Postcards from the Ledge

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MOSS members David Lim and Wong Ting Sern attempted Mount Fuji, with Japanese climber Masaharu in March 2004. Ting Sern has done his maths and here is his day-by-day account of their climb done during difficult weather when the mountain was closed to tourists.

Day 1 - Monday (22/3)

Flew from Singapore (6:05am) to KL to Narita (18:45 - Japan time). Rushed out of customs to catch the 19:55 train to Shinjuku station (downtown Tokyo). Just managed to make it with 2 minutes to spare. Arrive at Shinjuku at 2145h. Weather - raining (and very cold - about 2 deg C). Hotel is 5 minutes walk away from Shinjuku station. A Japanese friend, Masaharu was waiting for us at the hotel. After check-in, we went out for late Japanese dinner with Masaharu and his wife.

Day 2 - Tuesday (23/3)

Woke up at 0430h and packed for Mt Fuji. at 0600h, three of us (David, Masaharu, and me) left the hotel for Shinjuku station, bound for Hakone National Park (Fujiyama). Train journey took 2 hours 30 minutes and we had to change trains. We reached a very small town at 0845h. This town is 850m above sea level. From there, Masaharu had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the train station, bound for "Station 5" on Mt Fuji.

There are actually three "Station 5" on Fuji - depending on which direction you are coming from. Ours is supposed to be at 2200m. Unfortunately, because of the very heavy snow, the road was closed to traffic only after about 4 km from the town. So, the taxi dropped us off when the snow was getting too much and we have to carry our loads up the road to the trail head to Station 5, which was 5 km away.

The trail head was 1100m above sea level. Took us almost 1.5 hours to walk up the road to reach the trail head. The trail climbs from there to Station 5, total distance was about 5km uphill. The snow was very deep, up to the knee at places. Very hard going. Each of us was carrying about 18kg - 22kg loads. We only reached mid-point of that trail at 1630h.

We pushed on and finally reached the road leading to Station 5 at 2100h. I was the last - the slowest of all. David and Masaharu had already set up tent at the end of the car park at Station 5 by 2030h. By the time I reached there, it was 2130h. After drinking hot tea and eating hot food, I felt very much better.

As I still had my plastic boots on, I had to go out and scoop snow to be melted for water ... no problems. When all the duty done for the evening, it was time for one more challenge ... the tent was only a 2.5 man tent. And there were 3 of us. A big squeeze - David's head face up, Masaharu's head down, and me up. Getting into sleeping bag proves to be "nothing" after we figured out how to arrange ourselves inside the tent. Lights out at 0015h.

Before we went "Zzzz", we had a discussion on the next day's activities. We were climbing at about 120 vertical meters per hour based on Tuesday's climbing speed. There was 1500m of climbing to go (from Station 5 - 2200m to summit - 3776m). Even if we dropped all the loads at the Station 5, and climb without much loads, maximum speed will be about 180 vertical meters per hour. At that speed, we need about 9 hours uphill. Downhill - 5 hours, total = 14 hours. Then from Station 5, we need to go back to the "end of road" where we started walking up. That's another 4 hours downhill ... total = 18 hours. Assuming everything is perfect. Too hard.

Masaharu had to go back to Tokyo (to work) on Thursday. This means we have to be out of the mountain by Wednesday evening. Summit is impossible now. Okay, no problems. We will wake up later on Wednesday, take a walk up for about 1 - 2hours, if possible to reach tree line, before coming down. Also, I was worried about my weak left knee tendon - which has caused me problems in the past. It was starting to create some pain there.

Day 3 - Wednesday (24/3)

During the night, we had some very strong winds that rocked the tent at night. Since I was sleeping at the edge of the tent, it affected me and David more than Masaharu - who was sleeping in the middle of the tent.

Woke up at 0530, found the wind extremely strong and temperature too cold. Went back into sleeping bag ... and went back to sleep.

Finally, sun warmed up the tent at 0700 and everybody came out from the sleeping bags. Cook some breakfast and went out to take a look. Scenery was simply beautiful ... no clouds, little wind. Askede David to grab his camera and take some pictures while the clouds are still "hidden".

After packing up the tent, and dropping our backpacks at the car park, we went uphill for as high as we could go - reached 2500m - before my left knee tendon made itself felt. Anyway, summit was still a long way to go. After taking sponsor photos and other souvenir pictures, we started going down.

In the meantime, the weather was changing very rapidly. From 2500m, we could see and hear the wind blasting over the summit - easily 50km/hr. From clear blue sky 1 hour ago, it was now getting a bit cloudy and temperature was dropping. By 12 noon, it would have started snowing again.

Turnaround time was about 0900h. Reached car park at 1000h, carried the loads on our backs, and head downhill. After about half an hour going downhill, I found my crampon bag (loaded with one pair of steel crampons and 3 ice screws) was too heavy for me to balance properly. I had to unload it and pass it to David to carry it downhill for me.

We reached midway at 1200h, much faster than we anticipated. Finally, we reached the start of the trail at 1430. But, the snow was just as bad (if not worse) than the day before - and no taxi could come up to pick us up. So, we had to walk down the road again. 6 km downhill took us about 1.5 hours. Finally, we came up to a nice cottage, with a giant Japanese dog (???) waiting for us. Masaharu then called for a taxi and it came at 1600h. Reached the small town and took a bus back to Tokyo - reaching at 1900h.

Day 4 - Thursday (25/3)

Spent the morning shifting hotel - no more vacancies in the present hotel, have to move house. New hotel was 15 minutes walk away. Both of us (David and me) piggy backed our duffel bags (20kg each) all the way. Then we went "shopping" - with our wallets firmly tied down by 20 layers of Velcro straps. First, we went into a Japanese camping store to eyeball "what's new". Tents made of "Goretex material", titanium crampons, etc ... all with eyeball popping prices to boot, were on display.

After lunch, we visited some electronic stores and walked into a departmental store (Keio) to take a look. Again, most of the stuff were priced into the stratosphere. Dinner was with Masaharu, all purely Japanese stuff.

Day 5 - Friday (26/3)

Woke up at 0500h, check out of hotel at 0550h, catch the Narita Bus Express from outside the hotel at 0605. Weather was just as bad as the first day - dull, raining, cold. Reached Narita Airport at 0850h. Flight out was 1125h (MH) bound for KL. Arrived in KL at 1645. Waited for connection (delayed for 45 minutes) to Singapore. Finally, at 2100h, we came back home.

****

Lessons learnt -

a) Without the Subaru line working, no taxi could reach Station 5 in heavy snowfall conditions. To walk up the road to reach the trail head takes too much energy and time. Hence, if we have to climb Mt Fuji in that kind of weather, we will need 3 fine days.

b) Climbing in heavy snow and carrying a load of 18kg, the maximum speed we could move uphill was about 100 - 120 vertical meters per hour. No faster.

c) This climb is a record for me ... I have never climbed 1100 vertical meters in heavy snow, and carrying loads before. I never knew I could do it. My previous best was 550m in one day, under similar conditions, more than 20 years ago. No doubt, have to say "thanks" to David for pushing my limits way beyond what I thought was

possible.

TS