Day 4

So, the day had come, the reason for the trip to Japan, today was the day we faced Mount Fuji. With a few hours to kill we decided to take a quick trip into Tokyo to climb a tower, Tokyo Towe was built in 1958 for the Analog TV Stations and stands at 333m tall. We took a trip to the top and looked out over all of Tokyo, interesting to see that Japan is now moving to digital and the New Tokyo Tower stands at 634m. After a quick subway back to the hotel it was time to do the final pre climb checks.

We repacked our bags and made sure we had everything, popped down to the shop to purchase our water and "pick me up" foods. It was at this point that I realised why Dad had such a small bag, it was so I could carry all the water!! The weather was hot, and we headed down to meet Luke who was going to be our guide up Mount Fuji.

After an hour drive we arrived at the base of Mount Fuji and looked  up at this enormous volcano. I think at this point Dad and I looked at each other, thinking Oh Dear, It is actually quite big. We needed to spend some time adjusting to altitude so we tucked into some food and drank plenty of water. Just as we began relaxing down came the rain, followed by lightening, we where  going to get very wet unless it cleared up in the next 30 minutes. Luke went through the safety briefings, taught the rest step (a way of conserving energy), altitude sickness warnings, and if it begins to lightening on the Mountain we run to an emergency hut!

Just as we ran through our final checks, the rain began to cease, and the summit of Fuji came into view again, it was time to begin to the long climb to 3,776.24m. Due to Mount Fuji being a volcano the mountain itself is made up of ash and rock, and subsequently there is little life on the Mountain itself. The first stint of the climb was fairly simple, like a good walk in the woods, and we arrived at the next hut. Unfortunately, due to it not being the "official climbing season", we where unable to purchase a Fuji walking stick, nor where too many of the huts open for business. As the sun began to set the path turned from ash, to thick stone, headlamps where turned on as began trying to find out next steps up the mountain. Effectively the climb up Fuji is one big zig zag, for every turn we made, we knew we where one closer to the stop.

It was important as we got higher up that mountain, that we stopped regularly for 5-10 mins to adjust to the altitude and take on lots of water, it was now pitch black, and we relied on our head lamps to guide us up the mountain. It was probably a good thing as we couldn't see the summit and we just carried on walking. As we approached the 7th Stations the air was becoming noticeably thinner and we took a lot longer rest at this station to try and acclimatise. At this point in the climb, there wasn't too much conversation going on, we where all focused on finding where to put our next steps and climbing up, the temperature was beginning to drop and I decided to put on my hoodie, and we continued our climb up to the 8th station. The 8th station was open, and we grabbed a cup of coffee, and would take a 2 hour rest before we made out summit attempt.

I knew that during the 2 hour break there was no way Dad would sleep, but I can normally sleep anywhere but unfortunately I could not sleep in this hut. I think we all shut our eyes, but noone slept, waiting for 03:00 when we would climb the rest of the way to the summit. The clock seemed to take forever to tick over but at 02:45, we all began to put our kit back on, and wrapped up for our final climb.

The path continued to zigzag up, with the rocks becoming ever bigger, by 04:00 the light was beginning to come through, we where worried we wouldnt get to the summit in time, Luke had prewarned that whilst it will get light the sun won't rise until 4:30. Still Dad and I took no risks and stormed up the Mountain to make sure we didnt miss the sun rise. We turned the corner and ahead of us stood a Shinto, this symbolised the top of Mount Fuji, and at 04:03 we had reached the summit of Mount Fuji. Now amazing whilst at home I struggle to get reception on my phone in my own house, at the top of Mount Fuji we had full reception, so a quick phone call home, and texts to special people we where able to find the best spot to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately it looked very cloudy and misty, we knew it wasn't going to be a perfect sun rise, but still there where enough breaks in the clouds for us to be able to see the sun rise. as we found an area to hide from the wind facing the East we waited in anticipation for the sun to rise, and at 04:32 the sun began to show, first just the rays of light and then the full sun came into show. After about 30 mins of watching the sun, i wanted to walk around the crater of the volcano, which would take about an hour. So we repacked our stuff and began to walk around the crater, wow this volcano was huge, as began to peer down into the volcano itself. The wind was gathering some real pace, and at some points was struggling to stand up. But the reason for walking round the crater was to get to the highest point, there was a weather station which stood right at the top, and after a 30 minute walk we had reached the highest point on Mount Fuji. We had done it, now the difficult part of getting down again. Unfortunately one part of the crater was shut, so instead of walking all the way round we had to turn round and head back to the path.