Mt Fuji

It's been a while...again....crazy computer had to break down..anyway. Two weeks ago I climbed Mt Fuji, from the bottom. Normally people catch a bus to halfway and then climb the rest. Some people even rest at the inns located on the 7th/8th stages of the mountain (there are 10 stages). I guess I was kinda over-confident in my ability so I decided to climb from the bottom to top in one shot, in 10.5 hours. From the bottom that is a pretty decent pace to move, I was kinda worried about altitude sickness but my body coped well. I didn't use the oxygen I brought nor ate half the food, but even with about 3L of water and 1.2L of energy drink I still had to buy more liquid on the mountain. I climbed through the night so if it was day, I definitely would have used more than the approximately 5.5L I drank in total. Theres way too many videos and stuff to upload here so I suggest adding me on facebook and looking there :)

The first half was basically from 800m to 2000m in a continuous uphill walk for 3 hours. It wasn't terribly steep but being mostly continuous uphill meant every step worked on my knees. Towards the end I was stopping every 400-500m of the 12km lateral track to catch my breath. Reaching halfway I was wet from the rain, tired, out of breath and my legs well warmed up. I'd started at about 5:30pm and arrived at around 8:15. Rested a bit and then trudged onto towards the top. Compared to the first half having stations along the way meant more frequent sitting rests than before so it was easier. From the last 8th station (there are fake ones haha) there was a huge line of people to the top. From there I didn't sit down to rest anymore because it was slow going and I didn't want to be late getting to see sunrise. Trudging through the last few stages I reached the top where it was WINDY as all heck. I mean seriously I nearly fell over, but anyway I snuggled in behind a small rock and waited for sunrise. I waited about an hour...which was not bad except for the crazy chill factor from the wind. Once the sun came up it was all worth it :)

From the top it took me about 3 hours to descend, descendant was painful. Steep ash trail all the way down. On the train home while standing I felt suddenly sick and had to sit on my bag or throw up. Luckily I made it home without incident and for the next two days....I couldnt use my knees. Seriously just slightly bending them was ridiculously painful.