climbing fuji #1

after a last pit stop at the train station for hygiene and wifi purposes, it was go time. i'll give some context first: there are three trails leading up to the summit of fuji, the one was going to take was the yoshida trail that has been walked by monks for centuries. it's also the most popular trail in the on season, but i missed (or rather avoided) that by a couple of days, so officially, the trail, along with all water, food and shelter service along the way, would be closed.

the mountain is segmented into 10 stages from bottom to top, with the fifth station being the last one reachable by road and subsequently a tourist attraction and start point of summit pushes. i was going all the way from the bottom though, so i would have to sleep on the mountain. my plan went as follows: hike up to 5th station, find a sheltered sleeping spot there once the tourists leave, summit the next day and use the emergency shelter located on 8th station, then walk all the way back down the next day. that way, i could hit the summit window while even being able to leave my tent at the bottom.

just to be sure, i went to the tourist info that morning. the lady told me that the trail was fully closed off with no way to summit, i could not refill water at 5th station, and i wouldn't be able to make it there anyway because it was already too late. i chose to respectfully ignore everything she said and give it a try anyways - and went on to discover that everything she had told me was wrong.

the start of the trail could've well been a german forest with a barely noticable slope, but it got steeper and steeper the further i went along the trail. apart from a couple of runners, i didn't see more than a dozen hikers that day. knowing that 300.000 people hike fuji every year, i didn't know whether to see that as a good or bad sign, but it was certainly great to have some quiet time after all those days on the highway. the thick forest made the heat somewhat bearable, so i was right in my element and smashed the 15kms up to 2300 meters in less than four instead of six hours. when i got to the observation deck on fifth station, i was of course greeted not only by hundreds of tourists, but a bunch of stores as well. shoutout to the info lady for making me carry 3 kilos of extra water up that mountain.

now for the hard part: finding a sleeping spot. there was a bunch of security at the 5th station, making it impossible to sleep there, so i backtracked a bit to a tiny prayer hut i had made a mental note of while walking by earlier. i probably committed an act of blasphemy, but it was the perfect size to put a sleeping mat in and even had doors that could keep the wildlife and humidity out. i was pretty paranoid that at some point, the owner would come to close up the hut for the night and empty the collection box and throw me out, but after an hour of hiding in the bushes waiting for somebody to appear, i figured what the hell and made myself comfortable in there.

it turned out later that night that i wasn't the only one spending the night in there, when i repeatedly heard, but never saw, a rat running around, at one point, i think, even bumping into my sleeping bag. i just hoped i wouldn't wake up to an angry japanese man or any rodents nibbling on my ears, and fell soundly asleep.Читать далее