The Little Engine that Could....

FUJI-SAN: CONQUERED!

It took a whopping 16 and a bit hours but I climbed MT. Fuji this weekend and actually made it to the top!

Whodathunkit that I'd come to Japan and do all these adventurous things? But alas I am proving to myself that given the opportunity (lots of free time and FU-JET organized trips) I quite enjoy participating in outdoor activities-like climbing dormant volcanos!

Climbing Mt. Fuji wasn't totally easy for me. The rain ( sometimes slush) and close to freezing temperature even made it a little miserable at times but I am very proud of myself. My little group was Logan and my ALT friend Leonard, although we met up with other ALT friends along the way. We hiked overnight starting at 6:30pm. We took our time and stopped at the various huts and stations for rests and snacks. The first two hours were the most physically demanding for me as my body was in shock from walking uphill for so long. After the 7th hut we had to climb steeper rocks inbetween the different stations. Overall, this was harder on my muscles, but my body was getting used to the activity. I was lucky not to have suffered much from the altitude, but my fellow climbers (Logan and Leonard) were not so lucky. It was our goal to reach the top in time for the sunrise, which is called go-raiko, but because of the crowds we didn't make it in time. As it turned out, the sunrise was blocked by clouds and there wasn't much of a view anyways.

We didn't spend much time at the top; we were too tired, cold and wet. We snapped a few pictures then started our decent. The decent used different muscles then the ascent, and was very monotonous. The view was neat though. The climbers on the mountain looked like a bunch of colourful ants on red sand.

Overall it was a positive experience but as the saying goes "You are wise to climb Mt. Fuji once and a fool to climb it twice" I don't think I would do it again.

Yeh TEAM IWAKI!

Big thanks goes to my Merrell shoes which were an excellent understudy to my hikers that I couldn't wear. Merrells, you were Great!!