| Chris getting started!..... |
|
| ....This is when he still had ENERGY! |
| Chris again... |
|
| ...still smiling! |
| Chris--this time not so smiley... |
|
| ...he's got full-blown altitude sickness! |
WARNING: Climbing Mt.Fuji could be dangerous to your health. You may experience dizziness, weakness, extreme fatigue, vomiting and dry heaves.
|  | | |
"He who climbs Mount Fuji is a wise man. He who climbs it twice is a fool."
Our journey up Mount Fuji began at "The 5th Station". The 5th station is the farthest that vehicles can travel, then the 6th, 7th ,8th and 9th follow before the summit.
We started climbing at 5pm and set up camp around 10pm, somewhere near the 7th station. By this time Chris had become quite sick from the elevation, so a rest was definitely most welcome.
We awoke around 2:30am to continue our ascent. It took us 2 hours to climb to the last station before the summit, about 3600m. We made it above the clouds in time to witness a breathtaking sunrise. God is SO GOOD.
| Only 6.3 KM left to the top! |
|
Mount Fuji is 3776m high. It's the highest mountain in Japan. We started climbing at 2305m and completed our ascent at 3600m. Total climb=1471m.
| | | |
| Allison at the first sign of dawn! |
|
| Morning Has Broken |
|
| Close to 5am |
| The Moon |
|
| After Daybreak |
While at the 9th station, we decided to not make the final trek to the summit. Chris was still very sick, and honestly, we felt very satisfied with our hike and with seeing the awesome sunrise. So we said goodbye at around 7am and starting heading DOWN.
We made a very long and hard decent to the bottom, a 4 hour hike on constantly sloping roads. It was very hard on the feet and knees, but we made it back to the fifth station finally where we rested at a restaurant and waited for our bus.
|
|
|
|
