Mt. Fuji Trip: Day 2, Summit and Descent

It was about 3:30am when we made it to the summit of Mt. Fuji. We were giddy with discomfort at the icy cold wind. Smarter and richer people than we had slept that evening in the expensive but rustic hotels on the way up the mountain and then begun climbing early to see the sunrise. But we climbed all through the night. I'm a little proud of that, even though now it seems foolish. :)

The view was incredible, absolutely incredible. It was the kind of thing you'd only ever expect to see from a plane, except with no Plexiglas between you and the scenery. Those other mountains seemed so huge from the ground, and yet so small from the top of Mt. Fuji

We took a few photos to prove that we actually did it. :) A lot of people in our class and even the director of the IES program didn't think we would make it, but we did. 

The sunrise was gorgeous, and we were glad we were there to see it.

Unfortunately, we were so cold and miserable that we didn't want to walk around the crater or even stay any longer than we absolutely had to! So we took our pictures, saw the view, and then headed down the mountain as fast as we could! The cold was unbearable. Here is a "giddy with discomfort" picture; we were all actually miserable. 

When we were at the top of the mountain, we rested at a shrine. But it got so cold that we were very uncomfortable. Robert started to fall asleep and we were honestly concerned that he would get frostbite or die if he did. So we had to move out. If it had been a nicer day and I hadn't been so tired, sleepy, and cold, I would have liked to see the crater of Mt. Fuji, but it was really not at the top of my priorities at that time! I'd say, "Maybe next time" but I am NOT climbing Mt. Fuji again, or at least not for 20 years like Tanaka-san. :)

Our climb was extremely quiet, with only the two boys and Tanaka-san and me. But once we reached the summit, we saw at least 100 people or more arriving to see the sunrise. They must have spent the night in the hotels. If you look closely at this picture, you can see them all coming up the mountain. This was taken from the summit. Look how steep it is!!!!!!

This picture is the start of our descent. Maybe the funniest thing about our mountain climb was that, once we reached the summit, we thought the hard part was over. So, so wrong. Descending worked a lot of different muscles, and hurt our knees and feet way more than the climb. It is supposed to take only 5 hours to descend but it took us 7 because we were going so slow. At times it seemed like we were only shuffling or trudging! On any other day in other circumstances, I could have easily strutted down the mountain, but I was weary beyond belief. We saw one or two guys jogging down the mountain and we gaped at them. 

An American took our picture as the sun was coming up, and we all looked HORRIBLE, haha. Whenever we stopped for a break during the descent, we'd take a look at it and crack up. Obviously we hadn't slept for about 24 hours and we looked like death. So funny.

I tried to convince myself that the descent wouldn't take very long, but it NEVER ENDED, haha. Here is a video from 7am taken by Ethan. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=447000207852&ref=mf

One more video from Ethan, full of complaining. :D This was at the 7th station on the way down, and I couldn't believe we hadn't gotten farther than that! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=447000207852&ref=mf#!/video/video.php?v=447160442852

And my video, after descending for six hours and STILL NOT DONE! 

A few photos as we descended. Note the steepness, the snow, the red lava rocks, and the cloud level.

My favorite thing about the mountain climb was the stars the night before, but Ethan's favorite thing was the clouds during the descent. They really were beautiful and they swirled so fast! Their shapes were constantly changing and we were so close to them. It was really a neat thing to see.

After seven hours of climbing down, we finally made it to the 5th station. The boys got some snacks, I ate a potato meat thing and slept on the table, and we took the first bus out of there! After that was a blur, but we arrived at the Kawaguchiko station around noon and got some lunch. This picture cracked us up the next day, so funny. We were so weary.

Here was our first ever view of Mt. Fuji, except for being on top of it. Even after climbing, we couldn't see it because of the clouds! But don't worry, the following day we got amazing pictures.

We went to the souvenir shop below that restaurant but just looking at the pictures of Mt. Fuji caused involuntary disgust, hahaha. That feeling went away after a day. :)

Then we had five or so hours to kill in the bus station, so we used the internet and slept. We got picked up at 6pm by Hirose-san, who took us to the ryokan.

We showered, took hot baths in the onsen, ate dinner, and then went to bed. The owner made me make dinner and clean up the plates, even though the boys were planning to help me clean up and cook! But there is a rule of only one person in the kitchen at the ryokan, to prevent germs. I made spaghetti and the owner gave us watermelon for dessert. :D He was so nice! He also let me use olive oil and he showed us how the Japanese make spaghetti, with radishes and onions. It was good! I also cooked spaghetti with chopsticks. :) Here's a picture of our ryokan stay. :)

We called Sachi and told her about our crazy day of mountain climbing and descending. Then we went to sweet, sweet sleep. :)