Past the 8th

This is somewhere between the eight and ninth stations on Mt Fuji going up the Fujinomiya trail.  We climbed through the night.  At this point the two jet-lagged Americans I was with had accepted defeat and I was on my own while the slept at a rest spot.

Nobody died and I made it to the top.  For a very very tired me who had been awake for over 24 hours and climbing for the last seven of them to the top of Japan's tallest mountain, see the extra.  I don't look particularly cheery.

However it was worth it all just to see the night sky.  Without a doubt the best night sky I have seen in close to 15 years living here.

Supposedly they say "only a fool wouldn't climb Fuji, but then only a fool would climb it twice"......can't seem to find the original Japanese quote for this and I'm beginning to think that it's something the foreign community made up so they wouldn't have to ascend the mountain ever again after suffering through the thin air.