We Killed it!!!!

We killed it! That was the phrase that our new friends from Australia used while we climbed this beast called Mnt. Fuji! Just in case you were wondering- It was accomplished. Challenge was challenged and dominated. A short recap.... We climbed starting on July 10, at 930pm and reached the top at 430 (around 6 hours due to so many climbers), then descended in about 3 hours. This was my first all nighter (doing anything). I am one who loves and needs sleep so one of the hardest parts was just being tired. But As seen above- That is our TEAM SUMMIT. Joe, ME, Nikki and Beck! We rocked the mountain (hehe). We had met Beck and Nikki while at the train station and with their experience in climbing- we grouped up and had a blast chatting and just bonding while climbing. It was wonderful- those girls were such a blessing. God new we needed some help! 

This was a shot we got at the 5th station (we started at the 5th station). Fuji has 10 station and you can climb all of them but the first 5 are in the forresty part of FUji and 5-10 are the harder more mountain (volcanic) climbing areas. Most people climb the 5th to the top. We had almost not been able to climb due to weather and the leftover snow on Fuji- but God prepared a wonderful day for us. There was NO rain, and it was warmer than usual! (it was the perfect day!). So after we took some pics on the mountain before leaving and getting all our gear on we left with our team and started the ascent at 930. 

After about two hours we made it to the 7th station. The first few stations were pretty close together and were pretty easy to climb. In fact it was more of a walk in the park compared to what we had coming. By this time, I was realizing that mountain climbing is intense! There are so many factors to think about- safety, gear, physical readiness. This would be a challenge that I was so excited to take. As far as gear- I was loaded as you see- I had my head light, Fuji climbing stick (which had a bell but I ripped it off after going crazy hearing it for 2 or 3 hours).We reached the 7th by around 12am. (thus we had beat the "usual"time it takes to each station). Without so many people it was easy to keep moving even with the break we were taking.

Next was the 8.5 station. We had been climbing for about 4 hours, it was 130 am, and we thought this was the 9th station. We were tricked. But we knew we only had about 1 hour and 30 mins left so we were excited! (and a shmidge tired). I had a head ache the whole way up and down and felt the altitude but these things were just part of the difficulty of climbing a mountain. This station you could buy stamps- which you could use at the post office at the top! Yeah there is a post office at the top of fuji! WOW- imagine living and sleeping up on fuji for a while- just working at the post office. Crazy! But we stopped here a little longer gaining strength and a few layers of clothes. by this time the altitude was very high and it was dropping in temp pretty fast. We saw lots of snow while climbing this far but here is where it felt cooler than any temperatures we had this winter in Kofu.  It was nice that it was so warm the day before and when we returned. Then we started up to the last stations. Station 9 was only a sign so 8.5 was the last station with food or drink till the top. Also, along the way there are little houses where you could bunk for a while . People would climb us earlier that night sleep and then finish the climb to reach the top by sunrise. Since this was true- at about this time many people were finishing their climbs thus it was very busy. We would have reached the top earlier but the lines of people as seen below kept us at a slow pace- which was actually nice...

There were so many people climbing from about 330 on. It was so international- it felt weird. After meeting our Ausie friends we thought maybe it would just be a few of us Foreigners- but there were SO many! It was my taste of America before returning.. Crazy..But in this picture above this zigzag style was how we climbed up the mountain- you couldn't just go straight- and by this picture we were definitely on all fours hoisting ourselves over lots of rocky areas. It was very cool! We had many climbing terrains- from a wooded path, to loose volcanic steep hills, to rock climbing terrains. It was sweet!

Team Summit made it to the top for the sunrise! By this time it was 6 of our 9 hours climbing and it was a wonderful break!!! The view was beautiful- what a view of God's handy work! It was amazing- words and pictures do not do justice to what I saw as I climbed and reached the top.

I have seen a lot of amazing things in Japan.. I have seen my first real surfer, my first real Japanese culture, my first year living alone, and my first volcano. This is the crater in the middle of FUJI! We were surrounded by volcanic rock and were able to see into a inactive volcano. WOW!

Then the decent- what a trip. We started on the Yamanashi side of the mountain (the mountain is half in one prefecture and half in the Shizouka prefecture) and ended on the wrong side (about 45 mins by taxi from where we needed to be). That was not even the most exciting part- it took us about 3 hours to get off the mountain and about 2.5 of the hours were spend walking down in this thick volcanic loose rock- on gradients that were steep enough to basically ski down the side. It was fun yet very hard on the joins and feet. WOW we just wanted to be off the mountain! hehehe! But besides that we had a blast! We were challenged by the climb, and being tired- yet I finished my first Mountain climb- relying on God to be my shelter and protector. Also I was able to see a different view of the wonderful creation God has made! What a blessing.

Remember: there are so many fun people to meet- just try and God will bless you so much! (God new we needed to meet the Ausie girls what a blessing).

~MOlly