Another weekend in Japan and still more stuff to do. So what better thing to do, but go climb a mountain. I could of swore about 10 years ago that I wouldn't climb Mt. Fuji again, but I found myself obligated to go again. I do have to say it was well worth it and it was with a bunch of great fellow workers. I guess you could say we went hardcore because we went to work during the day and then got dressed around 4pm to catch the bus to Mt. Fuji to climb for 8 hours to see the sunrise and then climb down the mountain to catch the bus home at 12pm the next day. Can you say tired...hmmm, just a little bit. I must of took about 200 pictures, so check the rest of them out at
http://picasaweb.google.com/yamamotohenry. Props and thanks to Matthias for putting this together.
Me in the office dressed and ready to go.
All of us at the station at Shinjiku ready to ride the bus. From the left: myself, Joe, Ken, Adnan, Matthias, Cedric and last but not least Iver. You guys are troopers and we all made it to the top and nobody got hurt =).
Arriving at Mt. Fuji 5 station about 7:30pm. We all bought climbing sticks. These things are life savers and I got stamps at almost ever stop along the way. When I mean stamps, they pretty much embroder / burn an imprint into the stick. They do this at the huts along the way up the mountain. I think there were like 6 huts along the way where you can rest, buy drinks and eat some food. Without those stops, I don't think we would of made it.
And we were off on the climbing root, starting from about 2300 meters or 10,499 feet.
The guys all enegized to go. Dang they started off really fast at first and then really slowed down towards the top =). It is pretty rough hike and in the dark it is even harder. All we had are these lights that we strapped on our heads to see.
The group stopping at a hut to grab some food and drinks. Boy we were tired already and we had to climb a lot more.
Making it to the entrance to the top of the mountain. Wow did if feel good to be up here and
F@#$ was it super cold. Brrrrrrrrr
The first ones to the top. You guys did great. The top of the mountain is 3,776 meters or 12,388 feet. Quite a hike and happy that we all made it without too many complications.
From the top waiting for the sunrise.
A nice picture as the sun was about to rise.
Finally, the sun peaked through the clouds and all the pain and suffering was well worth it. Kind of like the Visa commercials.....priceless!!!!!!
Another shot and my screen saver on my computer now. What do you think?
The sun almost fully out and us starting to warm up. Thank gosh I was freezing to death up there.
The sun fully out. Beautiful I must say.
Three of us dead tired and getting ready for the hike down the hill ><.
Oh my, this was painful to walk down the hill after not sleeping and hiking up the hill for 8hrs. But I did find it was easier to just almost run down the hill as
opposed to walking down.
This is pretty much what we climb up. Not much to see and probably a hike that not many would want to do again.
At the bottom of the hill where we started. So happy to be taking the bus home. I must of had the best sleep after taking a shower and sitting in the bath tub for an hour. Hope you enjoyed!! More posts to come. Now time to head off to Ryan's/Kat's wedding this weekend (9/1/07) in San Diego. See you all then for some fun!!
Me in the office dressed and ready to go.
All of us at the station at Shinjiku ready to ride the bus. From the left: myself, Joe, Ken, Adnan, Matthias, Cedric and last but not least Iver. You guys are troopers and we all made it to the top and nobody got hurt =).
Arriving at Mt. Fuji 5 station about 7:30pm. We all bought climbing sticks. These things are life savers and I got stamps at almost ever stop along the way. When I mean stamps, they pretty much embroder / burn an imprint into the stick. They do this at the huts along the way up the mountain. I think there were like 6 huts along the way where you can rest, buy drinks and eat some food. Without those stops, I don't think we would of made it.
And we were off on the climbing root, starting from about 2300 meters or 10,499 feet.
The guys all enegized to go. Dang they started off really fast at first and then really slowed down towards the top =). It is pretty rough hike and in the dark it is even harder. All we had are these lights that we strapped on our heads to see.
The group stopping at a hut to grab some food and drinks. Boy we were tired already and we had to climb a lot more.
Making it to the entrance to the top of the mountain. Wow did if feel good to be up here and F@#$ was it super cold. Brrrrrrrrr
The first ones to the top. You guys did great. The top of the mountain is 3,776 meters or 12,388 feet. Quite a hike and happy that we all made it without too many complications.
From the top waiting for the sunrise.
A nice picture as the sun was about to rise.
Finally, the sun peaked through the clouds and all the pain and suffering was well worth it. Kind of like the Visa commercials.....priceless!!!!!!
Another shot and my screen saver on my computer now. What do you think?
The sun almost fully out and us starting to warm up. Thank gosh I was freezing to death up there.
The sun fully out. Beautiful I must say.
Three of us dead tired and getting ready for the hike down the hill ><.
Oh my, this was painful to walk down the hill after not sleeping and hiking up the hill for 8hrs. But I did find it was easier to just almost run down the hill as opposed to walking down.
This is pretty much what we climb up. Not much to see and probably a hike that not many would want to do again.
At the bottom of the hill where we started. So happy to be taking the bus home. I must of had the best sleep after taking a shower and sitting in the bath tub for an hour. Hope you enjoyed!! More posts to come. Now time to head off to Ryan's/Kat's wedding this weekend (9/1/07) in San Diego. See you all then for some fun!! 
