Journal 20 - Joe vs The Volcano

I've always wanted to use that as a title!!!

Well, my friends, I finally did it. I finally came face to face with my friend ... And won! Well, sort of! OK, so this is the story. It's Saturday morning, July 16th at 8:00 am. I'm waiting at the Shizuoka train station for the rest of "Team Gaijin". Gaijin, meaning foreigner in Japanese. The team consisted of Bruce from England, Tamie from USA, Shawn from USA and of course myself. We all met at the local Starbucks where we were to meet my student Shiro. Shiro had arranged this entire endeavour for a total of 13 of us. The other 9 were members from his work including his boss. Now, by the time we left the station it was around 9:00 am. The drive to Mt. Fuji or to the 5th station to be more specific was about 2 hours. We, Team Gaijin, were thinking this start time was a little too early because we would be arriving at around 11 am. The entire climb can take up to 9 hours to get to the top and our whole plan was to arrive by sunrise. Well, we thought nothing of it, loaded our bags and got into the car ... Next stop Fuji-san!!! Well, not really.

First we went to a rest stop to meet more people. Oh right, I forgot there were only 4 others at the station. OK, no problem ... we met the others. Off we go ... ah yes, of course they need to take a picture. I mean first time climbing Fuji, has to be done! Off we go ... Next stop Fuji! After stopping at the convenient store of course to get supplies. I mean, you need water and snacks and all. Of course, it wouldn't make sense to get all that before we left. That's OK, probably a good time for a bathroom break anyway. OK, off we go ... next stop Fuji! Ummmm, it's now getting close to 11:00 ... maybe we should get some lunch first. You know, fill up on the carbs for that long trek. We arrive at a nice restaurant, had some Japanese ramen. Sat, socialized for a while. Good times, good times ... LET'S GO!! Now you're probably wondering the time frame of all this. Well, as I mentioned, we arrived at the restaurant at around 11. We stayed until about noon. Out of all this we covered maybe a half an hour of the trip. So, you can imagine, a half an hour drive that took us 3 hours so far. We still have another hour and a half ahead of us. So, we leave the restaurant, get into the car and leave ... after another picture of course. Next stop Fuji ?? ... Yesss ... NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I guess the first convenient store wasn't good enough for some people because, we stopped at another one. I mean, I understand that because I heard this particular store has fresher water than the first one. Doh, should've bought mine there instead of the one I bought BEFORE WE LEFT!!!! At this point, the four of us are pretty much laughing and crying at the same time (K, maybe that was just me) ... Oh, look they're taking another picture ... it's such a beautiful convenient store. Finally, 12:30 pm everyone gets back in their car and start driving to ... ??!

Yes folks, we did make it to Mt. Fuji 5th Station and I am happy to say, that was the last stop before we headed. Now, I've mentioned the 5th Station a couple times, maybe I should explain what that is. There are different stations on Mt Fuji. The 5th station is the 2300 m point where mostly everyone starts. You can start from the bottom if you like, but to be honest it's not really that nice to see. Some say it's pretty much a cop out starting over half way up. I personally, wanted to see how I could handle the remaining 1400 m as this was my first time. Would I start from the bottom next time? Maybe! So, we arrived at the station, got our gear and headed to the starting point. One of the things I was told I should purchase for the hike was a walking stick. You can buy a 4 ft wooden one for 1000 yen. It was actually the best purchase for 2 reasons. The first was, it was well needed going up and down. Especially down as it was quite slippery. The second reason was, I was able to get a brand from every station we went up to. At the end of the trek, I came back with about a dozen different cool looking brands on the stick that makes for a wicked souvenir.

The climb itself went from "this is cool" to "this is hard" to "are we there yet?" to "OH MY GOD ... it's freakin cold, get me down from here". I have to admit, it wasn't a very difficult climb. Although, I'm sure a couple from the group would disagree with me. I was, however, fairly alarmed when I saw a bunch of people on their way down (obviously climbed the day before) and looking extremely tired and not very happy. Oh oh, what am I getting myself into. Nonetheless, I continued up, took my time and enjoyed the view as we climbed up. The beginning was more of a zig zag. The rocks were a little slippery, but not too bad. It was when we started getting to the different stations that it got a little more difficult. The rocks were bigger and had to take big steps to get from one to another. It was even more difficult doing this and stopping everytime because of all the people. I've never been stuck in a traffic jam while climbing a mountain before. The number of people was unbelievable. It was like standing in line waiting to get on a ride. So taking our time was pretty much inevitable. As I was climbing, I looked around at the view. It was very cool, being eye level with the clouds. I was also looking up towards the top and couldn't help but notice how colorful Mt. Fuji is ... brown, green, blue, red, florescent pink, florescent yellow ... oh wait, that's the clothing people are wearing. Apparently, the important thing to climbing Mt. Fuji isn't the stamina or skill ... it's how good you look. The clothing people were wearing ... I'm sure they spared no expense on them. It was actually quite amusing seeing these people all decked up in their climbing gear, stopping every 5 minutes and sucking on their Oxygen tanks. Which, I might add was overkill. Yes, the atmosphere is thinner, but it wasn't that bad. I didn't even bother buying an oxygen tank and didn't need to.

Now, as I mentioned in previous journals, Japanese people love to party. Even at 3000 m. I remember coming to one of the stations, taking a break, standing, minding my own business. I was eating some trail mix that I made up before we left. Apparently, no one has ever seen trail mix before. This man who was sitting beside me and yes a few sheets to the wind was very interested in what I was eating. He kept on staring at me as I was eating. Well, first he had to focus in, but once he got it was staring. He was like a dog following my every move as my hand went from the bag to my mouth. Finally, I stopped and decided to offer this man some of my mix. Well, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Before I knew it, that bag was out of my hand and in his. Then he started passing it around to his buddy's. They were equally enjoying it. It was like seeing cave men trying food for the first time. I think I even heard the odd satisfied grunt. Luckily, I had a couple bags because there was no way I was getting that one back. The first guy actually got up and was about to buy me a beer. Although, the offer was tempting, by that point we were getting close to our first destination which was the "lodge" and we wanted to get up there and settled in. So, I declined the offer and continued up. I definitely left those guys with smiles on their faces. Who knew a bag of nuts and raisins would do that. Add it to my list of firsts!

Now, I just realized that was the first time I mentioned the "lodge". Yes, we actually stayed at a "lodge" on the 8th station which was the 3200 m point. The reason wasn't because we were so tired that we couldn't finish the last 500 m. The reason was we were planning to get to the top and watch the sunrise. In order to do that, we needed to start a little later. So, the "lodge" was for us to rest for about 3 hours and then start again in the middle of the night. Interesting concept, climbing a mountain in the middle of the night where it's pitch black out. But, I digress! So, let me tell you a little something about the "lodge". Notice the word "lodge" is in quotes. Well, the reason is, I use the term "lodge" lightly. This was basically a hut with an open room and built in beds at the back. The open room was the dining room since food was provided. Nothing too fancy of course. It's the beds that were interesting. These weren't normal beds like we know. This was basically one long frame lined with a thin mattress. There's one frame on the bottom and another on the top. Kind of like a huge, built in bunk bed. I was trying to figure out how they were going to fit all these people into these beds. Well, let me tell you. I was little confused when we were asked to line up for placement. I noticed people were being guided into the bed and was wondering why they were going to sleep so early. I looked at the others and they were equally confused. We nearly ended up doing the famous child-like stomping and whining "I don't want to go to bed, I'm not tired", when we realized what was happening. We were being placed, so that the staff could figure out how many they could fit. It's really hard to explain, but lets just say by the end of it all I bonded with a few people I really didn't want to. If you're trying to picture what it looked like, picture a can of sardines and that was us. And I wish I was exaggerating. One persons head was against the wall, then the next persons feet, then head, then feet. All pushed up against each other like a jigsaw puzzle. At that moment, I wanted to head down to the nearest grocery store, buy all the sardine cans, open them up and say "YOU'RE FREE ... GET OUT!!!!" After a few adjustments, we were all finally placed. By the way, the time we arrived at the lodge was about 8:00 pm. It took a little longer than I expected, but oh well. Like I said, I was enjoying the scenery and we did see a beautiful sunset. So, we ate dinner, sat for a bit and ... well, attempted to go to bed. It was 9:00 and lights were out. I really felt like I was at boot camp. No matter, I figured I would try to get some sleep for a few hours and then we would start off again at around midnight. Three hours had come and gone and I got absolutely no sleep. The situation was just way too uncomfortable. Not being able to move was a difficult task for me and I think they decided to put us around every snoarer there. Not to mention, the guy beside me decided to sprall out, taking all my space. Yeah, it was a fun situation ... can't wait to do it again!

Midnight finally came ... actually I was wandering around way before that, organizing my backpack getting ready for the final trek. The last 500 m was the shortest, but also the hardest. First, it was not easy climbing in pitch dark even with flashlights and second, it was getting very windy and very cold. The climb took us about 3 and a half hours. When we got there, it was kind of strange, we weren't sure if it was the top or not. I think I almost expected a sign saying "Welcome to the top" or something. I think being the middle of the night and not being able to see anything, we were a little disoriented. So, all through the climb I was thinking about how I would feel at the top. Once I made it, the only thing I felt was ... DAMN COLD!!! Even with all the layers of clothing I had, it didn't help. I was told the weather could go down to about 2 or 3 C ... Yeah, no. It was freakin well below 0 and with the wind, felt even colder. We're all huddled together trying to get warm. We're cold, tired and not to mention a little grumpy. I was thinking ... OK, I did it, let's go! But, we stuck it out and waited until the sunrise. Actually, we did get lucky, the store that normally opens at around 5 am decided to open up earlier to let us get warmed up. Once again crammed like sardines, but at least I was able to get warmed up ... a little. Finally, 4:45 came along which was sunrise time. Unfortunately, it wasn't very enjoyable for me because I was shivering like crazy. All I was thinking about was ... warmth! The sunrise came ... I attempted to take a picture but it didn't come out very well since it was difficult to keep a steady hand. Once that was done, we were all pretty much saying, "K, I'm done, let's go"! Within minutes we started heading down. No, thinking, no waiting for others ... we all had the same thought ... Down! Now!

Now, the descent was by far the most difficult even more so than climbing up that last bit. It was quite steep, slippery and it seemed like it went on forever. I've always hated going down hill, whether it's walking or running. I always find it much harder on the knees. So, the next 5 hours ended up being pretty painful. I now know what those people we saw at the beginning felt like. There actually wasn't much talking amongst each other. Our only goal was to get down.

We arrived at the bottom at around 9:30 or 10:00. Everyone was gathered around pretty much looking tired and again not much talking. But, we all had that look of satisfaction on our faces. Finally, one last group picture was taken and everyone went their separate ways. Well, not Team Gaijin. Shiro drove us back and to be honest I don't remember much of the drive. As soon as I got into that car, I was out like a light.

I didn't do very much the next 2 days at home. But, I have to admit, I was happy to see I didn't feel any muscle pain, just fatigue. So, the question is, would I do it again? You bet!!!! But, there are things I would do differently. The first, I would start earlier and climb all the way to the top in one day. No more lodges for this boy! The second, I would bring more layers of clothing with me. I said earlier that the climb wasn't that difficult and all in all it wasn't. I knew there would be some difficult parts to it. It was actually the cold that pretty much did it in for me. But hey ...That's All Part of the Adventure!!!!