Notes from Nihon: June 2005

Ok, what follows are some pictures from our Fuji climb. I will write the story in the next couple days.
I tried to give the pictures some kind of order but you should know that we climbed at night and all the day shots were taken on the way down the mountain--bit hard to capture what the mountain and trail look like in the dark.
Hope you like 'em.

Before the climb. Mat packs his bag, Dilek shoots a movie, and Sebastien wonders if Amy will be this genki (energetic and happy) when she gets to the top.

I don't exactly know how you can take a blurry picture of a sign but I somehow managed to do just that. Think I'll blame it on the fact that I had just climbed a mountain. Anyway, this is start of the trail up.

Below this point there are a few trees but after you hit the tree line it begins to look this and then eventually even the little shubs stop growing and it's nothing but rocks.

One of the millions of rocks on the mountain.

Looking up on our way down. These huts offer a place to get a little shelter on your way up if you feel that you need it. We never used them for anything beyond the toilets and a place to get a quick snack or drink out of our backpacks.

Looking up again at the huts. Still quite a way to go from here.

...up again....

...and again.

And looking down from the top.

The fog doesn't creep up the mountain when it decideds to come, it runs up! Had to take the camera out quickly to get this shot before it got to us.

Amy on the rocks. Lots of these sections to make the journey up fun and challenging enough to keep the mind involved.

The Marines from Iwakuni over by Hiroshima. I talked to one of them for a short bit to find out what and from where the group of them was. They came ready with Champagne, tripod and camera, and their troop's (or whatever you call the group) flag. Seemed like a bunch of good and very in-shape guys.

The gate at the top.

This is says something about the top of the mountain but I'm not sure what.

"Welcome" he seems to say.

Just to prove we were actually there. That's the 3000meter sign. Amy still looks tough and ready and Dilek shows us the "Air's gettin a little thin, fellas" look.

776 to go.

Not sure how well this will show up (click on it to blow it up a little), but this is what the sky looked like just as we got to the top. Was about 345am at this point and the long upwards journey was finally complete.

Little dark still, but that's Mat and Dilek. We took these shots just after we arrived at the summit.

And there's Sebastien, our local Frenchman. Damn good guy.

And there's Amy and me.

And there we are again a few minutes later (obviously).

I walked over to the lip of the crater and took this one. Luckily the thing didn't blow while I was standing there. Yes, that's snow and ice inside. On the opposite side is technically the highest point in Japan, 3,776 meters (12,388 feet).