Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Fuji Beating!
I did the deed... It was one of the hardest tasks I have ever undertaken. I survived the beast! This week I am on vacation from work and decided to climb up Mount Fuji with a few friends. I made my way into Tokyo and spent the night catching up with one of my Korean buddies in town for Summer Sonic. After hearing about the concert from him I wish I had gone. The band line-up was INSANE! So many great bands EQUALS high ticket prices though. So I spent some time chatting with my boy Alex and hung out with him in the morning before he departed back to Korea.
We did some quick research on the net before leaving to catch our bus and were able to find out that the average temperature at the top of Fuji is 6 degrees in August. At this point in time we were all laughing and joking because for Canucks thats practically shorts weather! Our laughter did not last long. I was actually debating leaving my winter coat and snow pants behind because I did not want to carry them up the mountain. What a mistake that would have been...
We arrived at the 5th stage of Fuji at 9:45 and instantly added some layers to our shivering bodies. Our hike began at 10 PM. The night was cloud free and the view was incredible. Our path was well lit by the moon. I was not lucky enough to see it but there were shooting stars cruising across the sky all evening. We started out with an ambitious pace which like our T-shirts did not last long. About an hour in I was finding myself short of breath and no longer hiking but rather staggering up the mountain. We had heard that it takes about 4-6 hours to climb to the peak so we figured we would arrive at about 4 AM to view the sunrise. In fact we thought we would have to slow ourselves down closer to the top so that we were not sitting on the summit exposed to the wind for a long time. Slow ourselves down... how cocky could we have gotten, the mountain took great care in that respect!
The thing about Fuji is that it is not a mountain at all, people tend to forget, myself included, that its a volcano. That means the climb is filled with nothing at all to look at. There are rocks of all sizes and thats about it. The stars are fantastic to look at though, outside of that there is more ash and rock than one would ever wish to look at in a lifetime.
By about midnight we were cursing ourselves for thinking that such an undertaking wouldn't be so difficult. Our optimism was slowly but surely fading into reality. Fuji was in fact really, really, really BIG! I have climbed many a mountain but this one, it clearly takes the cake! The route to the top is a zig zagging trail that seemingly never ends. It was difficult to fully satisfy my bodies need for oxygen. My legs were burning in exhaustion after each zig and I'd have to rest before tackling the zag. There are stages along the way to the top and by the eighth I was ready to stop for the night and sleep. Luckily the fellas proded me on. We passed a sign, 30 minutes to the top... Our pace quickened... An hour later our feeling of elation and accomplishment well past us we looked up to see that the trail to the top, littered and lit with headlamps attached to granny hikers kicking our ass up Fuji, was a littler longer than we thought we could manage. I collapsed on the side of the mountain and promtly drifted into a deep sleep. I was awakened by the boys asking if I wanted to climb higher, Fuji San almost saw its first casulty of the season right about then... Seriously, I was sleeping what possesed the boys to kick me and inquire as to whether or not I wanted to climb higher... were my snores not evidence enough of my current state of happiness?
Alas the beast was awakened and we kept on treking, higher and higher we rose and it seemed as though the summit was doing the same thing! Zig Zag after zig zag was continuously being added to the trail ahead of us. We could conquer two stretches of trail only to look up and see that three more had been added ahead of us. Our feeling of hopelessness can not be described in words. Again, we rested!
I was in danger of missing the whole reason why we insanely chose to hike the trail, the sunrise! In my head I had convinced myself in my state of delirium that I had climbed Fuji simply for a nap. I was not waking up for anything. I am happy that T.K. was as persistant and I was tired because I woke up and watched the sunrise, it took about an hour for it to finally crest over the clouds and it is definitely one of the more beautiful things I have seen in my life. Sitting above the clouds enjoying the moment of perfect stillness, stillness because even I could not convince my legs to move another inch, watching nature at its best. Life at that moment truly was beautiful. Then I looked up... We still had to climb!!!
We reached the peak of the mountain at about 7 AM, I think, I stopped checking my watch because it depressed me realizing how long we had been walking for. At the top we all sat down and I drank what was the greatest tasting beer I have ever had. I carried that little can with me all the way to the top and let me tell you, not a drop went to waste out of that can! We smiled, we hugged, we cheered, we congratulated, we laughed, I drank... all this because we were not thinking about how we were getting down! Our celebrations were cut short upon realizing that we were really only half done.
We all took a nap at the top, the sun was shining and it was quite hot. We napped for a couple of hours before starting the decent. The journey down was much quicker than our rise to the top. However around the bottom the trail just didn't want to end. We wanted nothing more than to be back at the base but the trail had other ideas. It wanted nothing more than to delay our happiness as long as possible. When we did arrive back at the bottom there was no cheering, no bands playing, no heartfelt "lets do it again next year", just silence as we looked upon new versions of ourselves from 15 hours ago. Idiots smiling as they start the climb to the top. If only they knew what I know now!
In Japan there is a proverb, "A wise man climbs Fuji once, a fool climbs it twice". I will leave you with this happy thought...
My mama didn't raise no fool!
We did some quick research on the net before leaving to catch our bus and were able to find out that the average temperature at the top of Fuji is 6 degrees in August. At this point in time we were all laughing and joking because for Canucks thats practically shorts weather! Our laughter did not last long. I was actually debating leaving my winter coat and snow pants behind because I did not want to carry them up the mountain. What a mistake that would have been...
We arrived at the 5th stage of Fuji at 9:45 and instantly added some layers to our shivering bodies. Our hike began at 10 PM. The night was cloud free and the view was incredible. Our path was well lit by the moon. I was not lucky enough to see it but there were shooting stars cruising across the sky all evening. We started out with an ambitious pace which like our T-shirts did not last long. About an hour in I was finding myself short of breath and no longer hiking but rather staggering up the mountain. We had heard that it takes about 4-6 hours to climb to the peak so we figured we would arrive at about 4 AM to view the sunrise. In fact we thought we would have to slow ourselves down closer to the top so that we were not sitting on the summit exposed to the wind for a long time. Slow ourselves down... how cocky could we have gotten, the mountain took great care in that respect!
The thing about Fuji is that it is not a mountain at all, people tend to forget, myself included, that its a volcano. That means the climb is filled with nothing at all to look at. There are rocks of all sizes and thats about it. The stars are fantastic to look at though, outside of that there is more ash and rock than one would ever wish to look at in a lifetime.
By about midnight we were cursing ourselves for thinking that such an undertaking wouldn't be so difficult. Our optimism was slowly but surely fading into reality. Fuji was in fact really, really, really BIG! I have climbed many a mountain but this one, it clearly takes the cake! The route to the top is a zig zagging trail that seemingly never ends. It was difficult to fully satisfy my bodies need for oxygen. My legs were burning in exhaustion after each zig and I'd have to rest before tackling the zag. There are stages along the way to the top and by the eighth I was ready to stop for the night and sleep. Luckily the fellas proded me on. We passed a sign, 30 minutes to the top... Our pace quickened... An hour later our feeling of elation and accomplishment well past us we looked up to see that the trail to the top, littered and lit with headlamps attached to granny hikers kicking our ass up Fuji, was a littler longer than we thought we could manage. I collapsed on the side of the mountain and promtly drifted into a deep sleep. I was awakened by the boys asking if I wanted to climb higher, Fuji San almost saw its first casulty of the season right about then... Seriously, I was sleeping what possesed the boys to kick me and inquire as to whether or not I wanted to climb higher... were my snores not evidence enough of my current state of happiness?
Alas the beast was awakened and we kept on treking, higher and higher we rose and it seemed as though the summit was doing the same thing! Zig Zag after zig zag was continuously being added to the trail ahead of us. We could conquer two stretches of trail only to look up and see that three more had been added ahead of us. Our feeling of hopelessness can not be described in words. Again, we rested!
I was in danger of missing the whole reason why we insanely chose to hike the trail, the sunrise! In my head I had convinced myself in my state of delirium that I had climbed Fuji simply for a nap. I was not waking up for anything. I am happy that T.K. was as persistant and I was tired because I woke up and watched the sunrise, it took about an hour for it to finally crest over the clouds and it is definitely one of the more beautiful things I have seen in my life. Sitting above the clouds enjoying the moment of perfect stillness, stillness because even I could not convince my legs to move another inch, watching nature at its best. Life at that moment truly was beautiful. Then I looked up... We still had to climb!!!
We reached the peak of the mountain at about 7 AM, I think, I stopped checking my watch because it depressed me realizing how long we had been walking for. At the top we all sat down and I drank what was the greatest tasting beer I have ever had. I carried that little can with me all the way to the top and let me tell you, not a drop went to waste out of that can! We smiled, we hugged, we cheered, we congratulated, we laughed, I drank... all this because we were not thinking about how we were getting down! Our celebrations were cut short upon realizing that we were really only half done.
We all took a nap at the top, the sun was shining and it was quite hot. We napped for a couple of hours before starting the decent. The journey down was much quicker than our rise to the top. However around the bottom the trail just didn't want to end. We wanted nothing more than to be back at the base but the trail had other ideas. It wanted nothing more than to delay our happiness as long as possible. When we did arrive back at the bottom there was no cheering, no bands playing, no heartfelt "lets do it again next year", just silence as we looked upon new versions of ourselves from 15 hours ago. Idiots smiling as they start the climb to the top. If only they knew what I know now!
In Japan there is a proverb, "A wise man climbs Fuji once, a fool climbs it twice". I will leave you with this happy thought...
My mama didn't raise no fool!
# posted by ricky_pops @ 6:55 PM 
