These photos don’t give anywhere near a clear idea of how incredible it was to watch the sunrise from the top of Mount Fuji. The stars faded into the blue, the horizon grew orange and red, and the world below transformed under the growing light. A row of mountains below appeared to hold back a wave of clouds, so the many trees and fields and a lake could be seen from our stand point. Slowly the sun rose and people tried desperately (but will ultimately have failed) to capture the moment on camera.
Sadly, there was a large line of people at the torii gate who had their back to the show. Thinking they had made it in time, they didn’t bank on everyone else arriving at the same time as them and lost the moment. As I stood with everyone, Simon picked up his phone, claiming to be calling his parents. I turned away to take some photos of the crater in the daylight, but he waved me over and passed me the phone; on the other end was my boyfriend, whom he’d called as a surprise for me. All in all, it couldn’t have been a more perfect experience.
When the sun had fully risen in the sky, we stuck around until about 6am. The boys set off to hike around the crater whilst I went to get a hot tea. There is a restaurant / bar area at the top where you can buy hot drinks and food. A bowl of noodles will set you back about 900 yen, but as I have paid around this price in Kyoto before, I don’t think it was too bad. After all, it must be pretty difficult and costly to get supplies up to the top.
The descent was a series of steep and sandy zig zags which were so much easier taken at a run. And run I did for a little while. However, we came across another ALT who had been abandoned by her group and had a medical condition which meant she had struggled continuously through the night before finally arriving at the top (after a certain point, the only way down is up). Simon carried her bag for her and we slowed the pace right down, so in the end it took us about five hours to descend. She did get back to her group safely in the end though. Here are some photos I took on the way down.
Sadly, there was a large line of people at the torii gate who had their back to the show. Thinking they had made it in time, they didn’t bank on everyone else arriving at the same time as them and lost the moment. As I stood with everyone, Simon picked up his phone, claiming to be calling his parents. I turned away to take some photos of the crater in the daylight, but he waved me over and passed me the phone; on the other end was my boyfriend, whom he’d called as a surprise for me. All in all, it couldn’t have been a more perfect experience.
When the sun had fully risen in the sky, we stuck around until about 6am. The boys set off to hike around the crater whilst I went to get a hot tea. There is a restaurant / bar area at the top where you can buy hot drinks and food. A bowl of noodles will set you back about 900 yen, but as I have paid around this price in Kyoto before, I don’t think it was too bad. After all, it must be pretty difficult and costly to get supplies up to the top.
The descent was a series of steep and sandy zig zags which were so much easier taken at a run. And run I did for a little while. However, we came across another ALT who had been abandoned by her group and had a medical condition which meant she had struggled continuously through the night before finally arriving at the top (after a certain point, the only way down is up). Simon carried her bag for her and we slowed the pace right down, so in the end it took us about five hours to descend. She did get back to her group safely in the end though. Here are some photos I took on the way down.
It was pretty hot on the way down, and I did get a little sunburnt. Because of the amazing hiking boots my wonderful colleague lent me, my feet didn’t really hurt at all and I didn’t get a single blister. The journey home once we got to the fifth station is a bit of a blur – I remember it in a fog of sleep deprivation. Elation at having made it, the drunken feeling that comes with a lost night’s sleep, despair at the many layers which were now a torture device. There was ash under my fingernails that took me a long time to remove completely. The boys slept a fair amount but I stayed awake for most of it. I got home at about 7.30pm and could barely find the energy to do anything except shower the volcano out of my hair. It doesn’t matter though, because today I feel like I could do anything in the world.
I climbed Mount Fuji.
