[465] Altitude Sickness huh... - 2007/09/12 (Wed)

When I woke up this morning, my head felt like it was going to split open. (T_T)

The most trouble this time is definitely altitude sickness.
The symptoms are a little like a hangover, but it's a torment of headaches and nausea, palpitation, and shortness of breath.

With a little bit of knowledge beforehand, I acclimated my body at the halfway point, slowly beginning the climb to prevent altitude sickness. I'd heard to do it just like that, but the higher we climbed, the more my head hurt, and to make matters worse, in the vicinity of the summit the oxygen is extremely thin, so even climbing just one meter get you out of breath. (^^;)

Well, frankly, until we got seven tenths of the way up, it was pretty easy. The mountain trail was leisurely, and after about an hour and a half, it seemed like I'd be writing 'Climbing Mt Fuji is just trekking with no climbing' and I was about to say, 'What! At this pace, we won't even be at the summit in two hours' but...

Hold on just a darn minute!, people people people, starting at the seven tenths mark!, mountain climber conconcongestion!!

When I looked up, I could see a line of head lamps stretching far up into the distance. Plus, the mountain trail changed there from a gravel path to a sudden rocky area... The hiking feeling I'd had until then blew away in an instant. (^^;)

If if I'd wanted to go quickly, we couldn't get to the top, and if the climb from below had seemed restful, I completely lost my pace in this big congestion. Plus, the temperature was gradually falling. When I tried to rest, I made it somehow to the side of the narrow trail and was struck by cold winds, leaving me with no choice but to rest and while freezing.

Still, from the seventh marker, there were periodically small huts, and I decided to mark them with, 'Keep it up until the next hut...' and somehow after three hourse, we arrived at the hut that marked the beginning of the eigth tenth... It had already been four and a half hourse since my departure. Three hourse for one tenth... With the congestion, the overtime will be considerable.

At this point, always climbing on this unfamiliar rocky area, my physical strength was getting tight.
Still, I had a strong desire in my heart, like, 'I've already made it eigth tenths of the way, I will make it somehow!!' and with not much time remaining until the sunrise, I resolved not to stop climbing until the summit.

However, it was from here that the true struggle began... There were four hours until sunrise...

To be continued (^_^)

P.S. I'm a little late, but pray for world peace...