July 14, 2011

To the Summit

One of the things we looked forward to this summer was climbing to the top of Mt. Fuji.  We had restled with the idea of taking the boys throughout the year as we mentally planned for this trip.  The boys are such great hikers and have this amazing endurance so we knew that they could probably do it.  We were lucky to have Grandpa Al in town to watch the girls as it was a really LONG day.  The drive wasn't as long as we had expected.  It only took us 1 1/2 hours to get to the parking lot at the Subashiri 5th Station which stands at 2000 meters (about 6,562 ft).  From there we bought the traditional walking sticks for our journey.  We bought one adult and one child stick knowing well that we would be carrying them most of the way.  The boys started out with the sticks but eventually Mike carried the big one and I carried the small one.  It was a good thing we decided to leave our hiking poles behind because the sticks were perfect. 


The Mt. Fuji trail is divided into ten stations with the first one at the base of the mountain and the tenth one at the summit.  There are 4 different 5th Stations located at different points around the mountain.  We choose the Subashiri trail as it was the closest trail to where we live and has the most beautiful scenery at the beginning of the ascent with many alpine plants and a shaded forest trail.  Most people start at one of the 5th stations.   From our starting point the stations were as follows:

Subashiri 5th Station - 2,000 meters (6,562 ft)  Our starting point
Sunabarai 5th Station  - 2,300 meters (7,546 ft)
New 6th Station - 2,400 meters (7,874 ft)
Main 6th Station  - 2,700 meters (8,858 ft)
New 7th Station - 3,090 meters (10,138 ft)
Main 7th Station - 3,200 meters (10,499 ft)
New 8th Station - 3,350 meters (10,990 ft)
Main 8th Station - 3,400 meters (11,154 ft)
8.5 Station - 3,454 meters (11,332 ft)
9th Station - 3,576 meters (11,732 ft)
Summit (10th Station) - 3,776 meters (12,388 ft)

The first part of the trail between the two 5th stations was absolutely beautiful.  At first we hiked for 30 minutes straight before stopping to rest.  That seemed to be a good amount of time for the boys to hike before stopping.  Everyone had their own camelbacks on so drinking water was easy along the way and we kept reminding each other to keep drinking so we wouldn't get dehydrated.  We loved the trail through the forest because it was beautiful but also because it was shaded.  It was still partly sunny outside and we were hot at the start.  As we came out of the forest the trail was still laden with greenery but we got bits of the sun which made us quite warm.  We looked back and saw that we were above the clouds.  It was quite a view already at this point in our journey.  I really feel like we were lucky today because we ended up having the best climbing weather.  We had these awesome clouds that kept circling up and down the trail and everytime a group of clouds came by us we felt a cool breeze.  This made our hike so much more enjoyeable.  I don't know how we would have made it if it were full on sun with humidity.  It took us about 1 hour to make it up to the the Sunabarai 5th Station where we took a break and then another 30 minutes to the New 6th Station where we got our first stamps on our sticks.  The boys did really well up to this point. At times they complained that their leg muscles were tired so we showed them some different ways to go up the steep parts to utilize different muscles. It was fun for them and I think it distracted them enough to keep going without complaining.


We finally did make it to the Original 6th Station (also known as the Main 6th station) and stopped to rest there for just a bit. From the Main 6th Station to the New 7th Station it was about another hour. It was long and kind of steep but at this point we were all still together and doing fairly well. The boys would occasionally use the ropes to help them up steep sections. I thought it was sweet how they referred to it as the iron rod. Before reaching the New 7th Station we saw a little shrine with bells and money. We had a bell on our stick but we didn't leave it there. It was probably for good luck or something like that. At the New 7th Station we took a bathroom break and had to pay our 300 yen each to use the toilet. It seemed strange to have to pay almost $5 to use the toilet but at this point you just accepted that is the way things are done here. We made sure to bring lots of money because we knew there would be expenses along the way (toilet, stamps for the stick, food, etc). From this point we pushed through an extremely steep section and a long stretch of about an hour to get to the 7th Station. It was rough but everyone did really well. It was at this point that we naturally split up into partners. I was partnered with Peter and Mike was partnered with Andrew. Peter and I move at about the same pace and so from here on we were known as the mountain goats. We may be short but we sure can move. I think it was at this point that Andrew was starting to get a headache. I could tell he was tired but he kept going. Every once in a while Peter and I would stop to let them catch up to us. At one point we stopped so I could take pictures of the amazing clouds and Peter found this awesome rock that looked like the entrance to a cave. It wasn't a cave but it sure looked cool and he wanted his picture in front of it. When we could see the last steep ascent up to the Main Station 7, Peter and I did not stop because he wanted to get there first. It wasn't too much longer until Mike and Andrew made it as well. The view of the clouds from up here was amazing. We all stopped here to get Andrew some Udon because he wasn't feeling well and to get our 7th Station stamp.


It was a real accomplishment to get to this point and although Andrew was starting to feel the effects of the altitude, we were still in pretty good shape. The good thing about the next part of our journey to the summit was that each station until the top was only about 30 minutes apart from each other. So, naturally we made it a goal to keep going until the next station. At the New 8th Station we stopped to get a snack. We had failed to bring enough snacks knowing that there were vendors along the way. We always bring PB&J sandwiches on all our long hikes but for some reason we didn't today and we wished we had them...especially for Peter who does not take to Japanese food very well. Luckily we found this bread with chocolate inside and everyone was happy. We also got to see one of the sleeping areas that people use when they summit the mountain really early to see the sunrise. Our little snack got us up to the Main 8th Station but here is where we really started to see the altitude affect the kids. Andrew's headache was not getting better even after taking some tylenol and Peter was starting to feel sick to his stomach. He actually got sick here. We got him something to drink to help and after resting for a little bit longer we decided to keep going to Station 8.5 which wasn't too far from where we were. Andrew and I really had to go to the bathroom so we were looking forward to a longer break at the 8.5 Station and were sorely disappointed to find out that the bathroom was closed for some repairs or cleaning of some sort. It wasn't going to open until 2:00pm and it was only 1:30pm. We really didn't want to wait that long. We did, however, rest here for a longer period of time. Peter was really feeling tired at this point from getting sick earlier and he fell asleep right on the bench. We let him sleep for about 15 minutes before waking him up because we felt like we needed to get going. We weighed heavily at this point if it was wise to keep going. It seemed like such a waste to turn around when we were only 1000ft from the top. We only needed to hike for one more hour and then we would be there. We decided to keep going after waking Peter up and hearing him say, "I feel so much better now." I think Andrew was pretty mad at us because he wanted to turn around. It was much harder for the boys than it was for us and it broke my heart to see how they struggled to keep going but we knew that they could do it.


I paired up with Peter and Mike paired up with Andrew as we made our way to Station 9 which didn't really have anything there but a pile of rubble where a hut used to exist. This was a hard stretch for everyone. I put my arm around Peter and grabbed him carefully under his armpit to help guide him up the mountain. He just kept moving even though I knew he was a bit out of it and extremely tired. As soon as we made it to Station 9 he laid down on the ground and proceeded to sleep. We all went around some rocks and took a bathroom break because we just couldn't wait any longer. At this point I was thinking how lucky the boys were. I had to pee girly style and tried to time it before someone came around the corner. As I looked up, not quite finished yet, a man came around the corner. I didn't care much and he didn't really look my way which was good. It's a good thing I can rough it when I need to. Mt. Rainier taught me that. A sweet old man saw that the boys were struggling so he gave Peter some of his oxygen. I think it helped but shortly after that Peter got sick again. Some other people gave us cookies and kit kats and another nice man gave us an unopened can of oxygen. When we asked him how much for it he said it was a gift. We felt truly blessed to have people help us. We didn't realize that the kids would have such problems with the altitude. We should've brought oxygen with us. After giving both boys some more oxygen we decided to finish it once and for all. Blessings headed our way as out of the blue Peter got a second wind and hauled it up the last super steep section with me. We made it to the top about 30 minutes before Mike and Andrew. Peter was so excited and I took some pictures of him. We tried waiting on the steps near the last tori gate but it was taking them longer to get there so we finished climbing the stairs to the top. Peter laid down on the steps and fell asleep. I got our stick stamped and then headed back down to see Andrew and Mike make their way towards us. Andrew really struggled up this last section and when I saw him and told him he did it he started to tear up. I could see it in his eyes that we was emotional about what he just did. I took a picture of Mike and Andrew and then went up, grabbed Peter and carried him down to us to get a family photo. Everyone was so tired but it just wouldn't have been right to not have a photo of all of us together. Some might say that we are terrible parents for pushing our boys up this mountain but there were many lessons we learned along the way. We knew that if they could make it to the top they would be so proud of themselves. An accomplishment such as this is a rare occurence and one that not many people their age can say they have done. We knew it would help them in so many aspects of their life later on. We are so proud of them for not giving up even though they wanted to.


We were a little unsure of how our descent down the mountain was going to go. We were able to eat up at the top, although the boys were half asleep as we were feeding them. As we descended down the trail (which is a different trail than going up) we were somehow filled with energy. The trail was more of a big trail that looked like it had been plowed. It was pretty soft so we just skated down it pretty fast. Andrew was still suffering from a headache but we knew the further down we got the better he would feel. My absolute favorite picture of the entire trip was right at the beginning of the descent where we could see all of our shadows. We were so proud of all we accomplished up until this point. It was so rewarding and our shadows were exactly how we felt at that very moment. It took us 8 hours to get up the mountain and only 3 hours to get down. We flew down the mountain and parts of it were so much fun we forgot how tired we were. We had the most gorgeous view of the valley below and the pretty sunset in the sky. We even got to see a shadow of Mt. Fuji on the town below us. It was so amazing. We couldn't have timed it any better as we came out of the forested trail near the Subashiri 5th Station it was finally dark. We took our final photo, got some ice-cream, and headed home. Needless to say we all slept really well that night. It was quite a long, but fulfilling day.