shivering not just because of the cold but also at the thought of climbing up in freezing temperature in just a light warm sweater that I brought to keep the weight of my rucksack minimum. I put on every single clothing that I had in my back pack - 3 shirts, a sweater and a windsheeter, a pair of shorts and trousers. I felt I'd just survive. I actually don't remember now how it was like walking from 8th station to the top because I was in a sort of daze. How I and Ichiko managed to chat whenever we stopped for breath. We did stop quite often in the beginning but not much after the 9th station. We didn't need to, because people were walking too slow and nobody seemed to much have much strength to walk much faster. We at least had rest (??) in the hut, but many people walk from the 5th station to top without stopping to rest in the huts. The oxygen level gets very low from 8th station. It is said that at this level on flights the oxygen masks automatically pop up . I saw people using oxygen cans but none of us felt the need for it. As long as we walked - we were warm. Everytime we stopped for rest, we felt cold. There was quite a bit of snow on the route. We had all been cautioned to bring our torch. Like us hundreds of people were walking with their torches. From top it looked quite interesting to watch a long trail of people illuminated with their torches. There were many kinds of torches - the one that can be worn around your head, the one that can be hung around your neck, ones that can be fixed in your pocket, etc. It being almost a full moon night plus hundreds of torch lights - there was too much light and I put away my torch. It was too much of a balancing exercise - holding the torch while climbing big rocks thru chains - yeah there are chains and ropes to provide hold to climb upon the big, steep and slippery rocks - which are in abundance on this route. Soon I realized that my hands were chilled even though I was wearing gloves. They were kept warm by the glowing torch. So, I held my torch again. Then we saw a flight of stairs going upto like what seemed to be the 10th station but we rejected the idea, as we'd been thru similar situations twice earlier when it almost looked like we'd reached but we hadn't. Moreover we had finished only 3 hours of walking against the expected time of 4 hours. BUT! - we had REACHED!! - it was difficult to believe! There were so many people strolling around. There were huts to provide you hot and sumptuous meals, gift shops and vending machines - it looked like a holiday bazaar. We were an hour ahead of the schedule and we had plenty of time before sunrise. We decided to celebrate our feat with hot and steaming ramen. When we went out to catch a glimpse of the morning sky at around 4:20, the place was too crowded with people already positioned with their cameras. So we went a little ahead and found a more secluded spot. I was in an entranced state of mind at the beautiful sight of the Sun rising above the horizon - and standing on the top of the summit at the height of 3770 meters made me feel like I was on top of the world! For the first time I see the beauty of a 'Cloud with a silver lining'! Even if I try in best of my linguistic abilities I don't have words to describe that heavenly and(sky)scape. May be my pictures will give a hint of what it was like. We strolled around the crater after the sunrise and came back to the hut to wait for the other groups. There was one more battle left. Had it not been for the many travel accounts that I had read (thanks to internet), I sure would have fainted to know that where we were was not the official summit of Fuji-San. For that we had to walk past the crater and reach there in about 30 minutes. There were interesting volcanic sights on the way. We also collected some stones from there to take back as sovenirs - despite the announcement (in Japanese) that we can not take anything from Fuji. The conical shaped crater gives a worn out look - its also broken on its edges. If I have to compare it - I think I've seen a better looking and more recently formed but smaller conical peak in Fukushima - on Mount Azuma. In Fuji-san, I saw a few people going into the crater and I felt like doing it myself, but its risky. Once 5 people died due to poisonous gas leaking from it. We chose to climb down via Gotemba trail - covered with loosely formed lava stones. Coming down was (phew!) the toughest part of the hike for me. By this time all of my energy, enthusiasm, excitement and motivation wore out. The last time I went for hiking, my ankle got twisted and bent, and kept hurting for a month. This time I didn't want to push myself too hard, but we couldn't help going very fast. The trail is so cushy that your feet sink down in the lava stuff by about a foot and so steep that you walk down one step and you go sliding down by 5 steps. Now I know why everybody keep advising to wear gaiters. Our shoes got filled with lava stones which made walking even more difficult. This route is perhaps not very popular among tourists, as we hardly saw anybody except for some who seemed like crossbreeds of hikers and joggers as they were jogging up and down that difficult trail leading to the cinder cone. After walking for an hour the weather got worse. We were enveloped by clouds and mist and couldn't see anything ahead of us. We kept walking and walking and walking .....for about 3 more hours. Finally it came to an end and we just made it to the 5th station at Gotemba at the time of the last bus at 3:00pm. According to a Japanese saying "the one who never climbs to Fuji is a fool and the one who does more than once is twice as fool!". But I would like to climb to Fuji Yama again! I am quite infamous for being foolish but this time I'll probably escape from being labeled as one as I'm returning to India for good next month. Yes - I'm planning to take back my Fuji walking stick to India as my most precious souvenir - with all the proofs stamped on it - some quite specific like the one to prove that you reached there at the time of Sunrise. I forgot to mention a most interesting thing. There is a post office on the summit - along with a shrine and a weather station. This post office opens only during official hiking season of Fuji from July 1st to August 31st. Guess what are the modes of transportation? I had read earlier that the only two modes of transportation to the top are helicopters and backpacks. But we discovered the third - a bulldozer carrying parcels up. In the post office you can buy picture postcards and post them free of cost. I did that quite apprehensively as I was afraid that my parents would probably not believe that a mountain which can have a postoffice on top can be so difficult to climb. They however do not know that if its not for their(Japanese) concern to preserve the nature on Fuji, there would probably have been bullet trains running on Fuji by now!

Fuji !

Report by Joe Izen
Hi Everyone,

My trip with Steve a day earlier was also fine. Thanks to Ichiko for sharing information, especially about travel connections. We started climbing from Kawaguchi-ko 5th stage around 6pm on friday. It was a cold, rainy, blustery climb. We did it slowlt, taking time to shelter under various stage awnings during the worst of the rain.

We saw many people who were not properly prepared for the weather. The only problem hiking at night were the damn lights. The sky was plenty bright, but then someone would come along with a flashlight and disturb our dark adaptation, or we'd turn the corner and get blinded by the next stage up. Umbrellas helped block out the worst of the lights.

We got to the crater around 4am, just as the weather cleared. We saw some beatiful sky colors at dawn, but didn't actually see the sun crossing the horizon. The red rocks were spectacular when lit by the early morning sun. The morning was mostly sunny, but cold (39F) and windy at the top. We came down to Gotembaguchi too. A longer route, but well worth it for the absence of tour groups or huts trying to sell stuff on the way. I liked plunging through the cinders on the way down, but then I had gaiters too. Coming down the cinder cone was like walking on another planet. We descended through sparse cloud, so we had continuous wisps of cloud blowing along the ground past us. It was definitely a longer descent. I wouldn't recommend an ascent from Gotenba-guchi - better to come down that way.

The connections from Gotenba guichi 5th stage were extremely convenient. We took the noon bus saturday to the train station and caught a train back to Tokyo right away. 1 change was required to get to tokyo, then the Yamanote line to get to Ueno. In Gotenba, the ticket seller had not heard of Hitachi no Ushiku, but when I told him it was a new station and showed it to him on a schedule, he found it in his computer and generated the tickets.

Joe