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I may have conquered the mountain today, but I think I still lost the war. Mt. Fuji, for those who aren't aware, is about two miles high (3700 meters). That much I knew. My first mistake, then, was not to bring enough water. I was a little worried about conserving weight, so I only brought a liter. My pack was indeed light as a result -- I barely even felt it for most of the trip -- but by the 8th stop I had completely exhausted my supply. No problem! They sell water (and other supplies) at the stops! ...for 500 yen a bottle. At this stop, anyway; it gets more expensive the higher you get. I can understand some of that goes into the trouble of getting the water up there in the first place, but I think it's also partially just because they can. Incidentally, for the same reasons, you're supposed to pay 100 yen to use any toilet. Again, I can understand that indoor plumbing is probably nonexistent at that altitude, so they've got to go through the effort of cleaning it out and disposing of the mess properly, but that still hurt.
You start at 5th Stop, where the bus drops you off. (That's as high as they've managed to get a viable road. Nothing stopping you from hiking all the way from Stop 1, but I don't recommend it.) First stretch of the trail is combined, but at the 6th stop it splits into three parts: the trail to the top of the mountain, the trail from top of the mountain (for those staggering back to 5th stop after a long hike), and the trail around the mountain (for the sane ones). We took the first one (my second mistake :p). The incline remains fairly slight until Stop 7, when it suddenly shifts to about 45 degrees. At that point this stops being a hike and you're officially climbing Mt. Fuji. At Stop 8 it levels back down to about 30 degrees and stays that way until you almost reach the summit (noticed how steep the last part looks in all those photos? It's true.) That's also when the air starts getting thin. 9th Stop actually has a small lodge. Not sure what services they provide (besides expensive food and water for climbers) but evidently you can call in, reserve a room, hike/climb up to that point one evening, spend the night, and then leave early to watch the sunrise at the summit (Stop 10). Stop 10 also has more souvenir vendors than a mountain peak has any business having (and thankfully, plenty of areas to collapse on benches for an hour). And no, I didn't buy an "I climbed Mt. Fuji and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." There were plenty of things I might have been interested in, but I didn't have enough money for any of them (wouldn't have brought ANY money if the Kitais hadn't informed me about the waypoint stores).
Somewhere just before Stop 8 I managed to pull a muscle in my leg. Up until there I was making decent time, but at that point it officially became a solo climb for me as the others left me in the dust. Nonetheless, I had gotten that far, and I wasn't going to quit there, so I hiked as best I could on it (had to take a LOT of breaks), briefly caught up with everyone at the next two stops, and managed to clock in at the top, dead last, at about 6 hours. Thankfully, whatever muscle was aching didn't get any pressure on it on the (less rocky anyway) downhill trail, so I was doing fine until the end... when about half a km before Stop 5, the trail sloped up again, and I was ditched once more to come in dead last at just under 3 hours. That plus the 45 minute rest break at the top... well, you do the math, but basically the climb took up the entire day.
So to sum up... my feet are sore, my right leg is a wreck, I'm sunburnt on both arms and the back of my neck (sunscreen! why didn't I remember the sunscreen?), I'm exhausted, and between bathroom use, water, and bus fare I'm out 2600 yen. In return, I got a great view and a lot of photos (which had BETTER come out). Not that I didn't enjoy both of those, but the next time I get it into my head to climb a mountain that tall, chain me up until I'm better. >_
You start at 5th Stop, where the bus drops you off. (That's as high as they've managed to get a viable road. Nothing stopping you from hiking all the way from Stop 1, but I don't recommend it.) First stretch of the trail is combined, but at the 6th stop it splits into three parts: the trail to the top of the mountain, the trail from top of the mountain (for those staggering back to 5th stop after a long hike), and the trail around the mountain (for the sane ones). We took the first one (my second mistake :p). The incline remains fairly slight until Stop 7, when it suddenly shifts to about 45 degrees. At that point this stops being a hike and you're officially climbing Mt. Fuji. At Stop 8 it levels back down to about 30 degrees and stays that way until you almost reach the summit (noticed how steep the last part looks in all those photos? It's true.) That's also when the air starts getting thin. 9th Stop actually has a small lodge. Not sure what services they provide (besides expensive food and water for climbers) but evidently you can call in, reserve a room, hike/climb up to that point one evening, spend the night, and then leave early to watch the sunrise at the summit (Stop 10). Stop 10 also has more souvenir vendors than a mountain peak has any business having (and thankfully, plenty of areas to collapse on benches for an hour). And no, I didn't buy an "I climbed Mt. Fuji and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." There were plenty of things I might have been interested in, but I didn't have enough money for any of them (wouldn't have brought ANY money if the Kitais hadn't informed me about the waypoint stores).
Somewhere just before Stop 8 I managed to pull a muscle in my leg. Up until there I was making decent time, but at that point it officially became a solo climb for me as the others left me in the dust. Nonetheless, I had gotten that far, and I wasn't going to quit there, so I hiked as best I could on it (had to take a LOT of breaks), briefly caught up with everyone at the next two stops, and managed to clock in at the top, dead last, at about 6 hours. Thankfully, whatever muscle was aching didn't get any pressure on it on the (less rocky anyway) downhill trail, so I was doing fine until the end... when about half a km before Stop 5, the trail sloped up again, and I was ditched once more to come in dead last at just under 3 hours. That plus the 45 minute rest break at the top... well, you do the math, but basically the climb took up the entire day.
So to sum up... my feet are sore, my right leg is a wreck, I'm sunburnt on both arms and the back of my neck (sunscreen! why didn't I remember the sunscreen?), I'm exhausted, and between bathroom use, water, and bus fare I'm out 2600 yen. In return, I got a great view and a lot of photos (which had BETTER come out). Not that I didn't enjoy both of those, but the next time I get it into my head to climb a mountain that tall, chain me up until I'm better. >_
