I left off last entry with me waking at 2:30am. Normally I get to bed at this time. Anyway, I was surprisingly alert - I pretty much being deeply asleep (to the point someone had to yell at me to wake me) to being wide awake.
The view downstairs as the climbers prepared for the final trek.
We left our 8th station hut at around 3am, freezing our fingers off. Well my fingers were frozen - I hadn't properly dried off my gloves from the previous night, so I had to alternate the hand I was carrying my walking stick with with the hand in my warm pocket. Also, the ventilation material on my jogging shoes, ever so handy when you're running, was letting an awful lot of cold air into my shoes, meaning for the first hour of our climb to the summit I could only feel one toe on each foot. A very strange feeling. I was also slightly hampered by the fact that my 420 yen headlamp purchased from Daiso the night before decided to stop working after 20 minutes - this works out to a cost of 21 yen/minute. You call that value for money? Curse you Daiso!! It was useful however in keeping the hood of my rain jacket (*grumblegrumble*) up, thereby stopping the wind from freezing my head.
Another group passes us while resting. Their lights captured using the night mode setting on my camera look like those time-tentacle things in Donnie Darko!
We'd been told that sunrise was due at around 5:09am, a little later if there was cloud. We were still walking with the rest of the tour group, and we were a little concerned with the number of rests we were having we would miss the sunrise (well, not really miss, since we were on the east side of the mountain, but still - the whole point is to see sunrise from the top of Mt Fuji, not the side). We could already see the first rays creeping over the horizon.
The first glimpses of sunlight, along with a climber's cool looking time-tentacle.
After a third break however, our guide gave everyone permission to walk at their own pace. Not wanting to miss sunrise, I bolted.
The torii at the 9th station under which we passed - I couldn't help think about that terrible Roman Polanski/Johnny Depp movie The Ninth Gate. This ninth gate, made of wood and not doing much at all, was much more interesting.
The path between the 9th station and the summit was considerably more rocky than much of the path further down the mountain. I was very grateful for my hiking stick.
Nearly at the top!
Finally at around 4:45 I reached the top. The gate at the 10th station:
Many people already there!
Sara and I at the summit, just before sunrise.
Gabriel from the UK.
Sara plants the flag to annex Fuji in the name of Japan. I didn't have the heart to tell her they already owned it - she seemed so proud.
Just before sunrise
Almost there!
The sun peeks through the clouds:
Many people up the top!
More clouds... lots more clouds...
After viewing sunrise, we went for a 2 hour tour around the crater.
Some shots of the top of the volcano:
Looking into the crater - not a great photo I'll admit, but it gives you an idea of what is inside the crater. This crater last erupted about 2000 years ago.
Looking over at the other side of the crater... It really is quite wide.
The colours were so intense - the landscape really is like nothing I've seen before.
A shot of the little village at the top of the mountain.
A torii at the top - there were many. This one was covered in bells from people's walking sticks (it was around this time I discovered mine had fallen off at some stage).
I thought this chunk of dried lava was amazing.
This is the crater from the last eruption of Fuji in the early 18th century. Each time Fuji erupts it is from a different part of the mountain.
I was trying to be artistic in this shot by capturing the sun in the middle of the torii - not sure it really worked.
A view of the highest point of Fuji - this is actually the highest point in Japan.
Sara commented that these rocks look like the vertebrae of a dragon - made me think of Bjork :)
A shrine at the top of the mountain. Unfortunately since it was outside the official climbing season everything (including the shrine) was closed.
This is some sort of "sacred pond". Looked more like a puddle to me, but I didn't want to argue :)
Overlooking the Izu peninsula
Clouds fill the crater...
The huge shadow of Fuji on the surrounding landscape - a very impressive sight.
A creepy figurine we found.
More clouds - cause they look so perrtty! And yes, I did have "Bouncing Off Clouds" in my head the whole time I was at the top...
Three Japanese guys who were part of our tour group - really friendly guys, they didn't speak a huge amount of English, but it well and truly put my Japanese to shame. I ended up walking down the mountain with them.
Me posing with Nishizono (the middle one in the photo above) - he seemed especially interested in me, asked me so many questions all the way down. Not sure if it was interest interest (and well, who could blame him - did you SEE my rain jacket?), or just interest in another person cause they're from Australia, but really does it matter? I'll take whatever interest I can get :)
Breakfast! The long yellow things are some sort of guppy type creatures... and at 8 in the morning, after you've just climbed down from the top of Fuji, it is very appetising... I guess you'll just have to trust me on that!
The track back down the mountain was a quite gradual zig-zagging slope, made up of about 40 zigs (or is that zags?) - I guess to stop people from gathering too much speed and face-planting it into the volcanic ash making up the path (as Gabriel did on his was down to the 8th station - I have it on good authority that volcanic ash does not taste good).
Success!! At the bottom of the mountain (well, almost at the 5th station), looking back up.
Back at 5th station - is there something wrong with this pic? 3 Japanese people with me, and I'm the only one making the peace sign!
We got back to 5th station at around 10:30am on Wednesday. After some lunch with Zono and his friends, we got back on our disco ball-less coach and were taken to an onsen on Lake Kawaguchiko, one of the Fujigoko (or Fuji 5 Lakes) - a very relaxing way to spend an hour after climbing to the top of Japan's highest mountain!Unfortunately due to the approaching typhoon (the people who started climbing as we left weren't able to make it to the summit, I found out a few days later) the views from the lake weren't that stellar.
Didn't stop me from getting another photo of the clouds on the surrounding mountains as we drove back to Shinjuku!
So that pretty much covers our adventure! An absolutely amazing experience, and I recommend it to anyone who lives in Japan for any extended period.
Thanks for reading these - I promise not to post another picture of clouds on my blog for as long as it is in existence.... :)
edit: Okay, since Dave requested another cloud photo, here is a video of the clouds filling the crater:
3 comments:
I will be happy with more cloud photos if they are as good as the one where the clouds are filling the crater.
Okay Dave, just for you I have added a video of clouds filling Fuji :)
You (and Gabriel) should see Kurosawa's Ran for many more cool pictures of Fuji volcanic ash - it was filmed on the lower slopes. Also you should see it because it's good.
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