Day 5 & 6 The longest day ever: Conquering Mt. Fuji, a ring and Kyoto

So the past 48 hours have been quite an adventure. To sum it up: No sleep, freezing wind, blindly climbing through clouds, rock climbing, still no sleep, the best moment of my life, then harsh sun, volcanic ash, slippery rocks, missing the last shinkansen to our next planned destination, trying our luck in Kyoto, realizing all the hostels and hotels are booked, coming to terms with sleeping in the train station, and then finally finding a vacant hotel room and a hot shower and SLEEP!

Climbing Mt. Fuji was a really cool experience, although it got a lot colder than we expected. And the last 100 meters of elevation had very strong gusts of icy wind. The kind that you have to crouch down and brace yourself or get blown away. There were a lot of veterans that were all decked out in Alpine mountain climbing gear and we laughed at them at first, but they we realized that they knew what they were doing. Some parts I had to get down on all fours and climb like a monkey because it got so steep. We started the climb around 6pm and once it got dark when a cloud rolled in it got really cold. Remember that we were so high up that we were actually INSIDE the cloud! It made for really bad visibility too, so our headlamps came in really handy as did the full moon.

We each got a climbing stick that we got branded at the first few stations - it cost $2/brand; but the higher up we got, the ruder and greedier the hut owners got so we stopped getting them. The worst part of the climb, I would have to say, was not the physical strain but the horrible commercialization that had infiltrated the natural beauty of the mountain. People were selling a bottle of water for $5.00 and cup of noodles for around $6.00. If you wanted to stay an hour inside the hut you had to pay for full night, around $65 to $70. There were signs everywhere to stay out of the huts regardless of weather conditions, and the shop keepers were flat out dicks about it. If you were caught trying to sleep in the bathroom, you’d get fined $500!

Anyways, after some difficulty we got to see the sunrise about 100 meters below the summit. At this point we hadn’t slept in 24 hours and we had been climbing for almost 10 hours and the temperature had dropped to freezing so we weren’t really going to start sprinting up to the top. We finally made it to the summit which was a very cool feeling. There was a shrine at the top where a monk that stamped our sticks and gave us a little wooden charm with kanji on it which roughly translates to “removal of bad energy” from the body from completing a pilgrimage both physically and spiritually. Very cool!

Then came the even better part….First Robert tells me that he wants my mom to take a picture of just me and him. I didn’t really think anything of it, we had been taking lots of pictures at the summit anyways. Then after one picture he pulled out a ring! It didn’t hit me at first because he didn’t say anything (he was a little too choked up to say anything) but then I realized that he was PROPOSING! Then I just burst into tears and became a babbling mess. :) Ahhh, WE’RE ENGAGED! I know, I know, after 4 years it’s not much of a surprise…but still, it was so sweet and to have it happen at the summit of a such a beautiful mountain, it was so perfect!

After that, going down the mountain was relatively easy, especially because I was on cloud nine. :) We had a little difficulty getting to our next destination so we just went straight to Kyoto on the bullet train and luckily found a place to stay. Thanks for checking in and reading our blog!

---

---