Climb Mt. Fuji at night.

 From Li Kun.

I have always wanted to climb Mount Fuji once. Now it's finally possible. Departing from Tsukuba on the afternoon of September 2nd, we arrived at Mount Fuji around 8 or 9 pm. (When we passed through Tokyo, there was a traffic jam on the expressway.)  After we found a restaurant for dinner, we officially started climbing Mount Fuji from New 5th station at about 10 p.m.

We chosen Gotemba Trail. To be honest, Gotemba Trail is not suitable for people who do not exercise for a long time if you want to go up and down the mountain without sleeping on the way.

On Mt. Fuji, we can see a very spectacular night view. But a friend who is not a fitness person started to have a headache after climbing for about half an hour. But we felt it was a rare visit to Mt. Fuji, so he finally decided to continue climbing. 

At around 4:30 in the morning, we arrived at the 6th station. Because my friend was exhausted, the two of us decided to watch the sunrise at the 6th station and rest here by the way. The other two friends with good physical strength climbed to the 7th station to watch the sunrise. This is the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen.

After watching the sunrise, we met at the 7th station. A friend decided to go down the mountain because it would take at least 3 hours to climb to the top and his legs were already sore. The three of us continued climbing.

The daytime scenery on Mount Fuji was still spectacular. The clouds were under the feet, as if entering heaven.

Eventually I reached the summit at 11:00 noon. At this point I was exhausted. Although I did not have any symptoms of sore legs. But at this time, every time I climbed a few meters higher, I could hear my heartbeat clearly. The other two friends with good physical strength walked around the top of the mountain. After the walk, they were exhausted as well.

At about 1:30 in the afternoon, we started to descend the mountain. Going down the mountain was indeed much easier. But what made us desperate was the way down the mountain, Gotemba Down Trail (Osunabashiri) {御殿場ルート下山道（大砂走り）}. The downhill road that can't be seen at a glance requires us to run. While I thought this was a fun way to go down the mountain, I was too tired to experience any unhappiness at the time.

 

Finally, we arrived at the starting point around 6:30 pm, and the climb to Mount Fuji was completed!

Fortunately, we saw a spectacular sight, a cloud wrapping around the top of Mount Fuji!

We didn't sleep for about 30 hours, and it took about 19 hours from the ascent to the descent.. This is really a crazy thing for me.

Anyway, I want to keep fit and strive for the opportunity to climb Mount Fuji again!