Climbing Mt. Fuji: The Ascent

I cannot believe that this time last year, Hunter, Nikkita, and I were climbing Mt. Fuji together! Since the mountain is closed to hikers this season because of Covid-19, read on and hike with us instead! Tune in tomorrow for part two, The Summit Shuffle!

Subashiri Trail 5th Station

Time: 9am   Elevation: 2,000m

“I don’t feel so good…”

We all looked at the pale face of the fit, middle-aged Japanese man who’d said these words, a veteran of climbing Mt. Fuji, and watched as he quickly counted out ￥200 before excusing himself to the coin toilets.

“If he doesn’t feel good, how well does that bode for the rest of us?” I thought, looking at my backpack I bought just for this climb and my hiking boots used to carrying me up much smaller mountains. My stomach did a nervous flip.

Some of the older party members sensed our worry and were quick to provide advice.

“Could be altitude sickness, could be nervousness, could be whatever he ate for breakfast isn’t sitting well. He’ll be fine. But just remember, when we’re hiking, go slow. Hold yourself back. If you start getting a headache or it feels harder to breathe, stop and rest a while. Altitude sickness can happen to anyone at anytime.”

We were chilling by the trailhead for the Subashiri Trail on Mt. Fuji. Elevation: an even 2,000 meters, or a not so even 6,561 feet, above sea level. About 30 minutes into our one hour acclimatization period, I had been wondering if anyone in our 7 person party would come down with altitude sickness on the climb up; it seemed that one of us might’ve gotten it before we even started. Luckily, he returned presently, feeling much better after departing with his breakfast.

“Alright, it’s time to go!” With one more glance in the general direction the cloud-hidden summit supposedly was, we hoisted our backpacks and started to walk.

Hike, Start!

The trail began in the forest. It was green and cloudy, and that along with the black rocks and soil made for a beautiful start to our hike. Eventually, the trees thinned, and we found ourselves surrounded by volcanic rocks, low-growing plants, and clouds.

Flickering in and out of visibility within those clouds was a carp streamer: the New 6th Station!

Along the way to the carp streamer, we passed many tired hikers who were finishing their hike. Someone in the group would always stop and question them as they passed — How was the weather at the top? Did the clouds ever clear? Did it rain? How cold was it? All important questions when 3 of the group have never done anything like this before and 1 is an elementary schooler; the more information you can gather, the better.

New 6th Station

Lunch consisted of semi-squished, homemade onigiri and a gel energy pack. We could’ve bought food at the station, but one look at the prices and we decided to stick to what we had.

Old 6th Station

On to the Old 6th Station…

and a new friend!

From here on out, there were more volcanic rocks than plants. During one of our many breaks as we slowly pushed on towards the new 7th station, an American tour guide passed our group. One of my group members asked him how many times he’d climbed Mt. Fuji:

Guide: Hmm…. Do you mean like ever or this season? Maybe a couple hundred times?

Group: Oh, uh… You do this every season? What do you do outside of climbing season?

Guide: I work up in Nagano Prefecture.

*Whole group looks at me*

Me: No way! Nagano City?

Guide: Actually, up in uh, OO.

*Whole group starts freaking out*

Me: Whaaaaa?! That’s where I live!

What are the odds that you’d find another person from your tiny town on the tallest mountain in Japan? What the heck.

Eventually, we made it up to the…

Old 7th Station

Must say, not a fan of the Old 7th Station, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was because for some inexplicable reason, the toilets here were ￥500?! This sign did help make up for it though:

Ugh, so tired. We were all feeling it by this point, and the trail was getting a bit more congested with tour groups, slowing our pace. We only had a little bit to go though; our lodging was at the next station, the New 7th. As we trudged, we passed a couple of people clearly suffering from altitude sickness, doubled over and taking deep breaths from bottled oxygen. Thankfully, we were fine.

New 7th Station

We made it!

Our group checked in, and we shuffled into our lodging to settle in before dinner. It was a newer building that had a 20 person capacity; when we entered, it smelled like fresh wood. Smell aside, it was pretty cramped. Past the entryway was a two foot wide path the length of the hut. Opposite the path, the room was divided horizontally into two — the upper and lower bunk. Each bunk could hold 10 people, and everyone had to share a futon with one other person. Talk about tight!

Everyone clambered up onto the bunks, then worked on sorting our backpacks and planning for our summit adventure the next day. We knew it would be cold in the morning, so all of our warm clothing needed to be at the top of our backpacks so we could run outside, get dressed, and push on. After that, we stored our backpacks on shelves above the beds and waited for dinner.

And waited.

Then waited some more.

We tried our best to keep ourselves distracted from our growling stomachs, some laying down for a nap, others chatting about the plan for tomorrow, but man it was hard. All of us were exhausted and starving — who knew climbing Mt. Fuji would be this difficult?? Finally, the call came, and we all ran to the main hut for food.

Dinner time!

Dinner was a delicious portion of curry and rice — it was nice and hot, perfect for the chilly evening air. It also came with a small bit of macaroni salad and green tea. The portion didn’t look like a lot, but it certainly filled me up! And when we left to go back into our sleeping quarters, we saw this wonderful view.

Time for bed! Tomorrow, we’ll finish climbing Mt. Fuji!

Subashiri Trail Station 7.5

Time: 8pm   Elevation: 3,200m

Time to reach lodging: 11 hours

Elevation change: +1,200m

Distance hiked: ~6km

The second part of this series, ‘The Summit Shuffle,’ will be released tomorrow!