Five for Fuji

There is a Japanese proverb that goes: He who climbs Fuji once is a wise man. He who climbs it twice is a fool.

After months of dreaming of hiking Fuji-san, the day came. We met up at 5am to avoid the Saturday workday traffic for our three hour drive to Fuji. We parked, then got on the shuttle bus for the one hour drive to the 5th station.



Alas, we had arrived to start our big hike. But where was the trail head? I felt like I was at a ski resort than I did at the primo Japanese hiking destination. I felt my first true "pack out what you pack in" as there was not a trash can in sight, even with all the vendors around. So I tucked my tuna/cracker mix container under a rock until we came back down Fuji. No I didn't, but I did do something that still makes me cringe. I put in in a ziploc bag next to my clean thermals, socks, snacks, and water in my pack for the next 24 hours. Thankfully the ziploc bags didn't leak a drop in my bag.



As we started our hike, we started to second guess the outdoor recreation guide's advice that the mountain would be "very crowded because of the Obon holiday." The only thing we saw going up were long faces going down... and we were still in the the trees. "I hope I don't look like that tomorrow on our way down," I declared. We've only just begun was the humble response I received from my fellow hikers, there is a lot that can happen in the next 24 hours.

For some, the altitude sickness kicked in. Thanks to some moleskin early on, the back of my foot below my Achilles had no blisters to report. This hike was definitely not a race, it was about a slow and steady pace to keep the heart rate and breathing in check.

Part of the Fuji experience for most is buying a wooden hiking stick and collecting stamps (for 200 yen each) at the various huts along the way. The sticks come in a variety of sizes, with optional bells and flags for a bit of flair. I started out with one, but I preferred my Leki hiking poles too much. I had observed a close call of a hiking stick attached to the back of one guy's pack almost take out an old lady - that's when I gave my stick to a French boy who's sister was in the French Navy and who's Dad took our picture. I opted for the short stick instead. Actually two short sticks since I ran out of room for more stamps on the first one.

I don't anticipate any problems with any troublemakers, but the Fuji sticks might become what the wooden spoon was to me growing up (just kidding).

We arrived at the Edoya hut, our destination for the night at 3pm. After a quick nap, it was time for our curry dinner. The after dinner entertainment was trying to cram as many people in the hut as possible, almost like trying to fit the Volkmann family in the brown station wagon. Cross you arms as if you were using sign language to say "love." Then lay next to ten other people, everyone touching the shoulder of the person next to you, and try to sleep. Even after two NyQuil, the zzz's weren't coming. Especially after the alarms started going off at midnight - we thought we had two more hours to sleep.

We were dead wrong. In our last two hours of trying to sleep, a least a couple hundred (if not a thousand) people started the final 1200 meters to the summit.

The picture on the below is what it looked like when I looked up the hill, and down the hill, in the dark with all the headlamps.

This is what all those people looked like in the daylight.


Will Benny be a fool? Find our later this week, as we continue "Five for Fuji." Here are some more pictures from the hike.