Day 141: Conquering Fuji!

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For Recommendations and Contact Details, scroll down to the bottom!

Wednesday (Pre Departure)

I am so unprepared for this. I anxiously email Yumiko, in a slight panic. Yumiko emails me back:

Subject: It's OK!

Don't worry Leah san. I finish work then I tell you the schedule for tomorrow! 😊

We have a schedule for tomorrow? thank god I'm going with someone more organised than me.

Thursday (Day One)

I've been awake since 7:00am. On the bus Yumiko told me scary stories about people who get lost in the forest at the base of Mt Fuji and can't find their way out because compasses don't work inside there. I get my first sight of Mt Fuji and gulp nervously. I send an email to some friends and family members with messages of love and happiness in case I don't come back from this ridiculous trek:

Subject: Holy Shit

This is a big bloody mountain

We start climbing at 2:30pm, by 2:42pm we are having our first break. This does not bode well.

It's at about 4:35pm I realise I now know what it's like to focus entirely on what I am doing with my whole body, mind and soul. I'm on all fours like a mountain goat, my buttocks quivering in the air like a fat man doing a belly flop into a swimming pool on a hot summers day.

Later that day...

Climbing with the crowds through the clouds is a liberating experiance. We are but one person, with one goal and one hope for our voyage. I look through the faces and it feels as though they are all my own, that we are together completing but one pilgimmage. I wipe away a sentimental tear as we pass the second level of the eighth station and realise I am going mad with lack of either:

a) oxygen
b) energy
c) food
or
d) all of the above

By 7:30pm we reach the Fujisan Hotel. At 7:36pm we're served our dinner. By 7:42pm the meal is finished. The clock hits 8:00pm and we're blissfully tucked away in our beds, ignoring the smell and tuning out the gentle snoring of 500 hundred people snoozing in a wooden cabin.

Friday (Day Two)

I'm awake at midnight after a ridiculously horrible nightmare. Yumiko stirs slightly and I whisper to her that I had a bad dream. Aparently I startle Yumiko because she screams accuses me of frightening her and goes back to sleep. So much for sympathy.

I wait downstairs watching the crowds outside shuffle past slowly. It's cold.

At 1:35am I'm impatient. We're supposed to leave at 1:30am and I'm being held up by one of our group applying make up. It's a mountain! I keep crying, not understanding in the slightest, Everyone looks like shit! Please, we need to go! Finally we leave. Impatiently I stride ut the door and stand in a non moving line of hundreds of people vying to get to the top for sunrise.

Every 20 seconds I get to shuffle forward approximately 1 foot. It's slow moving and people are getting impatient. Not me. I may be hunched over like a mountain goat but I'm as sure footed as a goldfish, so this gently paced hill climbing is working in my favour.

We reach the top and miraculously find a place to sit on a wall that rises above the crowds, 5 minutes after getting comfortable the sun starts its slow ascent into the sky. A man in front of me is holding his camera in the air and it's getting in everyones photos. When I realise he's not just taking a few photos but filming the sunrise I rap him in the back with my walking stick and tut at him like an old lady. I didn't spend hours of my life walking up a mountain to miss the sunrise looking at this fools camera.

We start to make our way down the mountain. I don't realise at the start that I'm in for possibly the worst three and a half hours of my life. I oly make this sudden realisation when I find that walking down a steep slope on slippery gravel is not my idea of fun. Not at all. I want to sit down and cry, but thanks to lovely Haining and her reinditions of Songs from the Phantom of the Opera I somehow make it down the hill and nearly weep with joy when the path flattens out and the gravel turns to dirt once more.

We receive a call from Yumiko, she's been taken ill and is stuck at the 7th station with Phoebe. Haining and I are wondering if we can send a horse up to bring her down when she messages again and tells us she's started the trek down again but she'll probably be another 2 hours.

Haining and I hide in the corner of a restaurant and nap on the table.

At 12:30pm Yumiko, Phoebe, Haining and I are on the bus heading back to kawaguchiko, as the highway passes through a thick thatch of forest Haining whispers to me about how this part of the forest is called Aokigahara or the "Sea of Trees" and is the number one place to commit suicide in Japan. She continues in a hushed voice that people venture in with a bit of rope, hang themselves and get found dangling in the breeze either by search parties or unlucky bushwalkers.

Six hours later and I don't have a care in the world. Yumiko and I are at the Onsen and although we've each had two showers, two dinners and an afternoon nap we're still unwinding. I look up at the stars from my position in the Hot Spring and listen as Yumiko, who is currently giving me a back massage, tells me a story about the night sky.

Saturday (Day Three)

Yumiko and I meet Sanae and Manabu at Fuji Q Highland and excitedly line up for Dodonpa, the fastest rollercoaster in the world. Two hours later we are strapped into the ride and I don't want to go on it anymore. I'm scared.
Thirty seconds later the ride is over, and was worth every second of the two hour line up. The next eight hours are a blur with Sanae and Manabu running excitedly from ride to ride and Yumiko and I hobbling painfully after them.

We retire wearily to the bus, and because we changed the tickets around last minute I'm sitting next to a young japanese youth. He sleeps the two hour journey with his head on my shoulder as I listen to music and fiddle with the flag on my walking stick and wonder if the japanese youth is dribbling on me.

At 11pm Sanae and I launch ourselves through the door and I throw myself on the bed.

What a f*cking great experiance I tell Sanae as my head hits the pillow

I am never, never, NEVER going to do it again.

Recommendations and Contact Details

For first timers climbing Fuji San

Essential Packing

- Gloves
- 100 yen coins, as each bathroom requires 100 - 300 yen donation
- Torch, preferably one that can be worn on your head as you will need both hands for climbing
- Warm clothes
- Minimum 2 litres of water
- Sunscreen
- Chocolate

Mobile phone users: Only docomo and softbank providers will have reception by the 5th station, so don't rely on phones to meet up with friends. Docomo will have reception all the way to the summit.

Accommodation on the mountain: Lots of people start the climb at 10pm-ish and power the whole way to the top, if this is your choice please keep in mid that you will have no break from the elements as the hotels don't allow you to rest inside unless you're a paying guest.

If, like me, you prefer to stop for a few hours, have some dinner, sleep and recharge your batteries the closest accommodation to the top is Fujisan hotel. They serve a hot dinner, provide you with water and breakfast. The beds are amazingly clustered, but it's heated in the hut and you get a mattress, pillow, sleeping bag and blanket. Practically the Hilton compared to what I was expecting.

Fujisan Hotel
Kawaguchiko 8th Station
TEL [phone]

Price: 5000 yen per person / accommodation only
Price: 7500 yen per person / accommodation including hot dinner and breakfast pack for the morning.

Post climb

Hot Springs

After the climb you will be needing the relaxation that only the Hot Springs can provide. You'll have no difficulty finding an onsen, as they pop up every 100 metres or so, however below is the information for two of the best.

Onsenji

The Onsen Yumiko and I visited, and one of the nicest I've been to in Japan. Four different baths (indoor and outdoor), two saunas, and no need to bring your own shower essentials - shampoo, conditioner, soap, body wash and body scrub are all provided free of charge.

Location: Kawaguchiko, close to the family mart and 2 minutes walk from K's House
Website: Click here. No english page, but have a look for some amazing pictures of the Onsen
TEL [phone]
FAX [phone]

Price: You can pick up a flier for a discount at the information desk at Kawaguchiko station.
Adults: 1000 yen per person / 800 yen per person with Onsen Discount
Large Towel Rental: 300 yen
Yukata rental: 300 yen


Fujiyama Onsen

We heard a lot about this onsen but decided not to go as it's quite a bit further away and we didn't have the energy after the climb. If we stayed a bit longer, or had more time we definately would have checked it out though as it came highly recommended to us.

Location: Fujikyu Highland
Website: Click here. Japanese page only
TEL [phone]


Accommodation in Kawaguchiko (base to climb Fuji)

K's House, Mt Fuji

There's loads of hotels around, but we opted to stay at the backpackers. K's House is amazing, they offer a comfortable, clean and safe place to rest your weary head along with complimentary internet and limited shuttle transfers to and from the train station.

Website: Click here. Japanese/English page
6713-108, Funatsu, Fujikawaguchiko, Minamituru-gun,
Yamanashi, Japan 401-0301
TEL [phone]@FAX [phone]
email [e-mail]

Price: Beds start from 2500 yen per night


Fuji-Q Highland

One of Japan's largest amusement parks and home to two of the previous record holders for the worlds tallest rollercoaster (Fujiyama, height: 79 m and Eejanaika, height: 76 m) as well as the world's fastest rollercoaster, Dodonpa which goes at speeds 172 km/hr

Price: 4500 yen for a free pass. A pass that entitles you to entrance and access to all the rides.

Opening hours

Apr 1st ~ Sep 30th
Weekdays 9:00 ~ 17:00
Sat, Sun, holidays 9:00 ~ 20:00
Summer vacation(7/20~9/20) 8:00 ~ 21:00

Websites:
For Japanese click here.
For English/Korean/Chinese click here

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Photos

The Beginning
Starting the arduous journey

Climbing through the clouds
Just after the 1st part of the 7th Station

Dawn
A glimmering light on the horizon

Sunrise
the start of sunrise from the top of Fuji San

Fuji Q Highland
Yumiko sillhouetted by the rollercoaster Fujiyama

Comments

[Jenny]

Great photos
I have just been reading your blog and it's great! I've lived in Japan for about 5 years but it's fun to see what it's like through someone else's eyes- I realise I had such a boring time my first year in Japan compared to you! I commented here even though it's from last summer because I thought your Fuji photos were beautiful- isn't the sunrise one upside down though? Still, it looks pretty cool. I'm surprised you didn't like the gravel on the way down- both times I climbed Fuji I thought it was great fun coming down- we ran most of the way, you can take these huge steps because you slide. Thanks for the list of quirky restaurants/bars a couple of posts back- I need to see more of that kind of thing!