Juliol 21, dissabte, el dia va començar molt d'hora, a les 05am ja estàvem de peu per retrobar-nos amb el grup de 50 valents disposats a assolir la fita. El punt inicial, un punt de la costa a prop de Fuji ciutat, el punt final el sostre del país. Per corroborar la fita es va demanar a tots els participants que prenguessin aigua del mar, la qual havíem d'abocar al volcà un cop a dalt, tornar l'aigua d'on prové...simbolisme romàntic del seu cicle natural.
Hey, hey it's been a while I didn't post anything!! Sorry, lately I've been quite busy...and mainly because of Xavi and Cesc, who just arrived from Barcelona a month ago to live some months in Japan! And it was with them that this summer I climbed Fuji again. Third summer in Japan, third climbing to Fujisan and third catalan expedition to the top of Japan :) The first year, just arrived to Japan was with my friend Concha and we did it by day. The second year with friends from hometown, by night. This third year we went even further and we not only climbed Fuji but did it from the sea, meaning from the lowest point (0m) to the highest (3776m) of Japan, in a challenge called "From sea to summit", organized by Oxfam Japan and with the objective to get funds and enjoy (or suffer) of one of the most unique experiences in Japan.
July 21st, Saturday, the day began very early, at 05am we were already up to meet the group of 50 brave people ready to achieve the challenge. The starting point somewhere in the coast nearby Fuji city, the final point the top of the country. As a prove of our success we were asked to take some sea water and then once at the summit pour it in the volcano, kind of bringing the water back where it belongs to...nice symbolism I thought, not the same feeling when I reached the top though...
Després del parlament inicial, fotos i demés activitats protocolàries, als voltants de les 07h vem començar a caminar. Tot seguint la carretera les primeres hores van passar ràpid, travessant primer pobles i zones industrials, l'entorn va començar a canviar a poc a poc amb plantacions d'arròs i tè. Aquests primers quilòmetres més aviat plans i de poca exigència ens van servir per socialitzar-nos i parlar amb alguns dels companys.
After the initial speech, pictures and all the other stuff, around 07am we started to walk. Following the road, the first hours passed by quickly going through towns and industrial zones, later the environment started to changed with rice and tea fields. These first km. were mostly flat and not very challenging so it was a good occasion to socialize and meet some of our colleagues in this challenge.
Per desgràcia ens va fer un dia de núvols i a voltes pluja que ens va impedir veure el Fuji des de la distància. Per sort ens va fer aquest mal temps que ens va permetre suportar molt millor el clima infernal estiuenc ;). A mesura que passaven les hores la carretera es va fer més dreta i les cames van començar a pesar.Unfortunately we had a cloudy and rainy day that prevented us to see Fuji san from far away, actually we didn't see it at all. Luckily we had bad weather which was great to get along in this challenge and avoid the heat and humidity of summer in Japan. Little by little the route became steeper and our legs started to feel it.
L'entorn es va convertir en un continuo de bosc espès que amb el dia que feia semblava que estiguéssim en la película aquella del projecte de la bruixa Blair ... al cap de 6-7 hores sota una pluja cada vegada més intensa vàrem arribar al punt de trobada per dinar, la veritat bastant més cansat del que em pensava, això de caminar sobre asfalt amb botes de muntanya em va matar. El dinar, uns fideus, se'ns van posar de perles i un cop recuperats vàrem decidir continuar, aquest cop però cansats de l'asfalt vàrem seguir per una ruta alternativa al mig del bosc, altament perillosa segons els japonesos (són tan exagerats!!). El recorregut tot i que molt exigent (recordaré sempre una maleïda quasi paret vertical de pedres...) va ser la part més bonica de tota l'aventura.So, around noon we were surrounded by a continuous of dense forest that with the weather we had, looked like we were in the Blair witch project...after 6-7hours, under a rain which was more and more intense, we got to the meeting point for lunch, frankly I must say I was more tired than I thought, walking in the concrete with mountain boots killed me. The lunch, some noodles, felt like the yummiest thing ever and after some rest we decided to get back to route full of energy and this time, tired of following the road we decided to take an alternative route through the forest. Our Japanese colleagues all try to convince us to follow the road, ¨too dangerous!¨ (so exaggerated!) , but we were determined and it was a great choice, even though the route was more demanding than the road, for me was the funniest part of all this challenge, and the environment sublime.
Finalment a les 18h arribàvem a la famosa cinquena estació (a uns 2200m), punt inicial de l'ascencs per la gran majoria d'escaladors al Fuji...nosaltres doncs ja portavem 12h al darrera. Un cop allà, vàrem reposar unes quantes horetes i cap a les 21h, vàrem encarar l'ascens definitiu al Fuji. L'idea era arribar a dalt poc abans de l'albada, a quarts de cinc de la matinada, o sigui que en principi anàvem sobrats de temps. I sort en vàrem tenir perquè hi havia tanta gent que el ritme es va fer mooolt lent. Mica en mica vàrem anar pujant, les cames ara sí feien notar el pas de les hores i el cap la falta de son i cansament general.Finally at 6pm, we got to the famous fifth station (around 2200m), the starting point for most of Fuji climbers...in our case however we already had 12 hours hike behind. Once there, we took few hours to rest and around 9pm we decided to start the final climb to Fuji. The idea was to get there shortly before the sunrise, to avoid freezing at the summit, so in principle we had more than enough time, and luckily we had it because there was so many people that the ascent was very slow. Step by step we followed the route, step by step we felt heavier legs and tiredness too.
Al voltant de les 02 vàrem arribar al últim refugi-habituallament abans de la cima. Les cares de tothom un poema, alguns ho portaven millor que d'altres però en general feiem bastant llàstima. Around 2am we made it to the last refuge before the summit. Looking around we all looked trashed, some had better look than others but in general tiredness was important amongst all of us.
D'allà a la cima quedaven poc més de 300 metres però la sorpresa va ser trobar-nos literalment una cua humana que anava fins a dalt. sí a més de 3000metres en plena nit i una cua de gent esperant per arribar a dalt, coses que només veus al Japó. Se'ns va fer dur dur, el ritme de tres pasos i parar no afavoria gaire l'activitat, fins i tot hi va haver una noia que anava amb nosaltres que es va adormir dreta literalment de cansament! Amb tot doncs, quan vàrem arribar a dalt ja era de dia, i entre això i els núvols que encara circulaven no vàrem poder veure gairebé res de la sortida del sol, tota una llàstima!
From there to the summit less than 300m, so a short ascent but to our surprise soon after getting back to the route we found a huge line of people queuing to get up to the summit!! Can you imagine it? We were in the middle of night at more than 3000m high and yet queuing one after the other, this you can only see it in Japan! This made this last part tough, this pace of few steps and stop was very tough, up to the point that one of the girls with us fell literally asleep in her way. At the end thus, we got the summit with daylight already which together with the fact that was still very cloudy we hardly saw anything of the sunrise!
Però bé, poc importava, ho havíem aconseguit!! Destrossats però amb un somriure d'orella a orella ens vem fer les fotos de rigor, la cerimònia de l'aigua i ho vem celebrar amb una més que merescuda cervesa! I bé, quan ens pensàvem que ja ho teniem tot, ens vàrem disposar a baixar...ai el descens, el cap de 10 minuts baixant em va venir el cap les sensacions d'altres vegades i que sembla que tinc tendència a oblidar...suposo que deu ser allò de que només ens recordem de les coses bones perquè la maleïda baixada és duríssima, molt inclinada i sobre una superfície que rellisca molt, les nostres cames van patir molt i no veiem el moment d'arribar a baix, i quan hi vaig arribar us asseguro que gairebé cau alguna llàgrima, una sensació espectacular, rebentadíssim però amb una gran satisfacció després de gairebé 26 hores es va acabar l'aventura Fuji 2012, i déu ni do quina aventura! Ara falta veure com ho podrem superar això al 2013!
Anyway at this point that was of minor importance, we had made it!! Exhausted but with a huge smile took some pictures for the memories, did the famous water ceremony and drunk a well deserved beer! And at this point, when we thought that everything was done we decided to go down...bloody descent!! Just after 10min the memories of paint and suffer from previous years came to mind, the descent is really tough and particularly when you have already walked for more than 20hours, very steep and sandy which makes you it very sleepery and kills your legs. Altogether made it as one of the toughest experience ever and when we finally reached the fifth station there were almost some tears dropping but yet the sensation was so great, again a fulfillment of happiness after succeeding in another challenge! And with this we end our adventure Fuji 2012! Now I should start to think how I'm going to improve it for 2013!!
Genial aquesta aventura, espero poder estar a Tokyo l'ay vinent per poder fer-la jo també!
ResponEliminael màxim que he fet són 207 km del camí de St. Jaume, i en 7 dies :S