About a year ago this time I looked like this:

No, I don’t turn the air conditioning up that high.

There’s a saying in Japan that “Climb Fuji-san once and you are a fool no more. Climb it twice and you are forever a fool.”

In July and August of each year thousands of people partake in the rite of passage known as “climbing mt. fuji.” While we’ve since learned that none of the people we know have climbed it, T and I decided that we too should partake as we’d heard it wasn’t that bad.  Normal people would realize that the words “not too bad” and “mountain climbing” don’t typically go in the same sentence. We didn’t.

So, for those contemplating a climb up Fuji, I offer you (a year late) review of the experience.

Step One: Getting to Mt. Fuji.

Prior to setting out we’d been told that a bus would pick us up from Shinjuku and deliver us directly to the 5th base station of Fuji. What no one told us was that the bus required reservations and was fully booked throughout the month of August. Determined to conquer the mountain, T and I set off on a three train journey that found us on a packed train of goth teenagers who were setting off to the amusement park just a bit away from Fuji. Three hours (and trains) later we found ourselves at the fifth base station.

Step Two: Climbing It.

Climbing Fuji-san is technically not too bad. When I say “not too bad” I mean you don’t have to haul oxygen or use ropes. You do have a lot of uphill walking to do.  For said uphill walking I’ll reiterate the guide book notes: Buy the wooden climbing sticks at the 5th base station.

As you climb up Fuji-san and pass by each base station you can pay 100JPY ($1) to have your stick branded with that station’s elevation, number and symbol. While this may seem a bit uncool it does become quite fun at times. I’ll also admit that as the sunset and we weren’t even close to our sleeping station, those brands were a strong motivator.

It’s also important to note that there are some areas that require literal rock climbing. While we aren’t exactly mountain goats, our headlamps proved quite helpful as we scrambled along.

Step Three: Look around as you go!

Our initial plan was to see the sunrise. This meant that if we wanted to take it at a normal pace (with some breaks) along with a nap at a mountain station, we needed to set out before sunset. The sunset itself was an incredible site.

Step Four: Take a nap we 35 of your closest friends!

As the sun went down and the headlamps were turned up (very necessary and very unattractive) we finally made our way up the mountain to our base station. Having made reservations weeks in advance, we were able to spend a few hours getting acclimated to the elevation.

Note: Some would say you don’t need to stop and rest. Some also believe that it is possible to alternate puffs from a cigarette  and a can of oxygen…Some were later seen throwing up on the side of the mountain. We recommend the nap.

Although we’d originally thought we’d be able to get a solid five or six hours in, upon our arrival at the base station, we discovered that in order to see the sunrise from the top you must leave at 3:30 am. After a bit of fretting over this, we begrudgingly agreed to the “wakeup call” and went to find our places. While we were expecting a row of cots, what we found was twenty times more amusing:bunk beds. Not just any bunk beds..but bunk beds that held 35 people a bed. Yup. We slept with 35 people in one night. 35 Snoring and gassy people. Being the two least mature people in the situation T and I spent half the night laughing.

Step Five: Stand in line for the Sunrise.

We hopped in line to reach the summit just after 3:30am. Yes, a line. This is Japan after all and Japan is famous for its lines and the way people love standing in line.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it up in time for the sunrise but we instead opted to park along side the line and actually enjoy the sunrises (it was the goal of the entire exercise).

And it was very pretty:

Step Six: The Summit.

With the sun finally overhead, we finished the ascent to find the summit of Fuji-san to be full of people, food stalls and souvenir shops. Too tired to find this odd, we found a small corner and took some time to enjoy the view and our newly complete walking sticks.

Step Seven: Get down safely.

The path down Fuji-san was actually worse than the path up. Covered in loss, slipping rocks the mountain side proved to be pretty difficult to maneuver as people slipped and fell their way down the mountain.  The view through the clouds was pretty though.

All in all it was a great adventure.  If you are planning to climb the mountain be sure to take plenty of snacks, clothes and pictures!