Somehow as we took the train to Mount Fuji, it seemed so much larger than what I had imagined! We got so lucky with the clear weather, as the top of the mountain has a tendency to be enshrouded by clouds.
We arrived at the base of the mountain at 1800 in order to start the climb and reach the summit of 3800m by sunrise.
We got majorly Judge Judy-ed on arrival, as everyone there was dressed in their snowboarding outfits (literally, winter parkas, snow pants, snowboard boots, goggles, etc). And then there was us, probably in the top three most ghetto hiking outfits ever.
Somehow I was the only one who brought actual activewear with a windbreaker, pants and running shoes, yet I somehow ended up looking the most in shambles in the end. This was as a result of Andy and I purchasing gardening gloves at the top of the hill, throwing on a poncho for extra coverage, tying my scarf around my head for warmth, and pulling up my socks to cover the exposed part of my legs.
On the upside, we have enough first aid supplies and food to feed everyone at the top.
Either way, we’re ready to go. Time starts now!
(this is after beginning the climb but then finding a poor gentleman hugging a tree in the dark forest on his descent with no flashlight… so we turned back to walk him down with our headlamps and restarted a bit late!)