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  • Hey guys.

  • So I want to share my experience climbing Mount Fuji with you guys.

  • And the main reason I want to do that is because I found that most of the videos on YouTube about Mount Fuji don't accurately represent the difficulty climbing Mount Fuji.

  • It's not simple.

  • It's actually kind of hard, and you need to bring some things with you.

  • You can't really just go in regular clothes and shoes and expect to be able to make it to the top without being completely exhausted or getting sick or something.

  • So I wanna tell you guys about my experience and, um, maybe give you some suggestions on what you should bring with you if you do decide to climb Mount Fuji yourself.

  • Um, and I just want to say that I'm probably gonna get a lot of comments from Japanese people saying that I'm anti Japanese or I'm racist or something, because I have some negative things to say about my because I have some negative things to say about my experience.

  • But, um, obviously I'm not anti Japanese.

  • I live in Japan, for chrissake.

  • Um, I just, uh, want to share my truthful experience with you guys so that you really know what to expect when you get up there.

  • So that being said, I started climbing the mountain around 8:30 p.m. Me and five of my friends took a bus from Shinjuku to the fifth station on Mount Fuji.

  • There, 10 stations, I believe.

  • So.

  • We started from halfway up the mountain.

  • You can take a bus halfway up, and I think that cost about how much was it?

  • Niece and go Sha Gu in 2500 young maybe like 30 bucks or something to get up there.

  • And unless you want to spend like a solid 24 hours going up and down the mountain, I recommend you starting of the fifth station.

  • Lots of people do do that.

  • So we started, um, climbing around 8:30 p.m. And the first thing we did was buy 80 hiking stick.

  • There is a lot of different kinds.

  • You can buy these.

  • When you arrived at the station, this waas 1000 yen.

  • So $10.12 dollars.

  • Um, I got one of the flag on it because it looks awesome.

  • And I tied my flashlight to it.

  • Um, this is the I climbed Mount Fuji at nighttime like 8:30 p.m. I started, so it was pitch black.

  • This is the only flashlight of rock, which is kind of stupid.

  • It's led, so it's pretty break.

  • But I recommend bringing a larger flashlight this Yeah, useless.

  • So we started on the path up the mountain.

  • The first part of the mountain was pretty simple, just like a like a walking path, and it wasn't too steep or anything.

  • Um, the only problem was it was pitch black.

  • There are no lights on the mountain, so flashlight is very important.

  • And bring extra batteries for sure, because if you run out of batteries, you're literally screwed.

  • You won't feel this feel like two feet in front of you.

  • So the first part of mountain was simple.

  • It was just like a walking path, except for it was pitch black.

  • So if you're not careful, you could, like, fall off the side of the mountain.

  • There aren't many boundaries, like there's an offense or anything along the path.

  • So be very careful and stay out away from the edge of the mountain.

  • Okay, so we just got onto the path on the mountain, and it's super dark way.

  • Can't see anything like Carol Shea.

  • I'll show you guys what it looks like in front of us.

  • Yeah, creepy forests.

  • Uh, we're walking in the dark.

  • We bought little flashlights, but hopefully, hopefully we'll last thing you are, it's raining a little bit, but it's not bad at all, so we're pretty lucky.

  • Looks like the weather won't be too bad at least so far anyway.

  • So, yeah, we'll see you guys in a couple hours were easy.

  • I remember that.

  • And then it started to rain, and at first we thought, Oh, it's nice and refreshing.

  • It was just a little rain and you're exhausted.

  • Wolverine felt nice.

  • Um, but then it started to turn into a typhoon, like, literally the worst weather I've seen since I've come to Japan.

  • The wind was so strong that I was blown over by the wind, and at some points, we had to, like, go load of the ground so that the wind wouldn't blow us off the mountain like it was ridiculous.

  • And the rain was super strong as well, which was not fun because it is not all like gravel pod.

  • There are also part of the trail where you have to climb up stones kind of late.

  • I guess they were manually put there, but kind of like they're placed into the mountain and you have to climb up those, like even using your hands.

  • At some point, it was really steep.

  • And when those got wet by the rain, it was so hard to climb and it's pitch black.

  • So you can't exactly see where you're putting your feet unless you have your flashlight pointing down at your feet.

  • But you also want to see, you know, ahead of you too, right?

  • So that was difficult.

  • I recommend a headlamp.

  • Lots of the climbers had ahead lap, and that looked like it made it a lot easier for them.

  • Um, but yeah, be careful where you're putting your feet, because if you step on a rock that's loose or a really slippery rock and you sleep in, like, bash your knee, then you're stuck on the mountain in the pitch black with like, ah, hurt leg.

  • And that's one other thing.

  • Nobody is gonna come save you When the weather is bad, people don't patrol the mountain.

  • So like, if someone gets hurt, then you're screwed unless you know you have a partner with you that can go.

  • Go to a station and off for help or something.

  • But the stations are ours apart.

  • It's not like, you know, it's not something to take lightly.

  • Make sure you bring, you know, band aids and stuff with you just in case.

  • And be very careful.

  • Walk slowly.

  • I fell a few times.

  • Luckily, I didn't get any serious injuries, just some bruises and scrapes and such.

  • But we were very lucky in that respect.

  • Um, let me just think it's been a while now.

  • I wanted to make this video right when I came back, but I was so exhausted that I had a super high fever and I was throwing up all day.

  • But that's another story.

  • But let me try and remember.

  • Yes.

  • Then the typhoon started really frickin sucked.

  • And even though it's summer, it was very cold, like the top of the mountain is completely different weather than down in Tokyo or down at the bottom of the mountain.

  • Even it's completely different.

  • So even though it was summer, it was very cool.

  • Cool.

  • It was freezing we were soaked because of the rain.

  • The rain went through my rain jacket.

  • I wore a rain jacket through I'm or two, actually through my to rain jackets through all my clothes, Everything I was already was completely soaked.

  • Like I had just jumped in the ocean.

  • So it was cold.

  • Very cold.

  • Um, I recommend bringing hope.

  • Skytel Those little you know what to call them in English Because we don't have them in Canada.

  • The little things but heat up, You shake them and they do some kind of reaction thing.

  • And the heat up that would have been awesome.

  • Can you use those in the rain?

  • I don't even know.

  • But my hands started to get so cold that I couldn't feel my fingers anymore.

  • So I was starting to get worried that I was could get frostbite or something.

  • Those would have been nice.

  • So I recommend either very nice waterproof gloves or bring some Hokkaido with you got to the sixth station.

  • And at the next station, there was nowhere to take shelter.

  • So even though it was pouring rain, there's really nowhere you can hide under or anything You're stuck out there.

  • Um what we did do their waas.

  • Buy some snacks seeking.

  • Buy some snacks for the little store that felt snacks.

  • You can't go into the store that would sell it to you through the window.

  • Um, and there was a washroom where you could take a washing break.

  • They do ask you to pay.

  • I think it was 100 yen at the first station.

  • Get more expensive as you go up the mountain.

  • They ask you to pay a little bit to cover washing, maintenance costs or whatever.

  • But if you happen to not have change on you than you'll still be allowed to go in, there is just a little box where they ask you to put the money in.

  • So you should do that if you can't.

  • Um so, yeah, that was a six station, And then we went up to the seventh station and the seventh station was great.

  • We were allowed to go inside.

  • We had to buy something You weren't allowed to just go in and rest.

  • You have to buy something.

  • They had coffee.

  • Tea, Domine.

  • If you brought your own cup ramen than you could pay 200 yen and they would put some hot water in it for you.

  • So that's what we did.

  • I've got some video of that.

  • I will add that in here again.

  • We're 1/7 station and then I go Me No young has been this.

  • You got a couple it on Now go back.

  • How you doing?

  • Cup room and has never looked so delicious in my life.

  • Way, way Have to be quiet because there's some people sleeping in the room next to us.

  • But I just wanted to let you guys listen to the rain way got in here at a good time.

  • It's like pouring outside now.

  • So yeah, the seventh station Waas Great.

  • Thank you people in the seventh station and you saved our lives.

  • We were so cold and so wet and so happy to be able to take some time to warm up.

  • So after we had warmed up a little bit, we went back outside into the typhoon.

  • The weather was getting worse, by the way, didn't it?

  • Never got any better and gradually got worse and worse on be headed for the eighth station.

  • The trip between the seventh station and the eighth station was ridiculous.

  • It was long and hard and dangerous.

  • It was really hard.

  • It was the hardest part of my climb.

  • Um, my experience.

  • Anyways, so, uh, be prepared for that.

  • Eat a lot, take a nice rest of the seventh station and be very careful climbing up to the eight.

  • There were some really dangerous, steep, rocky climbing areas.

  • A funny way of a couple hours later, we made it up to the eight stay said finally, and we really, really, really wanted to go inside.

  • We were so tired and cold and wet, but they didn't have one of those, like cheap coffee places.

  • I don't know, Like the one at seven station we bought, like a coffee and some hot water for our Rama.

  • And then we were allowed to hang out there.

  • But this one, you had to pay for the amount of time that you wanted to stay in the shelter.

  • So I think we paid three 3000 yen, and then we're allowed to stay there for three hours.

  • I think that's right.

  • Sorry, it's not.

  • But it was something like that.

  • So it was about $35 to be able to stay in the shelter for three hours.

  • We didn't want to spend that much, but we were cold and we probably would have gotten some horrible, like sickness if we had gone outside and for any longer.

  • So we went in, we paid the money.

  • I think, actually, we ended up paying Mawr after that because we wanted to stay longer.

  • We really didn't want to go out in the weather in that horrible weather, and we were just waiting for the rain to clear out.

  • But it never did.

  • Actually, it probably would have been better for us to just not have gone into the shelter and kept going because the weather got worse and worse as we were in there.

  • I think we're in there for a total of five hours.

  • And now the men and the young boys of little men that worked in the station were ridiculously rude, and me and my classmates kinda got the feeling that they didn't like foreigners.

  • There were also a couple Japanese climbers that were resting in the house.

  • Yeah, I guess it's kind of like a house resting in the shelter with us, and we can't We noticed that the workers would treat them very nicely.

  • And they would be super rude to a flake.

  • Ridiculously rude.

  • Like it.

  • He'd laugh.

  • Like, Are these people human?

  • For one thing, Okay, I use Japanese.

  • You guys know that I speak Japanese?

  • I used very polite Japanese when I was talking to them, but they were so rude that I just wanted to use the Japanese back to them.

  • But I didn't e kept my cool.

  • And I was very polite to these people.

  • But they were so rude in return.

  • And it just made me so angry and disappointed, but yeah, for one thing, you know, we were soaked when we got in there.

  • We asked him if we could pay them some money to borrow a towel and dry off.

  • And they're like, No, no, sorry.

  • We're like, Okay, maybe they don't have a towel.

  • Whatever.

  • Of course, they have a towel, but like, whatever, we just hold ourselves, Okay, maybe they don't have a towel.

  • Whatever.

  • There's nothing we can do.

  • So we just sat on the benches and did nothing.

  • There was nothing doing there.

  • We're just sitting.

  • And then my class me was really tired.

  • So she asked them, Could I go upstairs.

  • They had a little room where you could lie down and take a little nap.

  • And she said, Can I pay from extra money and go upstairs and take a nap?

  • And they're like, No, like, Okay, but isn't that what the shelters for?

  • And they're just like, No, sorry.

  • We can't You can't do that.

  • They didn't say sorry.

  • There is.

  • No You can't do that.

  • Okay, um, maybe they don't let get up there.

  • Then we see two Japanese men come down out of that room to Japanese climbers come out of that room, So Oh, so climbers are allowed to go in there, so honestly, they are very, very racist.

  • So if you are white or obviously not Japanese and you're climbing Mount Fuji be prepared for this.

  • Um, I have never had any racist issues.

  • Racism issues in Japan, ever.

  • Like in the cities and the countryside.

  • Everyone always treats me with respect, and they are not racist whatsoever in general.

  • But these people, um, in the high shelters on Mount Fuji are like a whole nother story.

  • They are disgusting, though.

  • Don't expect people in the shelters to help you if you are cold or sick or injured.

  • They're not gonna do anything for you.

  • So don't expect that and bring lots of, um, your own things to help some extra towels wrapped in plastic in case it rains.

  • I wish I did that.

  • Actually, I did do that, but I didn't wrap them well enough.

  • Wrapping things very tightly.

  • Feel they don't get wet because if it starts to rain, the one thing you are going to want is a nice dry towel to dry yourself off.

  • Otherwise you're gonna be stuck being soaked the whole time.

  • And we were climbing for over 10 hours.

  • This isn't a short trip, so yeah, we find our time in that shelter at waited for the sun to come up so that it wouldn't be a dangerous to continue our climb.

  • Thank him up.

  • And the weather was still horrible.

  • So we gave up at the aid station.

  • We all wanted to go to the top, but it was honestly very dangerous.

  • So we decided to give up the station and just go home.

  • So we started our trek down from there.

  • Um, now, the way down is a lot easier.

  • Thank God it is a very wide and God.

  • What is that word in English?

  • Not steep.

  • Not a few path, but it is not difficult at all.

  • The weather sucks, so it it sucked.

  • And it was there What?

  • The wind was so strong that it was painful.

  • The rain hitting us was painful and the wind was like again blowing us over literally.

  • So in that aspect, it sucked.

  • But, um, the way down is a lot easier than the way up.

  • So don't worry too much about the way down.

  • It did take a few hours to get down there and there aren't any stations on the way down, So be prepared for that.

  • It's really know where you can rest other than just plopping down in the middle of the path and resting for a while.

  • But yeah, I took some video of our way down on the path because that was the only place that I could really take any video.

  • The way up was pitch black, so you guys couldn't see anything.

  • I did take some video, but really it's pitch black and you can't see anything, but I guess I'll show it to you just so you could see how dark the mountain was.

  • Um, but I did take the video on the way down when we're almost at the bottom.

  • So I will put that in here.

  • Get in check words of advice for Clive.

  • About duty.

  • Don't.

  • Not really.

  • We're at the seventh station now.

  • On the way home, you can see lovely weather about Fuji.

  • Oh, I think we've got another.

  • Um, if you could move, I think we've got another.

  • How much longer do we have to get down there?

  • Our maybe.

  • Give me an hour.

  • Yeah, this is I'm not.

  • So, um, as for advice on things to bring, I wore Converse.

  • Lots of the other climbers looked at my converse and were like, Whoa, Kludd, birth.

  • You're brave.

  • Um, yeah, converts weren't the best idea, but, um, honestly, nothing would have kept my feet dry, So I don't really regret not wearing any other kind of shoes, but grip wise, the converse sucked something with a better grip.

  • Would have been nice for the slippery rocks, for sure.

  • But if you go slow, um, you could survive with Converse.

  • I did, um, flashlight with batteries.

  • Very important.

  • Um, I brought lots of water with me and I didn't drink any of it.

  • So I regret bringing it all because it was so heavy and my back really hurts from carrying it in my bag.

  • But if you go on a hot day with nice weather, I'm going to assume that you're going to want lots of water.

  • So if you do make it up there on a nice day, bring lots of water with you.

  • We also brought some cans of oxygen.

  • It depends on the person, but some people get high altitude sickness as they get up to the higher part from the mountain.

  • So it is recommended to bring cans of oxygen with you.

  • We didn't end up using them.

  • It didn't affect me at all.

  • I don't know if that's because I only made it up to the aid station, but I still I think that's pretty high.

  • Something that's around 3000 meters.

  • I'm not positive, but but it didn't affect me at all.

  • I didn't feel think other than I felt extremely exhausted because I've been climbing for hours in a tie pin.

  • But oxygen bring, not just in case you couldn't buy it.

  • I'm not sure where my friend got it.

  • Actually, the dollar store might even have it in Japan.

  • They have everything here.

  • But if you can't find it at the dollar store, they will fell out at the fifth station on the mountain.

  • Or maybe like a sports store might have it.

  • But bring some oxygen with you.

  • It's not heavy.

  • Easy to stick in your bag.

  • Bring some snacks.

  • Bring luck with snacks.

  • Buying food on the mountain was really expensive.

  • You're probably gonna want to buy some hot water from the people.

  • And you could mix your own like hot chocolate Or bring some tea bags and a mug, and you can make like you're teed up.

  • That would have been Grady.

  • I didn't do that.

  • I did bring my own cup ramen, and I'm glad I did.

  • So bring some food and bring money, because if you get stuck in crappy weather and you wanna go into one of the shelter, if you're going to need to pay a lot of money and there are no exceptions, they don't care if you're injured or you're exhausted.

  • You still have to pay the money or no shelter for you.

  • and bring coin so that you could pay for the washroom.

  • Because if someone's looking, they won't let you go in and let you.

  • You pay the money for the washroom.

  • Um, which clothing wise?

  • It's hard to say because most of you aren't gonna climb during a typhoon.

  • But still, I recommend that you bring a raincoat because even if the weather is nice, I believe when you're climbing through the clouds that it's very misty and it kind of feels like it's raining even when it's not.

  • So bring a raincoat with you, uh, bring a change of socks and, yeah, sock.

  • Nice socks would have been nice.

  • Bring a towel and some dogs and wrap those up tightly in a plastic bag.

  • Of course.

  • Bring your camera and make sure you charge the battery fully, because if you make it up to the top in time for the sunrise, which is what we wanted to do, um, it would just be amazing.

  • Like I saw the video on YouTube, but I was so looking forward to being able to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain.

  • But yeah, that was it could have happened so bring your camera charged batteries nicely.

  • Um, What?

  • I feel like I'm missing something.

  • Well, if you have money, as long as you bring money, you're gonna be able to buy anything that you forgot on the mountain out.

  • The fifth station don't don't expect to be able to buy anything any higher up because all they sell there is snacks and drinks.

  • That kind of stuff.

  • Yeah.

  • So I guess that is it.

  • So, overall, the experience really sucked.

  • I don't wanna lie.

  • Um, but I'm assuming that if I had gone on a nice day, then I wouldn't have needed to go into the shelters, and I could have just slowly cleansed of the mounted and enjoyed myself.

  • So if you do, um, don't Don't let this video discourage you from climbing Mount Fuji.

  • I was just very unlucky with the weather that we got Theo attitude of the people in the huts probably isn't going to change, But, you know, if it's sunny, you're not gonna need to go into the hut, so you can still have a wonderful experience climbing the mountain.

  • And the climbers that you meet on the way up are always really They were all really friendly and it was really cool to talk to them.

  • There were lots people from other countries.

  • I met a guy from Mexico.

  • He's in the video on the way down the mountain.

  • You probably saw him.

  • He had a bonnet on his head.

  • Yeah, he was really cool.

  • New Mexico.

  • Sorry.

  • New Mexico City.

  • And there were people from France and got all over the world, mostly foreigners I met.

  • There were lots of Japanese climbers was well, but mostly foreigners climbing the mountain.

  • But as horrible as itwas, it wasn't and experience.

  • I learned a lot.

  • I could tell people I attempted to quiet bound Fuji now, and I think I will do it again.

  • But I'm going to make sure that it couldn't be done.

  • Whether the problem is, you can't.

  • Of course.

  • We looked at the weather report for the day, the night we were gonna climb and it said four millimeters of rain which turned into the like four meters of rain.

  • You cannot trust the weather report, but even if it is a little bit of raid, I gotta tell you, Don't don't do it.

  • Wait for a day that son sometimes.

  • Um and yeah, I think I'm gonna try it again.

  • I'm gonna wait for a nice, um, sunny day and maybe I'll give it another shot.

  • But, um, it was hard.

  • I needed about 45 days to recover.

  • But that's probably because I don't exercise that much.

  • So my muscles were insanely So are Yeah, I guess that's about it.

  • Um, if you have any questions, I'm sure I forgot to say something really important.

  • So if you have any questions, ask me and I will try to answer those.

  • And I apologize for not being able to get any nice pictures or video for you guys next time.

  • Next time.

  • You later.

  • Bye.

Hey guys.

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