The day has come for me to visit the highest point of Japan. 2 man, 1 mission, 3776 metre. This time Linus and I are in for a real challenge.
The night before the trip I was just accounting my gear and supplies. Here they are:
-For my top, I wear my Mont-Bell Merino undershirt, followed by a synthetic jacket that I got from 2nd hand shop, my Uniqlo fleece janzket (it’s from my gf Janice), and topped with my North-Face hardshell which I also got from 2nd hand shop. For further warmers I have a beanie and a neck warmer.
-For my bottom, Mont-Bell Merino undies, Uniqlo tights, my trusty trek pants that I have been wearing for 5+ years passed down from my brother, and topped with my Montane gaiter. My socks are also Merino socks, they are amazing!
-For food I packed 2 bags of Raymonds, one for me and one for Linus. I also brought my Contigo bottle and 2 litres of water. Later on I added another 1.5 litres of Pocari sweat. There is also a bag of sweets and a packet of beef jerky. All these are so that I do not have to buy overpriced food at the mountain huts.
In addition, I got a box of sushi and stuffed them in a lunchbox which I planned to be my breakfast. Just imagine, sushi breakfast at the top of the world…. yummy!
Initially I wanted to bring a camping stove, so we could cook hot food such as noodles; but my stove which i ordered from amazon japan has yet to arrive even after 2 weeks. Anyways camping stoves’ prices are ludicrous. The cheapest basic stove is 5000yen(~62sgd) and the good ones around 13000yen. In contrast, a decent home bbq grill is 11000yen. Technically I can’t compare 2 contextually different products, but wow a teeny camping stove costing more than a multipurpose bbq griller? I’ll pass! So I got mine from Amazon for 1100yen.
We had to take a highway bus to the base camp from Shinjuku, so I donned my layers, cradled my backpack, and set off to meet Linus. It was 4pm and I met him at Shinjuku tourist office. It was the moment that I realised I MESSED UP.
We were going to do this thing called the bullet climb for sunrise: start our ascent in late evening, reach the peak by 2am, brace ourselves for sunrise and finally descent by mid morning. Remember I showed you the equipments I was bringing? Did you happen to see any headlamps and torchlights? Yes. I packed everything but the lights. I packed so many things that I did not pack light….
Worse still, the torchlight was for Linus since he does not have one. So now that I didn’t pack any we rushed to a nearby outdoor store to get one. I ended up spending 2700 yen on something I did not need, because of a silly mistake! A light mistake bearing a heavy consequences.
Anyways we boarded our half filled bus, which I thought was good since in the very first place we wanted to avoid the crowd by going on a Sunday night; which I predicted would have less people who have to go to work on Monday!
The bus trip to the base camp was beautiful. We coincidentally took the bus that passes by the mountain ranges leading to the base camp, during sunset. So blessed!
The onset of orange and red mixing in with the blue sky makes a mesmerising view.
-Here is Linus and I just before the start of our hike, from 2305 m Fuji Subaru 5th Station, upwards to the peak of Fuji.
The sunrise is at 4 am, so we really had a lot of time considering we reached the base camp at 7 pm. So we spent some time just eating the food we brought, and Linus went to the shop to buy additional clothing: a blue beanie! We also agreed that we should really just take it slow as we do not want to exert ourselves too much. We did not want to reach the peak too early as waiting at the peak is going to be very weary due to the fact that the temperature and the windchill will be the nastiest at the peak.
In our brisk hike, we witnessed another blessing: Full moon in a cloudless night, which illuminated our paths making it easier for us to traverse over the rough terrain. Along the way, I also noticed white shimmering patches of snow covering some parts of Fuji. These things are apparently called “ice fields” and they are just the remnants of the snow of past seasons. They looked so pretty, like the icing on a cupcake. That makes Mt Fuji a really huge cupcake!
-The full moon, there was not enough light to snap a picture of the ice fields…
The first half of the climb was a breeze. Linus and I were just discussing about Lord of The Rings and our favorite characters of Game of Thrones. Then it became breezier in the second half, as the cold and wind begin to ravage through our layers. As we climbs up, the temperature climbs down. The elements were not even the worst stifling factor.
There is this thing called Altitude Sickness. Sometimes when one gains too much elevation in a short time, headache, nausea, and breathlessness could set in. At the third quarter of the ascent I have just those. The headache made it hard to focus, and thus balancing on steep rocks was a chore. The nausea robbed me of my appetite and forced my throat to shun water, thus eliminating sources of nourishment. The breathlessness, made 10 meter of elevation felt like a 100. Needless to say, it was an arduous climb at the last quarter, as I gathered my strength and willpower to battle those symptoms to complete what I have started.
We reached the peak about 2.30 am. My symptoms worsened. I had planned to capture the sunrise with my iPhone timelapse function so I set up my camera among some rocks. Then I pulled out my sleeping bag and wrapped myself in it thinking I would be able to catch some rest. But nope, mother nature had a different plan that fateful night. As I lie in my sleeping bag, wrapping myself as tightly as possible with every strain of garment I brought that day, the wind was constantly piercing through my clothes chilling my very bones. The whole time I was shivering, praying for heat and for the cold to pass. Of course God must have had other plans as well!
-Linus managed to snap a picture of my miserable self
As the first glimpses of the sun was sighted, Linus woke me up and we camped ourselves on one of the ledge at the peak. As I looked down onto the path I took in my ascent, I saw hundreds of floating little lights arranged in a continuous line. In a glimpse it might have been fireflies but nope those were throngs of people who had the same mission as we had: To catch the rising sun.
We were so excited when we saw a red arc peeking out of the horizon. I checked my camera and it was still capturing the time lapse photos! So I got Linus to help me snap the single photos of the sunrise.
-The first glimpse
Just as the sun was rising, my stomach acid too was rising with it. Being unable to hold it in any longer I puked out the snickers and Raymonds I managed to consume the previous night into a plastic bag I had prepared. The strangers around me must have had thought I hate sunrises.
-The sun as it rises
After my sunrise debut, we packed up. Initially our plan was to merry round the crater which would take an hour. Realising that I may not last another hour we decided to just go to the highest post office in Japan, to send postcards, then descent down as quick as possible, because the only known cure for altitude sickness is to descent as quickly as possible. I first felt my symptoms at midnight and I had so stubbornly chose to stay through dawn, and now I will be pushing myself to get to the post office before going back down. I was already at the peak, and the post office is just round the corner! This was a risk worth taking.
-Me posing with the crater full of ice. Notice how little clothes I worn!
The trip to the post office, though only took 25 minutes, was gruesome. It felt like as if my brain was trying to rake itself out of my head. My throat was parched but the intake of water only induces more urge to puke. I was panting with every step that I take. To add on, the cold was really giving me a cold shoulder. I was really thankful for every garment on my body. I was also very grateful for Linus, who stayed by me the whole time I was on the verge of dying. He even made a speech imitating Sam’s quote to Frodo “Tomy I cannot carry you, but you can carry on!!” He lightened me up and gave me more will to go on.
*sorry only LOTR fans would understand these references
I so very much wanted to appreciate and be in awe at the view from the top of Fuji but I just couldn’t hold myself together. I managed to snap some photos of the view that’s all.
At the post office we bought our cards and stamps and wrote on. I branded on the Fuji exclusive ink stamps and put the postcards in the postbox for it to begin its journey to its rightful reader. It was tough writing those postcards in the state I was in, but I managed well! Then comes our descent.
It was steep and it was really rocky. The path down were riddled with pebbles of basalt that does not let its slope be easily trodden upon. We had to either slowly take one step at a time, or risk our ankles and fast hop down. We took the latter option. I really wanted to just leave the altitude and regain my body back. It was so bad that one moment I felt like telling Linus to just descent without me, because I wanted to take a nap before descending. Fortunately logic got the better of me as I remembered that the only cure is way down.
-The path down
On the way down I finally met the beauty; The ice field, just within my grasp! However, some things are really just nicer looked at from afar, because the close up of the ice field looked like a chunk of ice riddled with black dirt and dust. Yes black dirt and dust, just like the whole basalty gravel road down. For every step that landed on them, a cloud of dust unearths. Conspiring with the strong winds, they invaded every cavity they could find. In that single descent, I received enough dose of my daily mineral intake. My eyes and nose were especially inundated.
NEAR VIEW VS FAR VIEW
As I reached about 3000 meter altitude, I got slightly better. We went on down and once I was back at the base camp I could really feel my symptoms waning away. My head only slightly hurts, my stomach ceased protesting, and my breathing went back to normal.
-The view of the descent
We rested for about half an hour at the base camp, and then we went to walk another trail encircling Fuji. I know it sounded crazy to hop onto another trail right after conquering the peak, but it was all planned! This sideways trail is very simple and short: The Ochudo Trail!
We finished the trail in 40 minutes, but I have to say that I enjoyed this hike more than the ascent+descent of Fuji. This trail is so peaceful and serene. As I walk upon the stone tiled paths, birds happily sang over the trees. The pines formed a shady canopy to shelter us against the now high risen sun. This is truly a rare experience I cherished.
In some parts of the hike, there was something I found very interesting:
When there are clearings that are not inhabited by pines, there are always these little shrubs and chunks of granite scattered in an intriguing pattern. There is no specific pattern, but my eyes just can’t accept these scattered rocks that just seems to be so carefully inserted in place. Not one rock seemed too close to another and the density of the shrubs just complements that.
Then I passed by one section of the trail, that consisted of white bleached dead trunks bent away from Fuji.
I was thinking out loud: “Who did this? How could this have happened?” Then Linus smartly suggested: Avalanche!
Then I inspected one of the branch closely:
If you observe closely, the top section of the branch has its barks completely sheared away by something. That something could have been a sheer mass of snow falling over the patch of trees from the peak of Fuji!
Well then I realised that, those cute scattered rocks I mentioned earlier, are the result of the same force of nature.
Interesting!
After Ochudo, we find our way to the bustop and took a bus back to Shinjuku. A day and a night well spent! 10/10 wouldn’t go up Fuji again.
Dashing Heights 