We meet at Fuji station at 7:30pm where we are picked up by a bus and head with about 25 ALTs from all over the prefecture to the Fujinomiya fifth station. The fifth station is the highest you can go on the mountain by car and believe me it would be impossible for anyone who is not a professional mountain climber to start anywhere lower. We get to the fifth station at around 9:15pm and acclimate ourselves to the altitude for an hour, starting the climb at 10:15pm. Yes pm is correct. It's pitch black and we are equipped with flashlights, layers to add as it gets colder, food to eat along the way (they say you burn 7,000 calories on the climb), rain jackets, and of course the official Mt. Fuji walking stick. It takes about an hour to get from station to station with station 10 being the final one. It gets colder as we climb so you try to add layers but then you start to sweat because you're climbing a mountain so you're constantly adding and removing layers. We walked through some clouds which required us to put on the rain gear because you don't want your clothes to get too wet. Kelly and I got separated after the 7th station as I left her in the hands of other people not knowing that they would leave her as well. But I had to go at my pace or I might not make it. It's kind of like when you're running and you have to go at your pace because you'll get too tired if you go any slower or faster. At least that's how I justify leaving my wife behind on a mountain. So anyway...I eventually get to the 9th station around 2:00 or so after climbing by myself for a few hours. I say by myself. There were hundreds if not thousands of people on the mountain that night, but I was not with anybody from my group which basically translates into: anybody that spoke English. But at the 9th station I finally found about 6 people from my group. They were sitting in the station resting and magically out of nowhere this station was serving hot food. So I got a plate of 1000 yen curry and some green tea and suddenly had the energy for the rest of the climb. So we set out for the top of the mountain. Little did we know this would be the hardest part of the climb. It was basically a single file line the rest of the way because the path was so narrow and every step was a step up 1 or 2 feet at least. But then finally at about 3:50 we reached the top. And let me tell you, it was freezing up there. And I don't mean freezing in the general sense. It had to have been in the 30s Fahrenheit and very close to freezing. We found a place to sit down and have an oxygen tank party. Very necessary because the air up there was thin, but we all had these small light oxygen cans that we carried with us the whole night. So anyway, the reason for the overnight climb was so we could watch the sunrise from the highest point in the land of the rising sun. I used my compass that Adam gave me as a groomsman's gift to figure out where east was and we sat and waited in the freezing cold. It was cloudy so it was hard to see, but the sunrise was still pretty cool. We could see different cities around the mountain and how they looked in the sunrise. All in all it wasn't as great as I heard it would be, but I didn't care. I was watching the sunrise from the top of Mt. Fuji. When we made the decision to drop everything and move to Japan we said that we wanted to experience as much as we could. And this was one of those experiences.
So after the sunrise, I checked out the crater, found Kelly, took some pictures, changed my socks, ate some bread, and began the descent at around 5:30. I won't go into too much detail about the way down except for this. People kept telling us beforehand that the way down was harder than the way up. I didn't believe it until I started. To start with, you're already completely exhausted from the 6 hour climb up, but then add in the fact that this is a volcano so all of the ground is loose ash and volcanic rock. We were basically slipping and sliding the whole way down. Kelly fell once, I almost fell about 10 times, I slowly sprained both of my ankles and both of my big toes started to bleed from my shoes pressing against them. Advice: if you climb Mt. Fuji, cut your toenails beforehand. I'm notorious for being bad about cutting my toenails and it came back to haunt me this time. So anyway, we finally got back to the fifth station at around 10:30 and collapsed until everyone else got back. We got back on the bus around 11:30, got dropped off at Fuji station and took the train back to the station next to our apartment. Kelly went to eat lunch and I went home. I fell asleep around 2:30pm and didn't get up until the next morning when I got up to go to work. That was a rough bike ride, let me tell you.
So in the end, it was an experience like none I have ever had and none I will ever have again. Ever. Ever. But you know what? I CLIMBED MT. FUJI!!! I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from doing it that has the opportunity. Just know that it will be very difficult, but it will also be an experience that you will never forget. I will be telling my grandchildren about it someday, and that to me is worth every step.
In other news, I gave a speech in front of the entire student body on Monday, which was the first day of the new term. It went well. I made a joke in Japanese and some people actually laughed. Here it is: America no Texas kara kimashita demo watashi wa cowboy dewa arimasen. Translation: I am from America's state of Texas, but I am not a cowboy. I had a welcome lunch with the English staff today and surprised everybody by eating sashimi. Apparently there is a misconception here by some people that Americans don't eat raw fish. But I love it and it was great today. I sat at the head of the table with the principal who talked to me about the Astros, and I lamented how they were good in August as usual but that it was too little too late as usual.
Here is a picture I took from the top of Mt. Fuji with my iPhone. It's not great but like I said there will be a video coming soon. Take care!
