My fifty-thousand-peso camera failed me.
I almost didn't push through this feat because thick clouds had already covered Kawasaki City when I woke up.According to the net, Mt. Fuji would be cloudy in the afternoon with scattered rains in the evening but would then clear up when morning comes. The plan was to start late in the afternoon, climb leisurely through the night then reach the summit before the sun rises.
And true enough, it rained while we were half-way through. The timing, however, couldn't have been better as we were having a rest in front of a lodge in Station Seven. Had it been different, we would have faced the needles of the cold rain drops and our hyaku-en(hundred yen)-furnished rain coats would have risked us into hypothermia at the higher levels where temperatures are nearing zero degrees. The rain we overcame was the peak of the danger of our climb and from there my worries went downhill. Whether I would make it to the summit or not was just a matter of beating some tough night-time-hold-for-your-dear-life rock climbing and an attack of sinusitis.
The rain turned out to be a blessing. It cleared the sky so that I could catch that spectacular sunrise Mt. Fuji climbing is famous for. There was this scenery, however, that was as captivating as the sunrise that I never had a shot of. During our rests along the rocky trail, I'd turn off my flashlight and the most beautiful night scenery I have ever seen in my life reveals:
The stars seem to have been gathered in one silver screen. I can vividly see the Big Dipper to my left and the Orion above to the right. I have seen these constellations countless times before but I get thrilled like I did when I was nine when I first traced them in the night sky with my fore-finger. The city lights 3000 meters to the sea level backlight the thick rain clouds below us and outline an image like that of the Horse nebula. The army of climbers swarm in blue and yellow light along the Kawaguchiko trail as if they are Chirstmas lights zig-zagging and entangling Mt. Fuji.
There's no hobby camera to my knowledge powerful and portable enough to capture this scenery. Perhaps there are subjects in photography that can't be caught simply because they are reserved for one's life 'prints' - experience. And there is no battery good enough to power our 'bodies' than the will of the spirit to persist beyond where the legs and the lungs start giving up so that we can take a click and run away with awesome memories. With a stroke of luck (an arguably big aspect in photography) in our gamble against the rain, I had a very beautiful shot after all.
Special thanks to my climbing partners, Jess, Ms. Nila and Joane. Dedicated to all Filipino overseas who have their own mountains to contain. Some of you I spent my first journeys with: Rolland, Jericho, Adonis, Mark and Joed.
About the author
The "Viajero" is a very bored IT professional. He almost lost his mind to boredom last year that he went to the brink of stop showing up in the office. He then drew interest into making interesting photos from the everyday things he encountered and so was born the "Viajero Series" set. This dextrosed him from losing his mind and eventually he was able to accept the reality of his job and gained his sanity back. He's with a seeemingly more boring assignment in Japan now but he but the yen he receives motivates him to survive ...or enjoy his stay more. He can now buy more camera stuff to play with, go to more places Japan's trains can take him to and make pictures he'd like to believe worth sharing to flickr. He is looking forward to that 'viaje' where he can be with his "dinengdeng"-eating Ilocano family he misses a lot and make pictures (AND BABIES!) with Gladys (Twistedhalo in flickr) again. He has his journey in cruise control mode by the IT industry which is heavily involved in outsourcing and staff augmentation. He hopes he would be as lucky as his Mt. Fuji climb in this resolve....that eventhough he doesn't know what the future holds for him in his, hopefully, just a few years stay in a foreign land, he would eventually be able to turn off that cruise control and drive to his dream of raising a Filipino family in the Philippines and be active in the IT innovation sector. He hails from Pangasinan and is a town mate of "America is in the Heart" author Carlos Bulosan.
