A man a plan Fuji-san

So as I might have mentioned a post or two back, part of the plan was to climb Mt Fuji.
That time had arrived.

We got up stupidly early in the morning and walked to a nearby hotel to meet the tour group, we rounded the corner into the lobby and a familiar looking Japanese man asked "How was your Sukiyaki?".

We introduced ourselves to some of the other climbers and Také suggested a few preparatory measures before we set off (buying lunch before we left to avoid queues, making sure people had enough cash, and so forth)

At 7:30am We got on a bus and drove for a couple of hours to the 5th Station

The place has a few tourist shops

using the toilet here costs 100 Yen (about $1)

The view from the 5th Station was already spectacular

And of course Fujisan itself

At 11:30 the trail was quite crowded when we started out

Usually the view off the mountain was breathtaking.

We climbed quite slowly, and stopped every twenty to thirty minutes for a short break.

The weather was fairly erratic. It could be quite clear one minute.

and covered in fog the next.

The climbing was like a fairly steep hike for the first hour or so. Once we passed the 6th station there were more and more frequent sections where you would need to climb up rock faces. Usually these were akin to a very uneven set of stairs, but occasionally they were steep enough that you would need to grab handholds to get up them.

By the time we reached the 7th Station hut (at about 4pm) where we were to get several hours sleep before continuing the climb to the summit I was starting to really struggle to get enough Oxygen.

When I'd had a chance to rest inside a warm hut for 20 minutes, still wasn't able to breathe properly and didn't feel particularly able to eat, I had to acknowledge I was suffering from altitude sickness and that continuing the climb would be stupid. I spoke to Také and he made arrangements for me to leave the hut after dawn and descend from the mountain.

The common area of the hut. Také is in the white t-shirt.

Toilets here cost 200 Yen to use.

Sleeping arrangements

We were woken at around 10pm and the others geared up to continue the hike.

Of the climb to the peak Ken says "it was an endless struggle through water and wind, a climbing purgatory where you constantly felt as if the summit was only minutes away, only to have your hopes dashed the moment you hauled yourself to the top of whatever rock face you were struggling up". 

They arrived chilled, to the bone at around 4am, huddled together like penguins for warmth before they could get space in a small hut and pay 900 Yen ($9) for instant noodles in a cup. Toilets here cost 300 Yen.

But in the end all their icy struggle was worth it, because they got to see:

Sunrise from Mount Fuji.

In the meantime, having had an extra 6 hours rest; I got up, ordered a hot chocolate and sat and watched the "sunrise" while I ate my breakfast. Shortly after that a group of us including the wife of a married couple on the climb with us, who had also had to stop because of back pain, began a leisurely descent of the mountain.

Mary-beth and I on the way back down.

Back at the 5th Station.

On the hike back down I struck up a conversation with a Japanese woman who had spent several months in Melbourne as part of a working holiday, and we had breakfast while we waited for our respective groups to return from the mountainside.

My fast friend Yumi

Eventually the others arrived in dribs and drabs. Nick (Mary-beth's husband) had purchased a wooden walking stick for the climb, which he got branded at each station up the mountain.

quite the souvenir.

And in the end

As the Japanese say, a wise man climbs Fuji once, and a fool twice,
but the true wisdom of this phrase is usually only learned the hard way.
-- http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Fuji