Climb the highest mountain, punch the face of God.
On Wednesday we got up at 0900 or something to go out for the big climbing shop. I bought a torch, about 6 litres of water, 3 Snickers, a Kit-Kat and some Calorie Mate because Jack Bauer eats it too.
Me and Dan met Tomoko and TJ in Shinjuku for a drink.
We caught a bus from here to Kawaguchiko that took about two hours.
Then another bus from here to the Mount Fuji`s `5th Station`, which took about 50 minutes.
When we got there we bought `Fuji sticks` and a can of hot coffee and started the climb.
We were all quite confident we`d make it to the top and it wouldn`t be that big a deal. I`ve done some preeetty big walks in my time, and it was only supposed to take 280 minutes to get to the top.
By 40 minutes I was sweating an insane amount and had passed out a little bit. We stopped while I took all of the useless, heavy things out of my bag and ate a Snickers.
There was no more fainting after this but, by the 7th station, the crazily steep climb had made walking up steps almost impossible.
I`m pretty sure I was the only person on the mountain wearing shorts. It started hot but got seriously cold towards the top, every time I stopped walking.
The food was getting a lot more expensive too…
Looking up at the lights on the top of the mountain was really depressing. Then just as we got near what we thought was the top, the clouds moved and I could see another, taller bit.
Then when we got there, there was a sign which said there was another 1000m to the summit. I should`ve taken a photo but it was more gutting than funny at the time.
At about 300m from the summit, the sun started to rise.
This is what happens when you get to the actual summit…
I walked through the gate at the top at the same time as this super happy japanese guy, who shouted `WE FINISH! WELL DONE!` at me, and we high-fived.
I don`t want to sound like a queer or nothin`, but it was the single most overwhelming thing in the world to look out at the clouds and how far I`d climbed.
The climb would have been the best experience ever if it had ended there. The way down was supposed to take two or three hours. It took four and a half and I got quite upset.
I`ll write about it tomorrow, I`m totally out of time now…
