Climbing Mt. Fuji - aka The Night From HELL

When: August 19, 2007
Who: Laura and Elspeth
Where: f*@&-ing Mt. Fuji

Info: Elspeth and I had been planning to climb Mt. Fuji for a long time. We did our research and according to online sources, 'even children and older people can easily climb Fuji-san'. They also recommended starting the climb at around 8pm so that you can get to the summit in time for the sunrise.

We took the train to Shin-Fuji and then a ridiculously long bus ride to the 5th station, which is located at something like 2300 meters (Fuji-san is 3776 meters high). The bus dropped us off and we looked around the main building. There was a small restaurant and a huge omiyage shop filled with useless junk and t-shirts with 'I climbed Mt.Fuji' on them. A lot of people just come up to the 5th station (by tour bus) and then go back down.



At around 8pm we started hiking up. Using our flashlights we followed the trail upwards. A little while later we made it to the 6th station. Here there was ANOTHER omiyage store and some very high-tech and expensive washrooms. It started to get cold and you could feel the air thinning. After only a few steps it was hard to breathe.

It was a tough walk from the 6th to the New 7th station. Because Fuji is volcanic, the ground was not sturdy but sandy and loose. Also we had to climb over big rocks...in the dark. It was around here that we started seeing some clouds heading towards the mountain. They appeared to split around Fuji and we thanked the gods that we weren't caught in a storm.

Of course we spoke too soon. About 3/4 of the way to the (real) 7th station the storm zoomed up the mountain really quickly and we found ourselves caught in a lightning storm. I was really scared because I was holding onto the metal poles, used for marking the path, on my way up. About 10 minutes from the station it started to pour. We were instantly soaked...And since we were high up, we were instantly frozen. The lightning was insane. I've never seen anything like it. It was beautiful but at the same time terrifying because we were totally exposed.



We arrived at the 7th station to find that it was nothing more than a small shack. People were up against the walls of the structure and there was nowhere to escape the rain. I opened my umbrella and Elspeth and I huddled against a stone wall. We were both freezing. A little while later we moved into a doorway. I couldn't feel my hands. When I bent down, I almost started to cry because my legs hurt so much. About an hour later the rain stopped but the lighting was still violent and the wind was so strong. I was so cold I think I fell asleep standing up at one point. I remember thinking about how in first aid training I had learned that it was a bad sign when someone stopped shivering. Elspeth and I had stopped shivering a long time ago. The lightning storm finally stopped and we looked at each other. We still had 3 more stations until the top (approx 3.5 hours to hike). We both decided that we'd prefer to turn back, instead of ending up dead and frozen somewhere along the trail. We turned and made our way back down (it was hard going down too!) and finally returned to the 5th station at about 3am.

But that wasn't the end of our bad luck. The 5th station was locked. Closed. Dark. No one answered my knocks on the doors. The bathrooms were closed and the power was turned off so the vending machines weren't on. We were out of the storm but stuck outside in the freezing cold.

As you can imagine, I was swearing like a maniac and trying every door in the building. Finally we sat down at a bench and tried to sleep. Somehow Elspeth actually slept for a couple hours. I got about 20 minutes of sleep and spent the rest of the night walking around trying to keep my legs and arms from dying. I have never been so cold in my entire life. All I could think about was how cold I was...

The sun finally came up at around 4:45am. It was gorgeous. I don't know what it would have looked like from the top but I was happy with what we saw from 2300 meters. The best part of the morning? When the power came on at 6am (we could then use the washrooms and buy a drink). We were eventually allowed inside the building and we sat in a stairway and tried to warm up and get some sleep.

I thought that the day couldn't get any worse. I was wrong. The bus didn't come until 12 noon. We sat in the restaurant for 5 hours, then got the bus, then the train and final got back to Nagoya.

It was a completely miserable day.

Some British guy who we had met at the 7th station returned from the top and told us about how he had passed out in the shelter at the top because he was so cold. He asked us if we'd regret not making it to the top. I can truthfully say that I have no regrets turning back.....and I feel no need to attempt a climb again. I'll admire Fuji-san now on from the bottom. Or maybe next time from the onsen of a relaxing ryokan.