A long and tiring journey...(3)

The journey to the top

After we had prepared ourselves, we head to our starting point. Before we started, however, we had our dinner there but it was an expensive dinner for us. A regular "gyudon" is 800yen, while we can get the same "gyudon" with 290yen back in Tokyo. Well, sorry, actually "gyudon" is not been sold anymore, because of the mad cow disease. I wonder why "gyudon" is still been served there...

Stomach was full and we were ready for our journey. After confirming the correct starting point with other climbers around there, we started our journey. Time was 9:31 pm.

[climb... rest... climb]

Reached the first stop point - 6th stage. Forgot to take note of the time because, at that moment, all I think about was that I need a rest. I finally reached a stop point after a long tiring walk. Started to wonder why I put myself in such a tiring task? After a few minutes rest, we continued our journey to the next stop point. Still able to handle the coldness out there, therefore I still did not put on my sweater.

[climb... rest... climb]

Reached another stop point - 6.5th stage?! We are expecting it to be 7th stage but unfortunately it wasn't. Disappointed and felt like quitting. Coldness was still not a problem for me and therefore continued as usual.

[climb... rest... climb... a bit cold... decided to put on the sweater... climb]

Stopped challenging my naiveness, or stupidity. When other people say it is very cold, just listen to them!! This time, reached the 7th stage. However, only two out of five of us reached there at that time, another three were still struggling to reach 7th stage. After some rest, called my friend to see if we should wait for them at 7th stage. Answer given was a "It's OK, please continue without us..." and so we proceed to the next stop point.

[climb... rest... climb]

As usual reached another stop point - 7.5th stage. Stop for a small rest and continued.

[climb... rest... climb]

Again, reached the second last stop point - 8th stage. At that time, it was already 2:30 am. We will only have around 2 hours before sunrise. However, from 8th stage to the top of the mountain, it will take around 2 hours to reach, so we need to hurry ourselves. Although we needed to hurry up, we felt so hungry and therefore, I search for some cup noodle to eat. Found one and ordered. It costed me 600 yen!! That cup noodle will only cost me 150 yen. Another cut-throat businessman...

Since hungry, therefore ate the noodle. Share the hot soup with my junior, Ma. Feeling a bit warmer and got ourselves ready for the next struggle. Suddenly, bad news came... dark clouds were heading its way to Mount Fuji - rain is near. That's right, rain was about to fall and that's the second mistake/problem that I left out on the second part. Dreams came true... damn!!

Was asking my junior if he still wish to continue... "Yes, of course" was the reply. Hmm, a strong man but yet... However, we continued, yeah I am a fool too. The path was getting harder and harder.

[climb... rest... climb]

After a while, reached the final stop point - 9th stage. Didn't plan to stop for a long rest, and therefore continued after a minute or two break. Strong winds blew, bringing the soft sands together with it and attacked our eyes.

Nothing can be done with the strong wind, we needed to continue and we need ed to do it fast or else we will miss the sunrise... but will we be able to see the sunrise? Remember? It was still raining although not heavily...

Changed our objective to just reach the top of the mountain and see what type of a place it looks like.

[climb... rest... climb]

This path to the top was the most congested path ever met. A lot of people were heading to the top of the mountain at that moment, and that forced us to follow the flow of the progress, which is damn very slow. Helpless and useless to ask them to move faster and therefore we decided to move ourselves faster ahead, instead... meaning overtaking jobs was needed.

At that moment, legs felt heavy and weren't that obedient anymore. What a day, I should be sleeping at this time... why here climbing?

Some people, as impatient as us performed some spiderman stunts. We were no loser for that and therefore we followed... haha, we found it fun and exciting in spite of the pain and tiredness plus the danger.

Traffic was actually linked from the starting point at the 9th stage to the top of the mountain. If we were to follow the pace of the flow all the way up the mountain, we would have fallen asleep by then... therefore good decision made.

After an hour plus of spiderman stunts, we finally reached the top of the mountain!! However, we were shivering to death. Damn cold with the rain. The top was filled and covered with mist, visibility was not that clear. Rain wasn't stable but whatever it was, we headed to a stay house for a rest and warm ourselves up. At that time, it was 5:15 am.

At around 6:10 am, my colleague, Nesan, called. They will be reaching the top soon, and I replied that we will wait for them here at the top of the mountain. After around 20 minutes, I met up with them.

[to be continued...]