No pretexts, cute getting ready posts- this was day one of the challenge; and quite possibly the toughest.
Mount Fuji- the tallest in Japan. I arrived at the mountain having taken the first bus up to the Fifth Station and started my climb at 8:12am.
It became very clear early on that this was not a joke climb or a little hil, instead hard work and determination would have to be put in to ensure that climbing it in one day in time for the last bus back would be possible.
A varied crowd of people climb Mount Fuji, of which I met and talked to people from the US, the UK, South Korea, Japan, Germany and Australia.
The first major checkpoint was the 7th station (pictured above) as the 6th was shortly after the start. From then on it got tough, and it didn't relent. As I climbed I picked up 2 other solo climbers who were trying to summit in a day as well.
As we neared the summit and passed station 8.5, the lack of oxygen hit hard. Although I felt no dizzing effects, my muscles were getting more and more tired due to the increased workload with a decreased oxygen supply. Even 10 metres would make my legs tired. However, the 3 of us pushed each other through and we summited at around 13:15, taking around 5 hours to reach this point.
After taking a well earned hour break to enjoy the peak, we headed back down. It proved to be difficult as the rocks were very loose on a particularly steep descent but it was a different type of difficult which didn’t compare to the way up. Reaching the Fifth Station at around 17:10, it took almost 3 hours to descend, leaving a total hiking time of 8 hours excluding the hour at the summit.
With a successful start to the challenge, it was then a bus and a few trains to get to Ota City, Tokyo in preparation for Day 2.
Photos will be uploaded to the photo library shortly!
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