Experience Over Summit?

“Just enjoy the climb, take it slow. Don’t make the summit the goal, but the experience.” This advice came from the salty adventure office man when we asked him if he thought we could climb Mt. Fuji with three kids. That freed our heart to quickly plan the trip before Barrett deploys with the goal of building our family bonds with adventure and fun.

Mt. Fuji is 12 hours from us and we decided to take the trainSSSSSSSS to get there to fulfill another bucket list item: the bullet train. It became a bit of a logistic nightmare to find a military base that still had climbing passes available for 5 people, places to stay, and a route that gave us Tokyo on both sides of the climb. Barrett pulled it off and we began our journey with about 10 tickets each, 2 suitcases, 2 climbing backpacks, and excited hearts. Each change of train involved our confused looks, hauling suitcases up flights of stairs, and asking multiple people to look at our tickets to show us which train and platform we needed. Some of these exchanges only had minutes in between. We frantically made it and watched the Japanese landscape fly by. Rolling hills, rice fields, small towns, and ocean peeks all passed by. We made it to Tokyo in time to climb Tokyo Tour and see the lights on in the city! The kids were awestruck with the miles of city lights from the largest city in the world! Yet the adventure was just beginning, soon we would see this city from the tallest mountain in Japan!

We had to be at the bus station on Camp Fuji, packed and ready at 4:05 am on Saturday. We had an hour drive and were dropped off at station 5 at 5 am. The sun had come up and the air was cool and fresh. We went to the bathroom, bought walking sticks for station stamps and then skipped along the initial trail singing a made-up jingle about climbing Mt. Fuji. Then it began to get steep.

“Remember, it’s not a sprint, but a marathon. Slow, little steps.” Barrett and I said this consistently. We began to cheer the switch backs to give quick moments of success and joy! There are 9 stations we were told, what we weren’t told is that each station has multiple stations and each of these had stamps that cost 300-500 yen each…for each stick. Water that usually is 100 yen was 500 yen on the mountain and I quickly realized we were going to run out of money. Barrett managed to find a guy that had enough yen that he could let us Venmo him American dollars to cover the yen. That was the first huge help on this summit. Without this yen we would have been too dehydrated to make it.

A couple hours later it became clear that Lydia didn’t need as many breaks so she and I got a head of the pack to see what she could accomplish. She trucked steadily up, even when we had to climb up jagged rocks with our hands and feet. I made the summit first and watched as Lydia came into view! I got to cheer her on and see the smile she tried to hide. “I’m so proud of you! Look what you did!!” We gazed over the clouds far below. We then waited for the pack. We waited for an hour. Why? Ronnie fell and banged his shin. Japanese climbers came over to help. Words were lost in translation, but actions spoke louder and clearer. They encouraged him and Barrett and Annabelle got him going again. I saw Ronnie coming next! He started to sprint to the end! “Ronnie! You did it!!! I’m so proud of you!” He came up wheezing and gave me an exhausted hug. Then he and Lydia sat and rested.

Annabelle and Barrett brought up the rear taking their time so they could succeed! Annabelle finished in tears! “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done!” “But you did it! Congratulations! I’m so proud of you!” We all went and got our top of the mountain stamps on our sticks, bought Aquarius to guzzle, and stared as a family over the mountain we climbed together, one step at a time! We could have seen Tokyo but for the clouds that dotted the sky. It was noon. We took a whole bunch of pictures and oddly, Ronnie was getting angry at them. It was really weird. Soon it will make sense.

We started down the mountain and it became clear that Lydia was freaked out about going down. We had told her that most people get injured going down so take her time. She for some reason thought we said they fall off and die so her terror kept her at a snail’s pace. Ronnie was still in a fit of tears. So Barrett had a twin on each side slowly escorting them down. The way down was VERY steep switch backs on small, loose volcanic rock. It looked easy enough! But we soon found out we slipped and fell if we tried to go fast…honestly, we slipped and fell if we went slowly too! Annabelle was the one who wanted to go fast this time, so she and I went ahead. We eventually had to go down arm in arm to help each other not fall. Alas, we did fall multiple times and she cut her finger and arm. Another Japanese man came over and asked if she was OK. Then he gave us multiple band aides for her cuts. We kept looking for Barrett and the twins but even with our slow pace and multiple stops to take rocks out of shoes, we never saw them. Their adventure was a bit different than ours!

We made it down the mountain in over three hours and I checked in with Barrett. They were about 45 minutes behind. Here’s what happened. Ronnie was angry and crying because his head hurt so badly, then he vomited everywhere, including his boots. He had altitude sickness and the poor boy was in misery. As he got further down the mountain though, he perked up and got ahead of Barrett and Lydia. Then the sole of Lydia’s boot literally fell off except for a piece of material on the toe. Here, another Japanese group gave her a foot wrap thing that kept her soul on long enough to make it down the mountain. She got over her fear of death and she and Barrett made it down in time for stories, pictures, and water before getting back on the bus back to Camp Fuji. The songs began again as we celebrated on the bus what was accomplished! We had summitted the tallest mountain in Japan together!

Our family dynamics are often tough. The coaching and parenting is endless and draining. We have often lost the joy of family in the struggles and trials of training souls that desperately want and fight for their own way. The Lord used this climb to make our family fight for each other and work through various hardships to make us stronger. No one fought. No one boasted. No one mocked. No one really complained! It was pure celebration and thankfulness for doing something REALLY hard. We talked about how we needed others to help us complete our task, strangers even! What a gift from the Lord they were! Barrett and I talked about how each kid overcame their own individual trial and conquered Mt. Fuji! We praised the Lord for giving us each small step to climb the mountain. I know that they Lord will use this climb to help us as we journey the mountain of life with all it’s switch backs, falls, blood, sweat, tears, sickness, broken things, and slips. I pray that He won’t be a stranger to my kids along the way, but their friend and Savior, cheering them on.

Our goal really was experience over summit, the Lord in His kindness gave us both.