Mt. Fuji Climb #2

It was a dreary morning. It's been a dreary month. I'd say 6 out of 7 mornings I wake up to fog or, super low clouds of grey, or rain. That is rainy season in Japan for ya. So, it was 5:30am, overcast skies, and my Japanese teacher, Wato San, picked me up outside my apt. Bless her soul, she woke up at 4:30!! But Wato San is an avid mountain climber. Climbing is her hobby. She wants to climb any and every mountain in Japan, and she probably will succeed. Sometimes she wakes up early, drives to a mountain, and spends 10 hours climbing it, just for the sheer enjoyment of the activity. I really admire her strength and endurance.

We arrived at the 5th station on the mountain at 7am, and took in the view: fog and strong winds whipping the trees back and forth. "Hmm, what should we do?" we thought. We ate our breakfast in the car, then put on our rain gear and decided to climb as far as we could. She said we definitely wouldn't make it to the top (10th station?) because if the wind was strong here, it would surely be furious up there. So we loaded only the little gear we would need for a somewhat "half-hike."

Happy to be hiking!!

Climbing Mt. Fuji is literally just that: CLIMBING! from the 5th to the 6th station is just hill work on switch-backs. Once we reached the 7th station we started to actually climb up the rocks. Its really amazing; molten rock makes for really good climbing rock! Knobs and ball shapes make great handles and foot grips. Maybe these rocks have been corroded by rain and snow, making them this way. Either way, we were climbing up and up. My climbing stick became a little "jama" as they say in Japanese (it means "in the way"). But on the way down I really used it to brace myself. I think I would have fallen 50 times if not for my stick! ** I was thinking, as I climbed and listened to only the sound of rain pelting my hood, "Now I know why Moses carried a staff when he climbed Mt. Horeb!" But then I thought "How did he ever climb down with two stone tablets?!?" Horeb must have been a little more "ameteur-hiker friendly."
A view from one of the 7th station buldings. You can kinda see the switch-backs.

New camping/living building. That hose on the left is a rain water hose. There isn't any pipage to bring water up the mountain, so for people who live up there during the climbing season, their source of water comes from rain- which is caught and hosed into these giant vats.

A picture of our reflection in the nice new windows of this camping/living building. That's my backpack and climbing stick on the floor.

We reached the 8th station and knew this was the furthest up we could go "safely." We'd already passed some snow and come above the rain, but there was fog and wind above us too. We sat and had a snack: She brought grapefruit *good job*, I brought chocolate cookies *so me*. Hey, when you're climbing a mountain, you need some comfort food!
Here we are, standing under the 8th station sign.
The way down was tricky; a couple times I lost my balance and fell back a bit, and the wind really whipped me about a few times. But God always caught me, I know his hand was with me, just like it is now, and will be forever, Hallelujah!

What I learned on Fuji Climb #2:
1.The Abraham thing.

2.Fuji is not for the faint of heart.

3.Don't complain about tired legs, blistered heels, cold wet hands... The whole point is to climb the mountain in the midst of these elements.

4.Focus on the goal , not all the things that try to take me away from it .

5.Patience! Patience! PATIENCE!! The slow and steady can keep the pace and finish the climb. Really, you MUST go slow on Fuji, its the only way to finish!

6.Don't rush or you'll ruin!