Most tourists who travel to Japan dream of climbing Mt. Fuji. If you are one of these people you better read the story below...

It was late summer, and I had tried to suppress the feeling for a whole year now. Looking out from the 23^rd floor of my office one late afternoon looking at beautiful Mt. Fuji, I finally broke down. I had climbed the mountain two times already and after every time I said, "NEVER AGAIN!!!!!" Well, that afternoon words like, "It wasn't that bad" and "Come on you could do it again" went through my mind and I unfortunately, I began to believe those evil words. I asked some people from my division if they were up to the challenge and two very brave (stupid???) young ladies, Yoshiko and Yukiko said that they would be happy to go with me. I also asked my friend Kaz whom I met while we were both going to college in Vancouver to come along.

A few weeks later August 31, 1996, finally arrived and I first drove to pick up Kaz at exactly 2pm. I get to his house and guess what? Yes, you're right, he is still asleep. After waiting one restless hour, he is finally ready and we head off to Fuchu where we are suppose to meet Yoshiko and Yukiko. After battling the traffic on the expressway we finally arrive two hours late.

The drive to on the Chuo expressway was very smooth with no traffic. We veer off to the left junction at Otsuki and head toward Mt. Fuji. Our exit Kawaguchiko is just ahead and I announce that we will get off the expressway. Kaz says, 'No, no just go straight and get off at the next exit." Well, it turns out that straight means that we will head toward the other side of Mt. Fuji, so at the next break in the center guardrail, I manage to do a U-turn. What else can go wrong you ask? Well, Kawaguchiko only has an exit coming south and we are now going north and there is absolutely NO EXIT on this express way until Otsuki again!

You ask what more can go wrong? Well, at Otsuki there was a traffic jam. Kaz says get in the left lane and take a left at that junction. Yes, you guessed it; we have now missed the Otsuki exit and are back on the Chuo heading to the next exit, which is Katsunuma. We finally reach the exit and I manage again to pull a U-turn right before the tollbooth and we head in the other direction. To make a long story short, I make sure that I don't listen to Kaz anymore and we finally manage to get back to Kawaguchiko and peacefully exit. It total we had managed to make a 96km detour. I am not kidding, measure it on your map, and you will measure exactly ninety-six kilometers.

We pay 1,200 yen and enter the Subaru Skyline road headed for the fifth station of Mt. Fuji. There is such dense fog that I can only see a couple feet in front of me. We anxiously drive, all four of us straining our eyes with our eyeballs almost popping out making sure that we don't hit anything or fall down a cliff. Any speed above 5-10km would mean total death. We finally make the 5^th station and it is almost 10pm, we must start our climb soon to be able to make it to the top before sunrise. All these Japanese climbing club members are doing group stretching in the parking lot but we just hastily get our things together and we are on our way.

We walked around 45 minutes and the path is still flat and sometimes it even seems as we are descending. We are almost at the 6^th station and then the most bizarre thing happened. Kaz's sole from his left shoe started flapping and just disintegrated. I mean, he lifted his leg to look at his sole and it was completely gone. All we could see was his bare feet sticking out! Imagine if this happened somewhere in the middle of our 8-hour ascent! Kaz had some extra shoes that he left in the trunk of my car so he half limped and ran back to the fifth station.

Yoshiko and Yukiko by now have this totally bad impression of Kaz and are asking me if I am sure that he is okay and that no screws are missing upstairs. I reassure then that he was my long time friend in Canada and that he is actually quite a cool guy. They halfheartedly accept my explanation and we wait what seems like forever for him to come back. In the meantime all these Japanese and gaijin climbers are passing by us and I am acting like a tour guide because the place that we stopped has a junction and it is difficult to know which way to go. After a while even before the next group of climbers arrive I announce with a loud voice in Japanese and English, "Okay, everybody just take a right here and you should see the 6^th station after 15 minutes."

We start to worry that he might have passed us in the dark and just when we are about to head to the 6^th station, Kaz finally arrives almost out of breath. We walk on to the 6^th station and finally stop there to get some much needed rest. It was very hot and all three were complaining to me how hot it was since I had warned then that it would be very, very cold. They also made fun of me saying that this wasn't really a climb and that the walk was long but easy. I just grinned and didn't say much.

Most Japanese and gaijin climbers all buy one of those wooden Mt. Fuji climbing sticks with the Japanese flag and a bell attached. At each station you could buy a souvenir stamp that is burnt into the wood, to prove that you have made it to that station. Then at the very top, most people take the bell and leave it in front of some kind of alter. The thing is pretty cool, but I highly recommend that you don't get sucked into buying one. I swear, the next time that I hear a million people all with little bells, going… ring, ring, ring, I will take the stick and wrap it around their neck. Remember, even the lightest thing tends to get heavy after 11 hours of walking!

The climb to the 7^th station gets a little steeper and but it is not that bad. In between each main station there are also smaller stations, something like 7, 7a, 7b, 8, 8a, 8b, 8c, 9, 9a, 9b all the way to the top which is station 10. I'm not exactly sure how many there are but don't be happy because you just left station 8 and you see another station ahead and you think it is station 9. It will probably be 8a, 8k, 8w or whatever.

Our climb is progressing smoothly and we finally get to station 8. This is where things start to change. Even though it is still summer, the temperature drops dramatically. Oxygen in the air also starts to decrease and the body must work extra hard to get oxygen in to the lungs. All the heavy breathing makes you very lightheaded. You can buy cans filled with oxygen for about 1,200 yen but Yoshiko had bought some at a sports store for 500 yen and brought it along. We decide to open a can and try it out. It is something like a spray can with a plastic mask that goes over the mouth and nose. We take turns sucking this can all through our climb to the 9^th station.

The trip from the 8^th station to the 9^th station is torture. Just picture yourself walking on loose lava rock on a steep incline for hours and hours on end. Then add subzero temperatures, and take away half the oxygen. Now you have a slight picture of the conditions. Only make that about twice as worse.

We trekked on and had been walking for about 5 hours already. At the 9^th station there was a huge crowd of climbers and we had trouble just finding a place to sit. The toilets at each station are awful but an explanation of these would fill up another book. We were dead tired and Yoshiko and Yukiko didn't look too well but we were all still in high spirits joking all the way. Here we are freezing and these strange gaijins from Australia are walking past in shorts and light sweaters! All the other climbers are snickering when they walk by however they don't look a bit cold. I'm sure that deep inside that they are almost dying of hypothermia though.

The final leg of the ascent is now upon us. We leave the 9^th station and climb for what seemed like an eternity. This is where your energy totally gets drained from your body. I could feel that I was almost at the very peak of my endurance. I had run marathons in high school and was always good at long distances; however, I could feel that my strength was almost gone. I was really worried about Yoshiko and Yukiko and they wanted to rest every 5 minutes or so. Kaz was also dead tired and our joking and discussions decreased to the absolute minimum. I found out later that the young ladies were at the verge of giving up and turning around, but every time we were resting and they had the chance to discuss this among themselves, I would stand up forcefully and say, "Everybody up lets go, hurry get up. We need to make it before sunrise!!!!" My forceful attitude and my policy of only resting for 5 minutes or less discouraged them from having the courage to turn around. I don't know if this was good or bad, since I also was at the limit of my endurance.

Somewhere around station 9b, we were climbing at around .00000073 km and then the most unbelievable thing happened. Yes, you probably guessed it. A traffic jam of climbers all trying to get to the top before sunrise. The path only allows one person to climb at a time so you can't pass anybody. Looking ahead and behind us we could see a huge line of flashlights all standing still. At last the line started moving very slowly, which was good because I don't think that I could have walked any faster.

A zombie state set in and I don't remember much of this part of the trip. My head was very dizzy and at times I thought I might faint, but the line kept moving so I just staggered along with the crowed. The cold was unreal even though I was wearing: underwear, long underwear, army pants, two socks, undershirt, two T-shirts, sweatshirt, light jacket, heavy ski jacket, gloves and a plastic rain gear that consisted of pants and a jacket. And believe it or not I was still cold. My fingertips had turned white and I borrowed Yoshiko's pocket "hoka hoka" warmer. At around this time also, some foolish Australian group went by again all wearing shorts. Their faces did show some signs of "why in the world am I ever doing this!?!?"

Finally since it was almost a full moon that night we could see the top! Only a short distance to go! Walking for hours and the distance only decreased a little bit. Then the finally the final stage came, and this consisted of steps that go all the way to the top. Picture yourself going from the first floor to the top of the Super Tower and you get a slight feeling of what it was like. The last flight of stairs and I had finally made it!! Yoshiko is now beside me and we look behind and not more then 200m are Kaz and Yukiko resting and totally refusing to move another inch. I beg and plead with them, saying that where we are standing is the top but they don't believe me. After 20 minutes they finally get some strength and then also make it to the top.

The top is at 3776m and it crawling with people and we all huddle together waiting for sunrise. We had climbed for about 7 hours and sunrise finally came 15 minutes later. It was awesome!!!! There were fluffy white clouds way below from where we were and the sun slowly rose above this vast sea of cotton. At the top, they even have public telephones and a post box. Yes, folks this is wonderful nature as seen from Japan. You see, instead of leaving everything in nature natural, the Japanese need to conform nature to work in harmony with humans. This means having steps, concrete blocks, hand rails, chains, telephones, post boxes, etc, etc and etc all over the mountain. I think that it has something to do with technological harmony with nature but I'm not sure.

We stayed for about 30 minutes and enjoyed looking into the crater and seeing all the expensive items in the gift store and then decide to head down. Going down you take a different path that just goes zigzag all the way down the mountain. I mean, this zigzag pattern continues for hours and hours it is a never ending trail, which I was sure leaded to some country in Africa, but was convinced what we were still in Japan because of the grammatically terrible signs in English telling people not to run or throw rocks down the side of the mountain.

The sun rose quite fast and it was starting to get very hot. One important item that all gaijin and especially Canadian gaijin like myself is to bring sunscreen. You don't notice it that much but the next day you will look like a lobster if you don't protect yourself. The loose lava is really hard to walk on and Yukiko and Yoshiko were falling all over the place. I had some good hiking boots that I bought at Dmart for 1,900 yen and was doing fine.

We walked and walked and to make a long story short we made it to the bottom of the path. Now we must walk another 6km horizontally to get back to the 5^th station. Here there are old men waiting with horses and it is very tempting to pay about 8,000 to get a ride. We hold back our desires and walk past trying not to look the horses in the eye. One of the horse caretakers says to the man in front of us, "Hey mister, you sure look like you can use a ride. You look like you are about to fall over from exhaustion." It was tempting to wrap a stick and a bell around the guy's neck however, the man in front of us and ourselves tried our best to ignore him.

No essay this time because I am still mad at myself for trying again.

All I can say is, "It was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!"

Sept 4, 1999 This is it! I climbed it a fifth time! This time was the easiest and it was not

cold at all! In fact the weather was quite nice. In any case this will be the LAST time!

For those of you stupid enough to climb Mt. Fuji here is a list of things to bring:

If climbing in September call to make sure what time the toll road "Subaru Line" is open. It usually closes at 7pm or so in the off-season.  Once I arrived at 7:20pm and had to wait until the next morning before they would let me up.