Fuji-san

I have heard two sayings about Japan`s famous mountain, Fuji-san.
The first: "Mt. Fuji is more beautiful the further you are from it."
The second: "A wise person climbs Mt. Fuji once...only a fool does it twice."

After having done the climb myself I can say that the former is most definitely true. The second quote is not quite accurate, however...the first-time climber is also a fool.
I`d say that the 15 hours that we were on that mountain are close contenders for the worst in my life.

Although we were prepared with food, warm clothes, etc. we hadn`t quite prepared ourselves mentally for the experience. So, when the bus taking us to the 5th station peaked through the clouds and we got our first glimpse of the beast, our jaws dropped...it was HUGE!

We began our ascent at around 7:00pm and were not accompanied by very many people for most of the way up. We were in good spirits as we hit one station after another and were able to get our tourist walking sticks branded to show proof of each tiny accomplishment. Truth be told, it didn`t seem particularly difficult and we stopped regularly to soak in the view. Already above the clouds and pitch black, it felt as if we were walking amongst the stars.

Sometime after midnight, once we had reached one of the upper stations, we were joined by herds of tour groups. They were decked out in expensive climbing gear and seemed refreshed after having slept in one of the `rest huts` along the way. They clearly knew something we didn`t because - as we later discovered - climbing without sleep was probably the most stupid thing we`ve done...once the lack of sleep hit us both, we were miserable.

We trudged along with everyone else, forming a line of tiny lights that snaked up the mountainside. One foot after another seemed to be taking us nowhere. When we finally reached the top at around 4:30 we were frozen, tired and feeling ill.

The sunrise almost made it worthwhile...large pillows of clouds stretched in front of us and changed colour as each minute passed. Unbelievable. The joy was short-lived, however...I spent about half an hour in the outhouse before wincing 4 hours down the mountain in pain (the ground was gravel-like and very hard on the knees).

After all that bitching I have to say that I`m glad we did it...and very thankful that I never have to do it again.