EXPEDITION TO FUJI-SAN

Mount Fuji or Fuji-san is the highest mountain in Japan .  They say it's 3775 meters high and at the top there's an inactive volcano crater. It's easy to reach  its base from Hamamatsu;  half an hour shinkansen ride to Shin Fuji and another half an hour taxi or bus ride to the base at 2400 meters elevation.  That is what we did one hot summer day in August 2001. We started four just before six in the afternoon for a night climb, reached its summit the next day before sunrise.  All night pilgrims or sun worshippers climbed making long line of lights on the steep trek to the summit. There is no way to show the beauty of Fuji-san and the sunrise at the top by a few pics or describe them. One must climb it and witness the beauty.

Here is the schematic showing the base camp, long and steep trek to the summit, nine resting camps and the crater.

1.  view from the base, 2.  another view from the base. Motoyama-san is taking video, 3. our team at the base just before starting the climb (from left to right: kyo-kun from China, our guide yasuda-san, my guardian angel motoyama-san and me), 4. the road going to camp number tree, 5.  near camp 7, there is still some vegetation here and there.

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6.  view of the summit aver the clouds, 7. before the sunrise, 8. it's the sunrise, 9. pilgrims or sun worshippers enjoying the sunrise, 10. the summit above the planet

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11.  at the summit (Kyo-kun wasn't a good photographer!),

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