Mount Fuji - Preface

So, the first thing I thought I'd write about for the Japan trip is what all you need to do to prepare for a climb up Mount Fuji to its peak. I was thinking about going through the entire Japan trip day by day, and I think I still will, but this probably will serve as a nice preface to the entire trip. It's also the most important thing I have to write about as it's the one subject that could mean the difference between someone having a fulfilling climb, and someone barely making it off... or worse.

You can do all the searching on Google you want, when I went up, I found that all those sites left out some details I would have found useful. Yes, you can find what you need to bring up. Yes, you can find where to stay and how long it will take to get there. But while everyone talks about what it's like to hit the top, or what you need before you go, not a lot of people talk about all the stuff you have to go through in between.

So in the next couple of posts I make, I'm going to give my own list of what I feel everyone needs when they go up Mount Fuji, and I hope to do this with a healthy dose of realism, away from the sites that hype up the climb and attempt to promote tourism. Why? Well, chalk one up for my first cynical yet true (to me) statement: despite what some other sites out there might tell you, not everyone can climb Mount Fuji. Many people can, and as far as mountains go, it's probably one of the tamer ones out there seeing as how much of it is geared for tourism. But, it bears repeating, and I'm going to put this on its own line just to emphasize it.

Not everyone can climb Mount Fuji.

'Course, you might not know that about yourself, but if you're the type of person who avoids the stairwell simply because it's too hard for you (and there are people like this)... climbing Mount Fuji is like doing 1000 flights of stairs on the outside of a building in the winter, possibly after it's been snowing or while it's raining, with some steps missing. It's probably worse, actually, and believe me when I say I am not attempting to exaggerate at all.

However, you might be the type that just wants to go up until you feel tired, and then head back down at your leisure, in which case as long as you don't push yourself, you should be fine. But if you want to summit... lemme just say that Mother Nature is Serious Business, and as comparatively tame Mount Fuji can be, if you take it lightly, it will beat you down. As a disclaimer, yes, I made it, though I had my share of mistakes and was witness to much worse.

My aim here is not really to make Mount Fuji out as an insurmountable task that requires some sort of superhuman to ascend - it's not impossible as long as you have decent athleticism and a friend with the same, and everyone going to Japan should at least consider going. It's a feat and experience all in one, and the fact that I was able to pull it off and make it to the highest point in Japan and back down... well, I can't even put those feelings to words, and I mean it in the good way. But as I said, it's not something that everyone can do, as there are still a few requirements that anyone climbing it needs to fulfill in order to summit. My trip to the top wasn't done without me seeing many failures in judgement, and I want people to learn from both my mistakes and that of my climbing partners, so that if or when they decide to go, they'll be that much more prepared.

Or alternatively, if I can shed light on what exactly made it so hard for my group, maybe someone out there will start to understand what exactly they're getting into... as in my case, one among our number didn't, and the mountain really let him have it. In fact, I don't know if he would have made it off the mountain if he were by himself, and it goes without saying... the less people collapsing on the trail or giving up on themselves halfway through because they didn't prepare enough or at all, the better. Mount Fuji can be harsh. I hope I can explain why.