MT.FUJI

Geography

Mt. Fuji, although generally envisaged as a single mountain, actually consists of three distinct volcanoes. Its classic symmetrical slopes are made all the more impressive by the mountain's isolation from any other peaks. Located on Honshu island and straddling the border between the Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, Mt. Fuji is just 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Tokyo and can be seen from its tower blocks on a clear day. The mountain rises to a height of 3,776 metres (12,389 ft) and incorporates five lakes. The volcano is currently dormant with its last eruption occurring in 1708 CE, although between that date and 781 CE there were 17 eruptions recorded.
As the old Japanese saying say, "You're a fool if you never climb Mt. Fuji, and you're an even bigger fool if you climb it more than once."... I did't understand the phrase why until I decided to try.
I climbed Mt. Fuji last august 13 2012 with my friends at night starting from 7pm and reached the top at 3am . I was expecting it to be easy and tolerable as what other told me, but I was wrong, it was difficult with different kinds of trails from rocky to slippery to the steepest and I felt a little bit of the altitude sickness due to the long trek at the middle of the night plus the changing pressure in every layer of the mountain and the oxygen near the summit becomes thinner so breathing was really a problem with just 2 steps then I started to ran out of oxygen to breathe plus the wind chill that reached below zero are some of the factors that made my Fuji climb difficult but fortunately I was able to recover with those problems as I brought with me the things to counter those drowsiness or in other words, I was not ready enough for the climb wearing the exact gears . But with those struggles and hardships, we are not successfully reached the summit and the tallest point in Japan @ 12,395ft in altitude because there was an unexpected storm. then they decided nothing goes to the end.Unfortunately one level left at the end the post office area the highest post office in the world the FUJISAN-CHO Post Office located in Mt. Fuji's crate,But for me everything was worth it even theres storm , I thought I was going to die ,I really thought that the descending part was a hundred times easier but it's the other way around, was more difficult than the ascending phase. Most of the descending trail was composed of beach like sands with small pebbles plus the steepness equals agony... I need all my thigh and toes strength to control and support my body weight in order not to stumble down. 6 kilometers of it was really hard. started descending at about 9am and arrived at the 5th station (where the bus is waiting back to the train station) at 1pm. All I can say that my thigh down to my feet was really tortured...lol... but again, it was worth the climb because never did I expected that I can reach that part of the world yet 1 level left. So far, the highest mountain I climbed, Thank You Lord for giving me strength!MT. FUJI