fuchsia fragments

Finally, the big weekend was here! The prep the night before wasn't the best: CFO bar and drinks, darts and a late supper with colleagues. Luckily, I live close by! Still managed to get up at 6 to be at the meeting point in Shinjuku by 7:15 am. Had maccas for breakfast - something I didn't want at the time but was so glad I ate something by the time the bus started going up the mountain.

It takes a couple of hours to get to the 5th station where the bus dropped us off and we had lunch, changed into our gear and prepared for the climb. We had two awesome guides - both with good enough English - who took us all the way up.

It is not an easy climb nor was it hand. It was challenging and very steep in some sections with lots of rock climbing but very management for people with average fitness levels. The key is to ascend slowly so that your body acclimatises and we did take it pretty slow. Even though it was the first weekend that the trails were open, there were a lot of people climbing already...!

5th station to 6th station: easy, relatively flat walk, took around 40 minutes. From 6th station, things started to get challenging, the wind got stronger and I started to eat dust! Our pace was slow and steady and I am so glad that I did not get any altitude sickness. Had to put a few layers on as we got higher and by around 6:30 PM we reached 3,400 metres and the original 8th station where we were staying for the evening!

The living conditions are basic with a sleeping bag and a bunch of people in the same room. Lucky for me, they were a clusterfuck and I managed to be assigned a corner/side spot. Otherwise... I would not have gotten any rest. The winds were howling through the night which wasn't a good sign and when it was 2 AM (our supposed wake up time), we were briefed that the winds were too dangerous to try and summit.

We were finally allowed (only the confident ones, about half the group) to try and summit around 4 AM. We saw the sunrise but it was absolutely poor at the summit. Wind, rain and almost no visibility. The climb up was difficult with the wind. As we were going up, saw my boss on the way down. We wanted to stop for a photo but it was just way too dangerous. :(

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo HAPPY and PROUD I made it to the top though. The sense of accomplishment feels so good! But I was just as happy to quickly descend and get back to more normal altitudes! The trail down... shredding gravel the whole way for 4-5 km. Takes 3 hours to descend, slipped a couple of times (I think most people did). Going down is really boring actually and would make one rethink if they want to do Fuji again. My first major mountain conquered... it's all about mindfulness!

It was not a walk in the park like Mount Takao. Mount Mitake is around 2 hours from Tokyo first by JR train to Mitake Station, then a bus to the ropeway station followed by the ropeway which takes you up 431 metres in 6 minutes at an incline of 22 degrees: the steepest in the Kanto region and wicked cool!

The hike doesn't really start until you get to the top of the ropeway station and another 15-20 minute walk to the village and shrine itself. The shrine is a few flights of stairs up again and a great "warm up" to the hike. Some nice little shops, probably locally run with souvenirs, drinks and soba. We decided to skip this until we returned in the late afternoon.

We had already decided that we walk to do the hike from Mount Mitake to Mounta Odake. It is hard work and it didn't help that we took a wrong turn and had to back track around 1 km (on an incline and in the bush, this is an additional 20-30 min walk!). We passed the rock garden and had a little break here before going the additional way (another 90 minutes) to the top. Hard, hard work constantly walking at an incline and very steep and slippery in some section. There is a tori gate before the final summit and it gets even HARDER! More rocks - literally there are sections where you are holding on to the built in chains and hauling your ass up (and we had to get back down...). And finally, after another 30 minutes from this gate, we made it to 1,266 metre up... the summit of Mt Odake! There was sunshine and lots of other people (surprisingly) and so we only took a small break again before descending. The descent was very hard on the calves and thighs but it only took us 90 minutes to descend all the way back to the shrine - i was surprised.

So had a quick check of the timetables (so easy with google) and we had time to have a really late lunch (soba again!). Just missed the ropeway so we had another 30 minute wait which was fine, it was a nice area to wander and browse more of the small shops around. Glad I brought a spare tshirt too as it helped me feel slightly refreshed. On the train, it was packed with others who had finished their hikes. The Japanese sure are well prepared with almost everyone decked on in expensive poles, boots, backpacks and weatherproof layers... crazy. Never would you see such a scene in Australia.

Another great day - glad we did it on Sunday as if it wasn't for work, I would have written off the next day! My first 30,000+ step hike!

We were going to go to Oberon for mushroom picking. Only to find out that mushrooms weren't quite in season yet. And TBH... that doesn't interest me so much.

So we did a day trip to the Blue Mountains instead: Katoomba, Leura & Wentworth Falls. It's been 5 years since the last time I'd ventured up the mountains.

First stop, Echo Point.

The skies weren't too blue today and it was a little misty and perhaps the sun was shining a little too brightly but Jamieson Valley is still pretty breathtaking. So is the mountain air. My lungs felt healthier just breathing it in.


We also went down the stairs to the Three Sisters Bridge. I forget how hard bushwalking can be. Uneven steps,  steep declines and ascends, climbing over rocks, etc. This was the first of three little walks and we definitely weren't planning on doing the giant stairway (it was closed due to landslides anyway) or the walk in the valley.

Mum and I's selfie in the cave of one of the sisters: