MT FUJI

Our Holiday is off and running!!!

Our first mission was to find Platty and at one of the busiest stations in Tokyo. He decided on the "West" exit as a meeting point. (Great Job Platty) After missing our train but finding Platty we headed for Fuji. Our trains made up time and we arrived for the Bus for the 5th station at around 7pm. We met an American named Aaron who was climbing alone and looking for a bit of company. He was a GEOS teacher in Japan and a top bloke. We got on the bus, excited but daunted of what lay ahead. At 8pm we arrived at the 5th station and at 8:20pm we took our before Fuji photo and headed off up the Mountain. It is said to be between a 5 to 9 hour climb. 45 minutes passed and we were at the 6th station of 10. Feeling good and energetic we pushed on and 30 mins later we were at the 7th.In what felt like no time at all, we were at what we thought was the 8th station. Our high spirits were about to be shattered. It was actually the emergency point for First aid coming down the mountain from the real 8th station. It was to be another 2 hrs before we reached the 8th station, now tired, cold and feeling like we had got know where we pushed on hoping it doesn't get any worse!! The trails kept going up and up into the clouds, somewhere along the way we managed to also lose Platty, we were all together with Platty leading a little in front. We told him to wait at the next station but "He kept going"!! We panicked and looked for 30 mins or so before deciding to go to the next station. Sure enough we found him. He wanted to get ahead of a tour group!! Thanks for that Pete!!

We finally were at the 9th station but 6.5hrs later and wet, cold and tired. We headed for the top.

Stuck in a tour group, wind blowing and rain 1.5hrs later we finally reached the Tori Gate Symbolising the gateway to the top. WE HAD MADE IT!! The time was 2am and sunrise was in 2hrs!! The Climb had taken the better half of 8hrs.

Cold and wet we managed to get into a small room where they were serving light meals for warmth. Then it happened. The crowd rose as one as the sky turned red as the sun stated to rise. Cold and tired we watched as the sun rose above the clouds. The feeling was amazing and we will never forget this experience. We were speechless with the beauty of what we were looking at. As night turned to day we began our descent around 5:30am an expected 4hr trip. Not sure if going down was that much easier, walking on loose stones and volcanic sand. Finally we were back at station 5 and took the after Fuji Photo. A noticeable difference to the photo taken before Fuji!! A total of 12hrs walking and no sleep we were there. At the bottom the drink machines were sold out and our bus was leaving. We got on the bus and made our way back to the Shinkansen for the 4hr trip to Kainan. It was a lot quieter trip home than it was there.

We decided we would sleep first and decide in the morning if we would go to Hiroshima or not!!

Enjoy the Photos of Fuji and continue reading about our trip.