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(last updated 31 January 2005)

There is a well-known adage in Japan that goes something like this: "He who comes to Japan and leaves without climbing Mt. Fuji is a fool. But he who comes to Japan and climbs Mt. Fuji twice is a greater fool!"

Well be it here known that Richard John Colthurst is NO FOOL! However the same cannot be said of his father or his sister Stephanie (they are now hereby proven to be great fools).

When Jessika, Stephanie and Bil climbed Mt. Fuji during the summer of 2001, Richard desperately wanted to come. But at 5½ years of age, and with short legs and unproven stamina, he had to stay home (much to Yuko's relief because that meant she didn't have to climb too!) But every month thereafter, Richard would say, "Daddy, when will you take me to climb Mt. Fuji...". So after 14 months of wearing me down, I finally acquiesced and told him: "I will take you to Mt. Fuji, but only if you promise to climb all the way to the top!" To this, he duly promised so we ascended in late August about a week before Richard's 7th birthday.

The weather was not as good as the previous year, but we enjoyed a good first day. We arrived much earlier in the day than last year and started up the mountain before 3pm. True to his word, Richard never gave up. He foolishly wasted precious energy on the way up running, hiding and chasing things but his enthusiasm was admirable. At night he soldiered on well past his use-by time. He never complained of the cold or fatigue, but he was obviously tired, and tward the top, near exhaustion. So much so that Stephanie and I both advised him that there was no shame in quitting and that we had gone far enough, seen the  sunrise above the clouds, and as it was starting to snow and blow rather hard, turning back might even be the smart thing to do. But each time he said: "No, I have to go to the top!"

Toward the end, he could only walk about 30 meters (two or three minutes) and then he would have to sit down for five minutes rest. This was a slow pace and even with supplimental oxygen he was extremely stressed, but he never gave up.

So we were all pleased to see him achieve his goal and here is the evidence!

He made it! Richard at the top!

The above are thumbnails. Click a photo to enlarge it. Hit your BACK button to return to this page. It was a lot easier coming down (of course) and despite his exhaustion a few hours earlier, once he left the thinnest air above 12,000 feet, he was running off the trail and wasting energy again. We luckily made it to the bus just before it started raining hard (would have been quite heavy snow at the summit) so it is lucky we ascended the day before or we could not have made it to the top. Again we timed it so we could see the full moon set before the sun rise. We had a great (albeit tiring) time and were glad to get home and into a hot bath to begin the 'there-we-were' stories.