The party today is three of us, a young lady guest from Malaysia and us, 2 old guides. You can say Beauty and Beasts.
As she was to come rather far, from Saitama prefecture, we had agreed to start the tour at 10:30 am instead of usual 9:30am.
Though we had been a bit worried about the
condition of the mountain because of the snowfall on the previous Saturday, the
weather was perfect with blue sky and sunshine and the staff of the information
center by Takaosanguchi station told us that there was no problem except that
somepart of the mountain trail could be slippery due to the remaining snow.
We took cable car up and walked via Trail
No.1 to Yakuoin temple, visiting many points of interest on the way.
Then we arrived at the summit, where we
could see shy Mt. Fuji above the cloud.
Because it was a week day, the summit was
not so crowded and we could sit at the table there for lunch, which was a rather
rare experience for us guides even on a week day.
Then we took Trail No.4 where there was
remaining snow here and there, making it necessary for us to walk carefully.
Passing the so called “love-love tree” and crossing the popular suspension
bridge, we returned to Trail No.1.
We climbed down by the chair lift, enjoying
the fresh breeze and the panoramic view down below.
We arrived back at the foot of the
mountain, fully refreshed.
We thank the guest and Mt.Takao for making
us old guides feel younger.
Written by Nori.
