Mt. Fuji

On the weekend of the August 13-16 it was a company holiday for the Bon Festival.

According to wiki:

Obon (お盆^?) or just Bon (盆^?) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars.

So since we had a four day weekend. Nick, Jeke, Kenny, and Kennith decided to climb Mt. Fuji. The plan: Climb Mt. Fuji at night and see the sunrise! So on Friday afternoon we met in 新宿 (Shinjuku) to catch a ride on the bus. But before we went on our climb we decided to get some supplies (Food, Oxygen tanks, team clothing).

First thing comes first and that is LUNCH :) I skipped breakfast and little did I know this was going to be my main meal of the day for the entire climb of Mt. Fuji. Was it enough? You be the judge. I also had a bowl of Udon too (no picture =/ )

This is a picture of me waiting at the bus stop for...uh...the bus to arrive. I took a picture of my bus ticket. I guess it's a good thing I took the picture since they nabbed the little guy when I went on the bus.

Us first arriving at the 5th station. For those who don't know the stations are rest areas along the way the summit of Mt. Fuji. Here is a little map that explains the where the stations are and how long it is supposed to take to climb to get to the next station and how high in elevation we are at. It is interesting because stations have food like Ramen, Bananas, Muffins and drinks and restrooms as well as places to sleep.

We have to take a team photo before climbing (top). And we are off (bottom)!

I can't believe it started raining so soon! Lucky for us it didn't last too long. Unfortunately for me the belts to my pants broke! So I ended up wearing swim trunks 95% of the climb to the summit.

My SoyJoy was already inflating from the altitude change.

So we made it to the 7th station. At each station if you bought a walking stick you could put stamp burns on it to signify that you made it to that specific station. So you can see people getting their walking sticks burnt. I did not buy a stick because I had enough to worry about with climbing the mountain that I didn't want to be bothered holding a stick haha.

We were starting to hit the clouds along the mountain. And little did we know that the trail would be so crowded!

So apparently I did not know the coldest part of night is not midnight but right before sunrise. We arrive at the top of the mountain an hour before sunrise. We were warm because we were moving. Now we had to sit and hold a spot for sunrise while the wind blew. The wind was its strongest at the top of the mountain. I think it was near zero degrees Celsius with wind chill to add to the factor. It was time to put on every layer I had (Swim trunks, rain pants, rain jacket, sweatshirt, and a jacket). Guess what?! I was still cold! I couldn't feel my hands nor my face. Sleeping was impossible too since it was beyond shivering cold. But yes if we could see the sunrise it would be all worth it. Then sunrise came! Unfortunately...

IT WAS SO FREAKING CLOUDY!!!!!

So we make our journey down the mountain...