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Published: September 26th 2006
I am so behind in my blogging that I was going to abridge all the events from the last couple of weeks so you wouldn’t have to spend an hour reading this entry. But how can you abridge a Fuji story?! Plus, there’s not much more to add except that I spent $1000.00 on new furniture last weekend after feeling a bit of disgust and depression at the oldness (and consequent bugginess, mousiness, moldiness, style-less-ness, etc.) of my house. I’ll post pictures as soon as my stuff is delivered/assembled. So here’s the real story:
Two weeks ago, after a week of confinement with my fellow foreigners at KAPIC (the Kagoshima Asia-Pacific Intercultural Centre) for a week-long Japanese course, I felt like I needed a break. Although the course was supposed to be an opportunity to relax, I felt bored with the Japanese we were learning and frustrated with some of the other ALTs. I really don’t understand how some people can complain about so many things and still manage to eek out an existence!
I was none too relieved when Lucy and I pulled out of the parking lot and I was able to focus on my next adventure:
Station Marker
This is how you know which station you've reached until you break free of the heavy forest. Below the 5th station the huts aren't manned...at least not out of season.climbing Mt. Fuji. My original plan was to leave Shibushi on the overnight ferry to Osaka where I would meet my friend Tyson, with whom I was supposed to climb. As it turned out, my school held its Sports Festival on Saturday so I caught the 6pm ferry as soon as it was done. Luckily, everyone was given Tuesday off for having to attend school on a Saturday so the length of my trip was unchanged.
I had been a little worried that the typhoon scheduled to hit Shibushi that weekend would come early, but luckily my ferry left on schedule. Since the ferry runs overnight, the cheapest way to travel is to sleep in a common room with all the other Economy passengers and though there was some initial confusion about where I should sleep I soon settled in a Women’s Only room with 3 other women - two middle-aged women who, although not traveling together, became fast friends and a girl my age.
At first the younger girl seemed a bit shy and I ambled through a rudimentary conversation with the older ladies, taking occasional breaks to walk around the ship. Later on, however, while the
At the 5th Station
You can't even imagine how cold we felt! older ladies had gone to bathe, the younger girl began speaking to me and I discovered that she actually spoke a bit of English, was from Osaka and had been traveling all over Japan for the last three months. She gave me some good tips on how to get to my meeting place with Tyson, though I ended up not having to use them.
When we got to Osaka one of the older ladies ended up offered to drive her new friend and me to our respective train stations so we wouldn’t have to worry about public transport. As if this weren’t lucky enough, the friend gave me a 50% discount coupon for my ferry ride back (of course, I only found this out as I was buying my return ticket) as we dropped her off at her station.
Once I got to the Shinkansen (high speed train) station where Tyson and I met things flowed fairly smoothly. We had a quick lunch (ramen) then hopped on an express train headed for Tokyo. Two hours later we were plopped at a station from which we caught a bus toward Fuji-san’s base. It seemed to take ages to get
there and Tyson and I were both exhausted by the time we made it to the visitor’s center. In case you think this is the end of the excitement, it’s just about to begin.
Our various transport connections were seamless but we still only arrived at the base at 5pm by which time all the buses headed for the 5th Station (where most people start climbing) had left. We had several options: wait until Monday morning for the next bus, walk from the base up, take a $130.00 taxi ride to the 5th Station or take a $50.00 taxi ride to the 1st Station. Andrew had already reserved us sleeping space at the 7th Station so we had to head up the mountain that night and walking all the way would have meant walking all night so that wasn’t an option. We chose the cheaper taxi ride and at about 6pm were dropped off at the parking lot just below the 1st Station where we met up with a fellow nut, Anne from Russia, who had walked up the road from the base. Anne had been in Japan for a year learning Japanese but I can’t tell you much
more than that since our walk together was pretty silent.
I have read in many accounts that the trail up Fuji is neither enjoyable nor inspiring, but I always doubted that I would feel this way since I like hiking so much. Well, I’m not sure how I would have felt on a nice day, but in the falling darkness and persistent rain, I had to agree that this route was not a favourite of mine either. Most of the trail up was paved but I think this needs some qualifying. Basically, the route we took was one big stone staircase riddled with drainage pits that could bring your climb to an end if you fell into one in the dark. It didn’t help that I got that same arthritic feeling in my hips I’d been having on the last few hikes I did before leaving Calgary.
By the time we got to the 5th Station, Anne’s flashlight had died and she was using her cell phone to light up the trail in front of her. The three of us were cold, wet and tired. Tyson and I decided to push onwards to the 7th Station rationalizing that
Sopping but not dead yet!
Rain continues on Monday morning. it couldn’t be that far away while Anne hung back at the 5th for a rest. As we headed upwards we finally saw a cluster of huts sticking out from the mountainside above us. Mirage-like, they beckoned for us to keep slogging - and a slog it was! Once we reached the next hut, we realized that this was only the 6th Station. By the time we’d reached the third we realized that the 7th Station we were booked into (there appeared to be several) was the very last one we could see from where we were. At this point I had sore hips AND blisters on my feet; but we kept climbing.
We dragged ourselves into the hut at 11pm, too late to have dinner, and were ushered to a sleeping room where we dozed for a few hours before heading to the peak. Our plan had been to get up at 4am and climb the rest of the way to the top, but when we woke up the rain and wind had worsened. We decided there would be no sunset to see even if we did make it to the top. At 6am all the other people
Warning to Climbers
I guess we should have read this BEFORE we started! began to stir and Ty and I headed out for the summit. By the time we got to the 9th Station anyone ahead of us had turned around, driven back by the storm. It had never occurred to me that the typhoon would still be this strong by the time it hit the Fuji area but the winds were fierce and howling and the rain was so heavy it filled our boots with inches of water.
The decision to turn around was mutual and I don’t think either of us felt so much defeated as we felt relieved when we started back down. About 15 minutes after we’d turned around we came upon Anne, huddling under two raincoats, trekking upwards. We told her that no one was getting to the peak but she just smiled and kept going. Talk about an iron will!
Back at a different 5th Station we waited for the bus to take us to the base (neither of us had any desire to see the first 4 stations again) and shared and compared climbing stories with the other foreigners we were waiting with. Two hours later we boarded the first bus down the mountain
Shopping in Osaka
A shop devoted to Hello Kitty stuff. Just 1 minute before 3 old men had walked right in. and began the 6 hour trek home. Tyson had to go back to work the next so I explored some of Osaka alone before making my way back to the ferry terminal for another overnight ride.
During my return trip I took full advantage of the onboard onsen (public bath), bathing once in the evening and again in the morning, to soothe my aching joints and muscles. And again I was “picked up” (in the common room, not the onsen), this time by a family who wanted me to speak English to their 4 year old son. In return they filled me full of Shochu (THE Kagoshima drink made from fermented sweet potatoes).
I made it back to Shibushi in time for my first class and proceeded through Wednesday as if I hadn’t just tried to climb to the top of Japan. It felt almost as if it were a dream, it all came and went so quickly. I still don’t feel a shred of regret at having turned back before the top. We still made it to 3, 250m, just 500m. from the peak, and it was such an adventure the peak would have just been icing
Shopping Arcade
Not too busy since it was a weekday. on the cake. I was thrilled to have made it to Osaka and back by myself, using as much Japanese as possible to talk to people and even making new friends along the way. I was also impressed that Tyson and I managed to make it to the 7th Station given the late start we got and all the things we had going against us. Finally, it was great to see Osaka, especially after having figured out the transit system on my own (well, maybe with a little help from Tyson). Though it did make me miss the big city a bit, it was a good break from the smallness of Kagoshima in general.
As soon as we turned around Tyson and I began asking ourselves if we would ever try the climb again. They say, “Only a fool climbs Fuji twice,” but I think they mean “climbs to the top twice.” This time was for the experience but next time our goal will be success, even if that means climbing in season, during the day and only if it’s not raining.
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Marko
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Fuji
After seeing it from the plane, I really have an urge to climb it http://www.flickr.com/photos/markostavric/225917025/in/set-72157594253097338/