20 ~ 21 August, 2011
08
Subashiri (5th Station) >> Summit >> Yoshida (5th Station)
[Hiroko, Emi and Ayako]
08
Subashiri (5th Station) >> Summit >> Yoshida (5th Station)
[Hiroko, Emi and Ayako]
This was a climb with Hiroko, Emi and Ayako - all doing their very first climb.
It was the penultimate weekend of the (July / August) climbing season so I was expecting it to be very very crowded. The bus tickets for the regular Highway buses out from Shinjuku had all be sold out so the only option was taking the train. This was not really a problem because I had waited to make sure the weather was clear and left the decision about whether to take the Yoshida or the Subashiri trails to the very last minute. As it was I decided we would take the Subashiri trail. The Subashiri trail is slightly longer because it starts much lower down Mt. Fuji but I knew it would not be as crowded as the Yoshida trail.
We all met up in Shinjuku and took the Odakyu Line train to Shin Matsudo, changed to the Gotemba Line to Gotemba, then took a local bus to the 5th Station on the Subashiri trail. We arrived late afternoon and I figured if we left around 20:00 we would still have plenty of time to get to the top. The delay would also help to acclimatize a little to the high altitude. However, the girls seems to be keen to get going so with headlights on we set of at a very slow gentle pace. The weather was perfect, just a light wind and clear skies above. Everyone seemed to be making good progress.
There are fewer huts on the Subashiri trail compared to the Yoshida trail and we were stopping and resting at the huts we were coming across and as far as I could tell everyone was feeling fine. However, once we got up near to the 8th Station tiredness and the higher altitude started to affect Emi and Ayako. I had been worried most about Hiroko but she seeemd to show absolutely no signs of any serious problems at all.
From near the 8th Station the trail is both the ascending and descending trail for both the Subashiri and the Yoshida trails. The first 1km or so is surprisingly steep but there are no rocks or anything like that to make it any more difficult to climb. The pace had slowed right down and time and again we all stopped to rest. Resting for the girls at least involved remvoing their backpacks and just slumping back on the side of the trail and staring up into the starry night sky. Emi was the one struggling the most with altitude sickness and the only thing to do was to rest. The high altitude affects everyone differently, for some the whole body just seems to give up, for others like me it's just a sharp headache which goes away after a short while but for most it is a general tiredness which makes it very difficult to keep going.
I was beginning to have my doubts about whether we would make it to the summit in time for the sunrise. I used my usual trick of telling them that we were almost there and that there was not far to go. I'm sure they were keen to make it to the summit and kept going and going. With about 30 minutes or so to spare we arrived at the summit. We headed away from the massive crowds already gathered near the usual viewing areas and headed towards the smaller crowds gathered away to our left. Everyone put on their extra layers and we made ourselves as comfortable as we could and waited.
There was a lot of heavy cloud well below the summit and all the way to the horizon but I was sure we would see the sun emerge from behind the clouds. The colours were great and it wasn't a long wait before the sun slowly made an appearance from behind the clouds. As soon as it broke clear of the clouds the whole summit was bathed in warm sunshine. We had all made it to the top to see a really great sunrise.
It was the penultimate weekend of the (July / August) climbing season so I was expecting it to be very very crowded. The bus tickets for the regular Highway buses out from Shinjuku had all be sold out so the only option was taking the train. This was not really a problem because I had waited to make sure the weather was clear and left the decision about whether to take the Yoshida or the Subashiri trails to the very last minute. As it was I decided we would take the Subashiri trail. The Subashiri trail is slightly longer because it starts much lower down Mt. Fuji but I knew it would not be as crowded as the Yoshida trail.
We all met up in Shinjuku and took the Odakyu Line train to Shin Matsudo, changed to the Gotemba Line to Gotemba, then took a local bus to the 5th Station on the Subashiri trail. We arrived late afternoon and I figured if we left around 20:00 we would still have plenty of time to get to the top. The delay would also help to acclimatize a little to the high altitude. However, the girls seems to be keen to get going so with headlights on we set of at a very slow gentle pace. The weather was perfect, just a light wind and clear skies above. Everyone seemed to be making good progress.
There are fewer huts on the Subashiri trail compared to the Yoshida trail and we were stopping and resting at the huts we were coming across and as far as I could tell everyone was feeling fine. However, once we got up near to the 8th Station tiredness and the higher altitude started to affect Emi and Ayako. I had been worried most about Hiroko but she seeemd to show absolutely no signs of any serious problems at all.
From near the 8th Station the trail is both the ascending and descending trail for both the Subashiri and the Yoshida trails. The first 1km or so is surprisingly steep but there are no rocks or anything like that to make it any more difficult to climb. The pace had slowed right down and time and again we all stopped to rest. Resting for the girls at least involved remvoing their backpacks and just slumping back on the side of the trail and staring up into the starry night sky. Emi was the one struggling the most with altitude sickness and the only thing to do was to rest. The high altitude affects everyone differently, for some the whole body just seems to give up, for others like me it's just a sharp headache which goes away after a short while but for most it is a general tiredness which makes it very difficult to keep going.
I was beginning to have my doubts about whether we would make it to the summit in time for the sunrise. I used my usual trick of telling them that we were almost there and that there was not far to go. I'm sure they were keen to make it to the summit and kept going and going. With about 30 minutes or so to spare we arrived at the summit. We headed away from the massive crowds already gathered near the usual viewing areas and headed towards the smaller crowds gathered away to our left. Everyone put on their extra layers and we made ourselves as comfortable as we could and waited.
There was a lot of heavy cloud well below the summit and all the way to the horizon but I was sure we would see the sun emerge from behind the clouds. The colours were great and it wasn't a long wait before the sun slowly made an appearance from behind the clouds. As soon as it broke clear of the clouds the whole summit was bathed in warm sunshine. We had all made it to the top to see a really great sunrise.