Fuji Part 3

Through the night we laid there. Make-believing at sleep in hopes of making it true. The room was a large group effort to slumber, but no one was cooperating. Each had their own sound, a breath, snore, whisper, shuffle, hopping off a bunk. In a room of thirty I am not sure who found sleep, not our group of four. Jackson started to stir and rotate, and did so all night. Kat talked to Mark, trying to help him relax and breathe. He took a giant involuntary breath once or twice a minute, his body gasping for oxygen at high altitude. He had a couple shots of canned oxygen, but saved most for the summit.

At 1:15 we sat up and slowly got our items, still wet, in order. I at best had a half hour of sleep, and that may have been the best of us. We ate our cheap, but somehow 1,000 yen breakfast in the front entry, and then headed out. The late night/early morning was quite windy and had the occasional star. We were rained on from time to time, even a bit of snow, but all that eventually quit.

Unlike the day before, we were among many others on the trail. The early morning summit is a popular hike. Within the first hour we came upon a line that continued its way to the top. A single file line that moved a quarter of our desired pace. Before long Jackson and I opted to exploit the width of the trail. 95% of the hikers kept to their spot in line, probably a fine example of the national groupthink. Sometimes the trail would narrow and we would fall in suit, but mostly we could bypass the crowd, sometimes taking the slightly tougher route. We were not budging, but just making more efficient use of the trail before us.

An hour prior to summit, streaks of light steadily formed on the horizon. The sunrise was beginning before we arrived. Fortunate to us, the sun first graced our face of the mountain. We could still see it. It was about 5am that I reached the summit. Jackson, and his long stride, beat me by five minutes. The summit was sprawled with people. Hiking through rain on a Tuesday morning, I expected nowhere near the present crowd, but evidently the popularity of Japan’s great mountain does not flux with the weather.

The sky cleared for us, leaving plenty of clouds to catch highlights of color and produce contrast. A perfect end to the ascent. Halfway down the mountain, began a rumpled cloud blanket cast as far as could be. Well above my head was another such layer. And here me, in between, my own partition of the sky. Well, mine and the rest of the life on the summit. We all earned it. The sun stirred from the covers, and its audience went wild, thrusting arms upward, hooting, and yelling “Banzai!” we were all glad for the unexpected cameo. The hour spent on summit, I danced around behind a camera lens, while the others took residence by a small fire in the lodge. I really wanted to make the loop around the crater, but could not inspire such of the group.

"Three cheers for the sun!"




The descent was sunny and beautiful. The trail was a different one, less a decline, but longer as a trade off. I found it most suitable to do a jog/slide combo, as walking was painstakingly slow. By 9am we were at the fifth station where we caught a bus direct to the train station. The general consensus is that you must do Fuji, and once is plenty enough. For me, the next climbing season (July-August) is too far off.

Kat and Mark headed down (the surface of Mars).


The fun way down (mildly narcissistic).