This is something of a surreal experience – I’m sitting in a mountain hut a bit over halfway up Mount Fuji blogging on my Kindle. I’m getting full reception for wireless – you’re never far from technology in Japan. I’ll probably keep this brief, because it’s tricky to type well on this tiny keyboard, and even trickier to make corrections.
Fuji-yama, or Fujisan (“Mister Fuji”) as it is known colloquially, is Japan’s tallest mountain, standing at 3776 metres. It takes about one to two hours by train, then an hour by bus to get to where we were starting the climb, the Subashiri 5th station, 2000 metres above sea level. The climb should be about five to six hours long.
Unfortunately the climb was much harder than I expected – though I am not really sure just what I was expecting. I managed by doing a sort of old man walk, but when we arrived at the 7th station at just over 3000 metres, I was struggling to breathe the thin air, unable to speak, shivering strongly, and almost in hysterics..
I feel much better now, but we decided to spend the night at the 7th station and watch the sunrise from here. We will see how I feel tomorrow.
Considering the early start, I will sign off now. Full details when I get back to my laptop in Machida.
I’m keen to learn what an old man walk is!