Fuji, Day Two

At a little past 3:00 a.m. we are roused from sleep by the quiet bustle of others getting ready for the final ascent. We slip into our thermal underwear and strap on our headlamps, in a manner much more "genki" than one would expect, considering the hour and the temperature.

Outside the hut, we fall in line behind the dozens of other pilgrims, all taking the first steps of what we are told will be a 2 hour climb to the top.


Many of the hikers are in large groups, all following their respective leaders who are wearing flashing red beacons on their backpacks. Looking up the dark mountain, a zig-zag trail of flashlights illuminates the switchback trail. The slow pace of the single file line quickly becomes tedious however, and being gaijin, we have no problems stepping out of line, then scrambling by the band of hikers (many of whom are sucking oxygen from aerosol cans), and huffing and wheezing our way to the front. The string of headlights looks much prettier from above than below.

At just before 5 a.m., we arrive at the top, after just an hour and twenty minutes of climbing. A few small groups of hikers have already made it, and are now setting up tripods or huddling by a wall to get out of the wind. Within minutes of our arrival, a thin sliver of bright red light appears on the horizon, and then disperses into paler shades on the dawn clouds.



We are denied a view of a red sphere sun rising into the sky as I had hoped, and yet the dawn is still spectacular. I've never seen so many cloud formations, nor seen them so far below me. The "unkai" does indeed look like an ocean of clouds. Most of the land is covered by a white blanket, though a few other mountain tops poke through like toes at the end of the bed. We take the requisite photos and chat with some other climbers, including some of Mark's countrymen who also want to pose with the Irish tri-color he brought along.




It takes us about an hour to walk around the crater, which, were it not for the many building scraps (?) lying about and the blue sky above us, would look like the surface of another planet (or so I imagine). Walking even the slightest incline, is taxing; we have to stop for a breather after every couple steps.



After completing the circumfrence, we breakfast on our final rice balls, generic Pringles, and chocolate, desperately wishing we had filled up our thermos with something hot before setting off. A cup of coffee would have been lovely...Yet the views more than make up for the lack of hot beverage and after a last long look, we gather our things and begin our descent.







The walk down is hard on the knees but otherwise easy as the air becomes thicker and our breathing more effortless. The views are more gorgeous than the previous day--Fuji's color against the blue sky and white clouds is striking. I tune out/in with my iPod for awhile, enjoying some shamisen music and the fine day we are so fortunate to have.






Less than three hours after leaving the summit, we are back at 5th station, and treat ourselves to an icecream and a bowl of ramen before passing out in the sun on the stone courtyard outside the shops/restaurants.

An email later in the week from a friend will say "You can now look at those snow-capped Fuji postcards, and feel a sense of complete domination of the mountain." Yeah, something like that.