Hey guys!
I'm writing from Aomori, in the very north of Honshu. We arrived yesterday and spent today in the area. Tomorrow we will be leaving for Hokkaido. What a terrific change of climate this has been! Tokyo has been hovering around 90-100% humidity, and you could REALLY feel it every time you left an air conditioned building. The Japanese aren't real big on AC in public areas either, so it tended to be a sweat-fest any time we weren't in our hotel rooms. We get to Aomori and it's a fantastic 20 degrees and sunny. It's been very nice.
Just to back-track a bit, I haven't checked-in in a few days so I should probably fill you all in on what's been happening. As I mentioned, Gray and Jay weren't too upset about the lack of Fuji climbing, so I did it on my own. I left Friday night on a bus that got me to the Mt. Fuji 5th Station (about half way up the mountain, still around 1200 meters below the summit) around 10:00 PM. From what I'd been reading I was expecting about a 5 hour climb up, and 3-4 down. It was already evening for me, but I was counting on a long night of climbing, a few hours of sleep at the top, and then the sunrise. Didn't quite work out that way. Anyone who has read about Fuji has undoubtedly come across references to the 'human traffic jams' that can occur in the tough areas. Yeah... by the tough areas they must mean THE WHOLE STINKING MOUNTAIN!!! My estimate of 5 hours wasn't bad... I really could have done it in that time. Instead, I was stuck on a narrow path matching the pace of the slowest person ahead of me. In the end it took me 8 hours to climb up, and I was still about 50-100 meters below the summit when the sun rose. I sort of forgot that it rises and sets early here - sunset tends to occur around 7:30 PM, and sunrise (as I was there to witness) starts at about 4am. Still, I was pretty high up, and it was a gorgeous view, but it still felt like I wasn't really climbing a mountain as much as I was standing in line to see the top. SO MANY PEOPLE!!! It was a complete zoo at the top. I'm sorry to anyone who was hoping for a postcard sent from the Mt. Fuji Summit Post Office, but I wasn't staying up there one minute more than I had to. By this point I was running on nearly 24 hours without sleep, it had taken me a solid 3 hours longer to climb than I though, and I was becoming worried that 6 hours wouldn't be enough to get back down (my bus home was at noon.) As it turns out, the estimates that I had read regarding the decent were also wildly inaccurate. I strolled leisurely down the mountain in a mere 2 hours. So I really could have spent more time enjoying the summit. Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, my advice to people attempting a Fuji climb - July and August are the official climbing season... climb September 1st. Apparently they'll still let you on the mountain, but there are a LOT less people on there. It's hard to enjoy the beauty of nature when surrounded by a quarter-million fat, sweaty Americans.
Well, upon returning to Tokyo Saturday afternoon, I promptly PASSED OUT! However, after a bit of sleep we did some casual city-wandering, and called it a night. The next day we made our way up to beautiful Aomori, and here we are.
Had a GREAT day today! We decided to rent a car, and that worked out beautifully. I drove us up to Mt. Osore, a beautiful mountain that just happens to have a barren patch of rock which hisses and steams with bubbling sulfer. Complete with hoards of croaking ravens, the whole scene is oddly grim when compared to the surrounding beauty of mountains and lakes. The Japanese traditionally believe that this place is the entrance to hell, and they come to stack rocks in great cairnes, to help the dead with their penance. Pretty cool place. It was great getting to drive there... it's nice not having to operate around a train/bus schedule. Driving on the left was neat too!!! :)
Anyway, the computer in the hotel here is a pay-per-10-minutes thing, and I'm out of coins, and almost out of time. Not sure what the facilities will be like in Hokkaido, but I'll try to get in touch again soon and let you know how wonderfully cool and comfortable we all are here. :) Hope you are all well, and I'll talk to you soon.
4 comments:
Congrats Colin! You finally made it to the top of Mt. Fuji! I am sorry to hear that your view was blocked by hundreds of sweaty people, but good for you! The sunrise must have been breathtaking! I've been wondering how wierd it must have felt driving on the right side of the car. How did it feel when you turned right? It's the big turn over there like our left turns in Canada. I am excited to hear more about your trip! See you later! Mata ado!
You know what they should have is? A fast lane and a slow lane. But then of course you would have people in the fast lane who refuse to get over. :P Would have been nice if you could have at least somehow gone around them.
lol! sorry to hear about the fat sweaty americans ;)) did you notice any fat sweaty canadians there too?:))
never mind that though, at the end of the day you climed Mt fuji!!
"thats awesome dude!":))))
You know what you should have is? An iaito. ;-)
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