Climbed Mt. Fuji this August with some friends. It was an excellent experience that gives me an awesome feeling everytime I think of it.
The Fuji mountain. This mountain is always covered by snow all round the year, except in August. And so August is the official climbing season.
The mountain has 10 stages. We can reach upto the 5th stage by bus which is at an altitude of 2400m. The climb is from 5th stage to the 10th stage which is the peak. And the highest point is 3776m. The mountain is covered by thick growth until half of it. That's precisely till the 5th stage.
Mt.Fuji was an active volcano hundreds of years back. The entire mountain was formed by eruption. That makes one wonder the extent of eruption. Infact the lava has spilled as far as north of Tokyo. The richness of the soil in this area is attributed to the lava from Mt.Fuji.
We will need to reach a place called Mishima, about 2hrs from Minami-Rinkan, from where a bus will take us to the 5th stage. On the route to the 5thstage, the bus halts for a break at an amusement park. The park itself is at around 1500m.
Each one of us has a walking stick in with a bell. The sound it makes keeps the bears away. But there's none after the 5th stage cos of no dense growth. It may be between the ground and 5th stage.
The starting point is at 2400 m above sea level. Started at 630PM. Reached 9th stage at 3460m at about 2AM. Still another 350m. The height may look less. What's tiring is the path and the route it takes. Though it's just 1.4KM of altitude, we would've walked at least 7-9 Kms in 2-3 degrees of temperature.
It's around 4am in the morning. Dawn... The light on the left is from the 9.5th station showing down upon us. Lucky that there was no rain.
Even the wind was very mild. So it was easily bearable at the top.
Sun's starting to come out. Just back from serving a hectic day at America. Truly, Japan is the Land of Rising Sun.
So on August 6th 2006, we are the first ppl in the entire world to get a glimpse of the Sun.
The highest point on the peak has a weather station. the altitude is 3776m.
There is also a path for a bull dozer which is the only vehicle to the top. Some who cant make it on the normal path and to the peak, use this. It's less tiring but obviously longer.
That was an experience. I would be insane to try again... but happy having done it once. I was cursing for having accepted the trip till I reached back to the 5th stage. But now feel great. We were told an old saying about Mt Fuji. "In Japan, if you never climb Mt Fuji you are a fool, and if you climb it more than once you are a fool".
