I am very fortunate to have a family in the airline industry, the incredible flight benefits helped quench my travel thirst and then would leave me parched, always wanting more. The airlines have special rules for how long a dependent can keep their (nearly) free flights for and I was coming up on the end of this. I couldn’t let my free passes expire without going out with a bang, so what did I do? I flew to Japan for a long holiday weekend to climb Mount Fuji!

A little background to help clear up what may seem like a very stupid trip. First, a long 4 day weekend, what is this? It was a year where the fourth of July was on a Thursday so our company got Thursday and Friday off. Second, why just a 4 day weekend Tony? You’re flying all that way, why don’t you stay for a little and see some more stuff? I would have loved to, believe me, but I needed to be back Monday morning for my internship. Third, why climb Mount Fuji? When I studied abroad in Japan I made a bucket list of all things I needed to do before I left the country. Of course, climbing mount fuji was on that list. Unfortunately, a month before climbing season rolled around I ended up hospitalized for a week in critical care which scared my mother half to death. 12 hours after I was released from the hospital, I was packed up, said my goodbyes and my mom me shipped back to the US with a lot of items still on my list.

To start my journey, I flew up from San Diego to LAX and shot a message to my friend in Japan. “Hey there, I hope you’re doing well? What are you doing on Saturday? Nothing? Oh ok, want to climb Mount Fuji? Really? Ok, I’ll meet you there!” Bless her heart for putting up with me and my shenanigans. When I finally arrived in Tokyo it was extremely hot and humid. I spent the next day catching up with friends and exploring some of my favorite places. Finally, Sunday rolled around and it was Mount Fuji time!

Now remember, Japan is the land of the rising sun, so most people start their climb in the evenings and go through the night to see the sunrise from the summit. In all honesty, I think we did start our hike a little too early, because we had time to spare at the summit, but we were so excited, so we couldn’t wait to get started.

I met my friend at Shinjuku station, where we took an evening bus to Mount Fuji’s 5th Station. It’s about a 2 hour 30 minute bus ride and we arrived around 7:00pm. Almost everyone else on board is heading to climb Mount Fuji as well, so it’s easy to make some new climbing buddies.

We arrived at the 5th Station, which has a supply shop, a tourist shop, and a cafeteria to prep you for your climb. Speaking of preparation, what should one typically wear when climbing Japan’s largest mountain? Well, I can tell you not to wear a peacoat and jeans, because you’re going to freeze your ass off. (I swear I am an organized and a prepared traveler, this was just a blue moon trip for me!) Even though I probably shouldn’t give you advice on what to wear, I can tell you layers will save your life. When you’re climbing the mountain, you start to get surprisingly hot, when you get surprisingly hot, it’s no surprise you get sweaty. When you start to take a break and that sweat turns cold…it’s miserable. Wear layers that are easy to get in and out of quickly, and you’ll be set!

We started our climb up the mountain, it was actually quite warm still, just extremely windy. The wind makes you feel kind of nervous, if you go during climb season I doubt you will be blown off the mountain. But when you’re close to the edge and that wind starts blowing your animal instinct is to get low and to grab onto something…so this was a majority of the start of the climb. Now, if you’re going to learn any lessons from this story, besides not being an idiot and flying to Japan for a weekend, or to wear appropriate climbing attire, it’s that you should only climb Mount Fuji during climbing season. Again, you should only climb Mount Fuji during climbing season! Why? If you go in the off season, the paths will be covered in snow and ice and you will get lost, all of the huts on the mountain will be closed, and it’s very hard for rescuers to come find you and save you (and you’re putting their lives in danger, which is extremely selfish). There are tons of stories of inexperienced and even experienced climbers that have gone missing on that climb…Ok, stepping down from my high horse…

It was a weekend, so the mountain was really packed. Occasionally on the more narrow paths you would have to wait. The large tourist groups would get to be quite annoying because they would move so slowly. You just have to learn to pass them. There are plenty of huts up the mountain, each one you can pay a small amount to sit inside and have a rest (and keep warm). You can buy some ramen cup noodles, tea, snack bars, and water. (I think the best snickers I’ve ever had was at the 8.5 station). It’s a very repetitious climb, you climb up to the left, then you climb up to the right, you climb up to the left, then back to the right. There are resting areas in-between the turns.

The beginning of the hike is exciting and everyone is in high spirits but as you start to get higher, you start to get colder, you start to be able to breath less, and then you start to ask yourself, “what the hell am I doing?” Around midnight, that question raced through my mind with each slow exhausted breath I took. Was I here for the experience? Was I here because I enjoyed climbing mountains, being cold, and trying my best not to be blown off a mountain? Or was it because I’m a human and I see a mountain and I want to climb it? Still to this day I don’t know why I flew half way around the world to climb a mountain, I just did it.

Around 2:00am we reached the last resting point before the summit. At first thought, we were happy that we had made great time, then we realized the sun wasn’t going to come up for another 2 hours. That meant we had 2 hours to kill, which at the top of a freezing mountain is just lovely. At this point, you’re tired, you’re cold, and you’re slightly hungry. You can’t sleep, you can’t get warm, and you don’t want to eat. We rested for about 30-45 minutes and figured we should go up to the summit.

Surprisingly, you can buy hot tea, hot coffee, and cup of noodles on the top of Mount Fuji. Who knew?! We huddled into an extremely crammed hut and devoured down a bowl of ramen while placing the hot coffee can in our hands to warm us up. After having this small moment of joy, it was time to brave the cold and find our place to watch the most beautiful sunrise in the world…

We walked out of the hut, now frost is forming on our coats with about 45 minutes until the sunrise. After trying to find a few benches to sit on and get the best experience, we finally sit on the perfect bench. We will have a front row view of the sunrise! So we wait…and we wait…and we wait… All we see is a thick layer of clouds and fog. 10 feet out that’s all you see. In our heads we think maybe when the sunrises the fog will clear and we can see! We look at our phones, it’s 4:00 am…still fog…it’s 4:10 am…fog…it’s 4:25 am…fog. The sun is rising and all we see is fog. I came all this way to see what I could see in my backyard on a June morning…

We looked over to our right as we heard a man yelling and screaming for the gods to open up the clouds so we could see the sunrise, but it wasn’t working. He stripped down to his lowest layers in the freezing cold, offering a sacrifice of his body, screaming out at the top of his lungs, but it was hopeless. Again, we waited…and we waited..and we waited…nothing…

Defeated, cold, exhausted, we start to descend down the mountains. After going down about 15 minutes I remember looking at my feet so I wouldn’t trip and my friend tapping me on the shoulder. “Tony! Look!” My head went up and my jaw dropped to see the most beautiful view I have ever seen. The sky was a beautiful mix of 100 different shades of color all resting on top of beautiful white clouds, shimmering lakes, and green mountains. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I was able to enjoy this view my entire climb down the mountain. We were in high spirits the rest of the trip.

We made it safely down the mountain (actually took a wrong turn and ended up in a different town than we wanted to) but we were still able to make it back to Tokyo! After 35 hours of being awake, I slept like a baby that night and visited the hot springs in the morning.

I don’t know why I climbed Mount Fuji, but I know what I got from the experience. I truly understood the quality of perseverance, that even if you work hard, give everything you got, and you’re ready for that reward, it doesn’t mean it has to come. I expected to reach the top of Mount Fuji and be greeted with an amazing sunrise, because I thought I had earned it. I could have sat at the top of Mount Fuji for another hour and still just stared at a white cloud waiting for my prize. Instead I got up and knew I needed to keep moving, and because I kept climbing I saw a site that will forever be engraved into my memories.