`You are a fool not to do it, but a fool to do it twice`

I begin with a Japanese proverb- and what a great way to begin to describe my domination of Mt. Fuji this past weekend. This proverb actually derives from the experience many have been so fortunate to describe of their journey up Mt. Fuji. And I couldn`t put it into any better words myself. The climb was an experience, I will put it bluntly like that. The climb up was a daunting one, as we began at 9pm after an 8hour bus ride from Fukui to the 5th station up the mountain. The climb itself took roughly 4 hours, that is for myself and 2 other foreigners. We played a game of `Ten Little Indians`... I had to describe Agatha Christie`s book to one of my friends... and by the end of it, it was only the 3 of us at the summit. Layers were put on as we neared the summit, a short 3770m from the base, but nearly thousands more memories to last a lifetime. There are two goals to the climb- 1. Achieving the summit and 2. Catching the sunrise at the summit. Both, I am happy to say have been achieved.
You would have thought the Japanese had already created an escalator up to the top. However, the most stricking thing about the climb was that 80 year old grandmas and 8 year old children also made the attempt to climb the mountain. It is no Mecca to the Japanese I found out, as not even a small majority of the population has attempted the climb, but I have to give it up to those who do the attempt.
So that summarizes the `fool not to do it`, but the second part of the proverb comes at the descending the volcano. My knees buckled as the great descend came around. I could not be more happy to get off the giant rock, even though it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience. And I`ll keep it at that.