Amy - Here and Gone - Mt Fuji

So Amy came out for a week, though it seems more like it was just for a day. Time moves fast, especially when you have a lot planned! In 6 days we climed Mt. Fuji (Fuji-San), spent 2 days in Tokyo, rode the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Kyoto, spent a couple days there, then back to Yokosuka via Tokyo on the Shinkansen.

Mt. Fuji was tough. Much tougher than either of us expected and much more difficult than advertised. I know I am not in the status of superhero for physical fitness, but damn. Was it worth it? Hmmmm, undecided. I'd say yes, but only because I did it with Ames. We took a lot of pictures and I don't think a single one of them does an accurate job of showing how steep or hard that climb was. There are are stations along the way where you can sop for a break, a drink, and a bite to eat. The climb starts from the 5th station, about 1/2 way up the mountain. In the old days people started from the first station located at sea-level; now stations 1-4 are nothing more than road markers.

We started the climb around 5:30am. They say about 30% of the people that make the climb each year are foreigners, but on the day we went it seemed more like 60%. The weather was questionable, cloudy and a little rain so we dressed out in rain suits... That lasted about 10 minutes before it became apparent we would get wetter sweating in the rain suit than by the rain that was falling. It starts out deceptively easy, paved and semi-paved trail, not much incline and very wide. It does not take long though before things change. The trail gets a little rougher and a little steeper, turns to something like lava rock covered switchbacks, and then changes into something of a rock climb. The trial changes several times and I don't think one is any easier than the other. The lava-rock path is all loose footing and tiring. The rock climb areas are mostly solid, but well, it is climbing.

The 5th station starts below the tree line. When we left it was overcast and misty, but as the climb went on we passed above the tree line and eventually above the cloud line. The middle 1/3 of the climb was clear and beautiful. There were clouds rolling down the mountain side from above and fog rolling up the mountain from below. Ice and snow were still visible on the mountain side, but had melted away from the trail a few weeks ago.

Each station offers a stamp to place on your walking stick. It is called a stamp, but with the exception of one they are brands. This is a pretty cool souvenir, I may try to convince Amy to place them over the fireplace like swords (I doubt she will go for it).

After about 7 hours, we reached the top. Unknown to me, the top is loaded with small places to rest and eat. We had two bowls of Ramon, at a cost of 1600 yen, or about 16 dollars. It was the best Ramon and best spent 16 bucks, ever. Yeah, the mark-up is a little steep, but what are you going to do? That's what free market / supply and demand is all about. If you don't want $8 Ramon, don't climb Mt. Fuji.

This is a picture of us at the gate just below the summit.