Mount Fuji or Bust

Joanna and I met a guy last night and he confirmed what I’ve known for years: it’s better to have a great story than to have a great time.

As I mentioned in my last post, Jo and I were headed to Mt. Fuji, or Fuji-san, to make the big climb. After a series of mishaps, [including, but not limited to:

oversleeping, getting conflicting but equally incorrect information from multiple sources, taking the wrong bus, missing the right bus, catching a ride on a boat, naked hot springs, being traumatized by rural Japanese bathroom facilities, experiencing heartburn, nausea, insomnia, and constipation, and getting caught in the path of a typhoon]

we finally made it to the mountain. We were a day late, so we knew we weren’t going to attempt to reach the summit, but we figured we get as high up as we could before having to turn around and go home.

In order to climb Mt. Fuji, most people start about two-thirds of the way up the mountain at Go-Go-Me (Fifth Station). This area is all set for tourists and amateur climbers. There are shops selling souvenirs and climbing gear, restaurants, bathrooms (if you can call them that), vending machines, lockers, you name it. It’s true that the “official climbing season” for Fuji-san is July and August and most sources will say that it is dangerous for inexperienced climbers to attempt the climb from October through May.

Obviously, not closed.

However, contrary to what we’d been told by the Tourist Info Center, Fuji-san and Go Gome were open for business and there were hundreds of people there including old people with canes and babies in strollers. We also saw at least two women attempting the hike in high-heeled shoes. Not sure how long they lasted, though.

Lunch on Fuji-san

The hike was very difficult, straight up in some places. I’m not an experienced hiker (which may come as a surprise to some of you), so we needed to stop often for me to catch my breath. Unfortunately, the weather was not good: lots of fog so no views from the mountain. We climbed for about 2 hours then gave up the ghost and cam back down and spent the rest of the afternoon in the souvenir shops until our 600th bus ride.

We did see some magnificent skies from the bus on the way down the mountain. The photos don’t do it justice. For more description and photos, here’s Joanna’s version.