Climbing Mt. Fuji

Mount Fuji, or Fuji-san, is Japan's tallest mountain. It is 3,776 meters high. It is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains and is often used in art as an iconic symbol of Japan. It is an active volcano, but has not erupted in over 300 years.


Tyler and I met his friend Yuu in Tokyo at the bus stop. She was going with us to Fuji to climb the mountain, along with Tyler's friend Amanda, who was meeting us at Fuji.
Upon boarding the bus in Tokyo, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. However, I did know that after a week in Tokyo, I had little energy left and had not slept well enough to be climbing a mountain that was so tall.
From Tokyo, the bus ride took 2 and a half hours. It was beautifully scenic countryside with mountains all over the place. I kept looking at the mountains and wondering where Fuji was. I fell asleep and when I woke up I glanced out the window and saw this unbelievably beautiful and daunting mountain on the horizon. The tip of the mountain was surrounded in fog and it seemed to go up into the sky forever. I looked over at Tyler and pointed out the window. He looked back and laughed and we were both questioning our decision to attempt this climb.
At the base of the mountain, there was a station with supplies. Once I stepped out of the bus, I realized that the air was much cooler than it was in Tokyo. I changed into winter clothes next to the lockers and bought a headlamp because night was falling. We met up with Amanda and I bought some water and a Calorie Mate. There were many people preparing to climb the mountain and we decided to go ahead and get started. Night had fallen by the time we left the station. We turned on our headlamps and started up the mountain at about 7:30pm.

After climbing for a little while, we reached another station where we could rest. The first part was a steep incline on dirt and gravel and was pretty easy going. After the first station, it became increasingly more difficult to push your way upwards and keep your footing. We were having to rest for a short time at each station. By about the third station, I noticed that Tyler was not having the best time and that he was struggling with his heavy backpack. I asked him how heavy the backpack was and he handed it to me and my arm fell with the weight. Probably about 30 pounds or more. I offered to carry it for him but he would not have it. I told him that I wanted more of a challenge and strapped the backpack on and headed towards the next incline. I could tell that he was relieved that I had decided to carry the backpack. I really didn't notice the extra weight for a while.

But then it got steeper. The path was not so much a walking path as it was a climbing path and at times I had to use my hands to grasp the rocks and pull myself up. Some climbers had sticks and poles to balance themselves and help use upper and lower body strength to climb up. The higher up we climbed, the farther apart the rest stops were. I became thirsty and by the fourth or fifth stop I ran out of water. Luckily, Amanda brought tons of water with her that I was able to drink, or I would have had to buy the water from the stops which were priced at about $4 a bottle.

The farther up we got, the fog began to get thicker and thicker. The air was harder to breathe and when I was out of breath at the top of a climb, it took much longer for me to get my breathing back to normal.

Even standing still, I felt my heart beating extremely fast. Tyler and Yuu were straggling behind at this point. Amanda said she had been training for this climb for some time now, and we were maintaining the same pace. After we had been climbing for about 2 hours, we tried to rest for a while at one of the rest stops, knowing that if we went any higher, it would be too cold to sleep outside. We curled up on the ground and I set my phone's alarm for one hour. Winds picked up and the cold set in once we had stopped climbing, so we couldn't rest as long as we had hoped. We got up and trudged on. It felt good to exert ourselves again, because we were able to heat ourselves up.
After hours of climbing my feet were numb, my nose running, my face, eyes, ears, and hair were covered in dirt and sand that the wind had blown. It was much colder and the path had become treacherous with rock faces that required every ounce of energy to pull yourself up. It was definitely below freezing at this point. The stations became so far apart that sometimes you couldn't even see them when you looked up. Everytime I thought I saw the top of the mountain, I realized that it was just another rest stop. The top of the mountain seemed impossible to reach. My legs were tired, I was sleepy, I was starting to feel delirious from lack of sleep and probably oxygen. Still, I was reaching the stops before the others and hoping that they would make it to the next one. I was still carrying Tyler's backpack and the extra weight had become such a burden to bear. If you can imagine Frodo and Sam climbing Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings, you have some idea of how ridiculously difficult it was and how tired and exhausted I felt. After many hours of climbing, we reached the last stop before you reached the top. After this stop, I hoped to reach the top of the mountain soon. But it was not the case. This last stretch seemed to have no end. There were hordes of people trying to reach the top of the mountain before dawn broke. I climbed through and past people and climbed rocks and pulled myself up. I couldn't feel my feet and my balance was off, but I used my hands to support myself. I heard someone behind me gasp and turned to find Amanda had fallen. I reached down to help her back up. She was fine, only a scuffed knee. We were together for a while, not knowing if Tyler and Yuu were still coming. After a while we heard someone say that the sun would rise in thirty minutes and we still could not see the top of the mountain. We passed a gate that gave us false hope, but the climb continued. There was no rest. So many people that you couldn't stop. At times, I had to lean on a rock to keep my legs from collapsing. At this point I decided that I had climbed this far to make it before dawn and I would make it to the top no matter what. I slipped between people and climbed on the outskirts of the trails. I looked back to see if Amanda was still behind me, but she had fallen back. I trudged on until there was another gate and some steep stairs.

After climbing to the top I finally reached the summit of the mountain. There were so many people that I forced myself into the pack and was pushed towards the center. I stepped away from them and stood on a wooden platform to await the sunrise. The air was so cold up here that my North Face jacket was not enough to keep me warm. I looked at the time and it was about 4:30am. I had been climbing for 9 hours. Amanda found me shortly after and we waited together.

The sun came up, but the fog prevented us from seeing it properly. Every now and then, the wind would blow away the fog and the sun would peek through. Everyone on top of the mountain would gasp and run towards the edge to try and get a picture. I wasn't able to get a picture of the sun from the top, but it was a beautiful sight.


Me after reaching the top of the mountain.

Tyler, after finally making it to the summit of the mountain.
We started back down the mountain soon after we had reached the top because it was so cold that we couldn't handle it. We were all shaking uncontrollably.
Some of the most beautiful views were on the way down from the mountain, seeing the sun shining and being at eye level with the clouds.



The way down was not the same trail as the way up. There was a steep, decline trail that zig zagged back and forth with loose gravel and dirt that was hard to keep your balance on. It was easiest to step sideways like you were doing the electric slide.





The further down we went, the higher the sun rose and the warmer it got. The climb down was quicker than the climb up, but still tiring and dangerous. I only fell once going down. We stopped several times to rest.



Overall, it took 15 hours to finish my climb of Mt. Fuji. By the time I reached the station at the bottom, I was so dehydrated, tired, and delirious that I just wanted to be on a train home. It wasn't that easy, however, and I ended up having to take two buses and three shinkansens back to where I live, where Nicole and Will picked me up. I have never been so tired and dirty in my entire life, but I am glad that I was able to climb Mt. Fuji. It was definitely an experience I will never forget, and never repeat.