Last night was a crazy night’s sleep with all of us in a giant cuddle puddle in one big bunkhouse hut at the summit of Mt Fuji. We had fallen asleep to Brien and Gena singing and playing the guitar followed by a symphony of farts, snores, snorts, whimpering, and Grundy arguing with himself in his sleep.

I’ve been an early riser on this trip, which for someone who has never been accused of being a morning person is kinda scary. I was the first out of the hut again this morning at 3 AM. However, I was rewarded with an amazingly bright full moon over the crater and sat and watched the twinkling lights of thousands of trekkers along the path as they were making their way up to join us for the sunrise. Others from our group began to make their way out and we opined about our inability to sleep and the sounds and smells of our group sleep. Everyone scurried out for the 4 AM call time and they were surprised by mass of morning hikers that had joined us. There was some fear that we would not be able to secure a spot for all of us but Alex, Kourtney, and Stash scouted out a location. With guitars and prayer flags in tow we marched together to claim our spot.

We all gathered around and watched as the musicians warmed up and the production crew setup for our impromptu sunrise concert. With the prayer flags draped over our shoulders we waited for the true star of the morning to reveal itself above the blanket of white clouds. Shortly after 5 AM, Mt. Fuji truly lived up to its name “The House of the Rising Sun” and the mountain erupted with cheers of Banzai when it peaked out. I mistakenly thought we were yelling Kampai (the Japanese toast) and two Japanese girls laughed and corrected me telling me that Banzai was their form of cheering yea.

Before the concert started we took a moment to honor some friends and family that had been lost to cancer. Everett shared with us a story of a friend whose ashes he had brought on the trek and that he was going to spread some of them in the crater. Shannon asked us to shout out names of others that we wanted to honor and we took a moment to acknowledge the thousands of people that we were holding on the prayer flags.

Mike led the first song, which appropriately was his song “Strength.” The impromptu set list continued down the line of musicians sharing their songs. Mike inspired us, Donovan and Matt made us cry, Glenn made us laugh, and Brien had us stomping our feet. I sat back and thought how I was going to add a lot of new songs to my iPod the first chance I got. After the show, we took some group photos and nearly lost Oli over the edge as he rushed in to take a picture. I’m certain we could have easily sat up there the rest of the day but it was time to get down the mountain.

Our breakfast was waiting for us when we got back to the hut. It looked oddly similar to our dinner from the night before – beef curry and rice or miso and noodles. As we finished breakfast Shannon reviewed our itinerary and repeated a PSA of the horrors of Fuji Knee, which happens when you slide and overextend your knee in the loose gravel. We gathered up our stuff and prepared for the trek down. I had saved my Don’t Worry Be Happy t-shirt the Kourtney gave us to honor her brother. I chose to wear on a successful last day of the trek. We took some last minute photos and with a few more instructions from Shannon we began to make our way down.

Our guides showed us some techniques to zig zag across the path and ensure good footing in the loose volcanic rock and gravel. It was not easy on the knees and ankles but I worried less about Fuji Knee and more about Fuji Faceplant. With our fresh legs we quickly navigated our way through the crowds of weary morning hikers who were making the trip up and down in one day. Everyone from our group made it safely down with the exception of one of our guides Masaki, we received word that he had broken one of his legs but thankfully it was a “lost in translation” moment. It was his hiking stick that had broken sending him falling down the mountain but nothing a few days off his feet will not fix. We enjoyed some well deserved beers and ice cream before loading on the bus to take us back to civilization.

After a few minutes on the bus the foul odor of 30+ people who had not showered after a few days of hiking set in. Trust me when I tell you do not want a Disney style 4-D production of our trek. I fully expect that the bus company will charge us an extra cleaning fee.

As we made our way to the city I sat back and reflected on the trek. It was more difficult than I had expected and I was happy that everyone had successfully completed it. I was proud to honor all of our family and friends affected by cancer with the trek and the prayer flags and I thought of the symbolism of our journey to their struggles with cancer. To me our many collective challenging steps represented the difficult steps our friends and family have taken to go to their treatments and the steps of those that continue to march on after a successful battle with cancer. I felt that the countless beads of sweat that dropped from our foreheads represented the tears of sorrow for our love ones lost and the tears of joy of those that are cancer free and continue life’s journey.

This has been an amazing experience with a great organization and group of people. I have truly drunk the “Kool-aid” and look forward to future journeys with my new friends. Thank you to all of you for your continued support and inspiration.

Matt Van Sistine
Fujiyoshida, Japan
August 25, 2010

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