One word for climbing Mount Fuji - Pain

Climbing Mount Fuji is truly a pain in every sense of the word. Physical pain, mental pain and emotional pain. When you read about climbing Mount Fuji there is very little written about this part of the Mount Fuji experience. As we neared the summit, every person we saw was suffering - you could see it in their faces, in their body language and in their slow, deliberate march to the top.

On the Fujikawaguchiko shuttle bus
to Mount Fuji 5th Station. All smiles.

5th Station - Unbelievable number of people and buses.

The start of the Yoshida Trail actually begins on a decline for
quite a while - we started questioning if we were on the right trail

We saw a large number of hikers on their way back -
these hikers had spent the night so they could summit
and see the sunrise. Despite the large number of hikers, 
it was very quiet. They walked without much talking -
we would soon found out why they walked like zombies.

Didn't have to wait long to start climbing.
We thought most of the trail would be like this.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the trail was like this - jagged rock.

This is what the trail often looked like as we
approached the many stations on the mountain -
actual steps made out of rock.

After climbing through the rocks, we were so excited to see the
trail in the background. To me, they looked like beautiful
rainbows we could walk on to the top. Unfortunately, 
that is the descent trail.

This is what the ascent trail looked like for much of the way.
You can see how much elevation Andrea gained after a few steps.

This is one of the stations. Notice how steep the trail is at this point and
notice the Shinto gate. Many of the Japanese would stop and say a prayer
before passing through the gates.

This is us at the top. Before we took this picture, we had sat on these
steps for at least 5 or 10 minutes. When I first tried to take this picture,
there were no smiles. I had to talk them into smiling. Now, I wish I had 
taken the picture without asking them to smile. It was amazing how 
completely done we were at this point.

This is us at the summit.

Andrea and Zach doing the Mount Fuji sign.

This is the descent trail up close. No rainbows - just more pain.
These trails were like walking on a layer of gravel with
large rocks, dirt and dust mixed in. To us, climbing down
was, in many ways, just as hard and miserable as climbing up.

The scenery was beautiful as we walked down. I stopped to take 
a couple of pictures - this one shows the shadow of Mount Fuji.
It looks like smoke is rising from its top. But, after a while, the 
endless steep trail of rock debris makes you almost immune to the 
scenery. Your one focus becomes getting off the mountain as quickly
as possible.