Mt. Fuji-climbing visitors warned to take challenge seriously

2 comments

1. “The manager of an 8th station lodge deplored the reckless attitudes of some climbers and said he especially wants people to “refrain from ‘bullet climbing,'” or the practice of climbing to reach the summit for sunrise without taking a break to sleep overnight.”

   Ahhh, actually, this is how I did it because I didn’t think I would manage to actually sleep in the hut, and would just feel more tired and cranky in the morning. It was fine, the climb up is actually fun, and I don’t think it’s at all challenging.

   The way DOWN is another matter entirely, not because I was tired, but because it’s a (seemingly) unending trudge down very sheer diagonal slopes. It feels like it’ll never end, and the hiking boots I wore worked totally against me. My toes were rammed up into the hard ends of those boots while I walked down those slopes for… I think six hours straight?

2. I’ve done Mt.Fuji many times, each with first time climbers from Japan and abroad, and I agree with taking the climb seriously. Of course you will always see people boasting about how they made it up with little rest in a t-shirt but it needs to be understood everyone is built differently and climbs are planned as if I’m taking a group of elementary school students up