You are wise to climb Fuji once and a fool to climb it twice (Japanese proverb) (Jun 25, 2004)
Or: Bossel's Adventures, Part II



Climbing Mount Fuji means walking up a steep heap of lava with the occasional rock here and there. Sometimes it also means scrambling over fields of solid rock. The path is sufficiently marked, much effort has been spent into protecting it against mountain slides, and steel cables are provided as handrails wherever necessary.

The official Fuji climbing season starts on July 1. Before that day, bus services from Tokyo are rather sparse, with one bus driving out at 8.45am (to reach '5th station' by 11) and two buses returning from 5th station at 2pm and 4pm. 5th station is the base camp at 2305m and features a couple of houses and the usual tourist traps. There are some 6 more stations further up the mountain, with a somewhat confusing numbering scheme that has 6th, 7th, 9th stations plus two 'old 8th stations' and a 'new 8th station'. All of these are only reachable by foot or helicopter. During the Fuji climbing season, they provide accomodation for those who decide to walk up in the afternoon, stay overnight on a bamboo mat and climb up the rest in the very early morning hours to watch the sunrise from the mountain's summit. Climbing from 5th station to the top takes about 5hrs up and 3hrs down, ie, it takes too long to return on the same day.

Now, on Saturday we (two colleagues and yours truly) set out to mount Mount Fuji. This was well before the beginning of the official Fuji climbing season. Therefore we decided that we'd climb up, walk down, miss the bus and call a taxi to take us to Kawaguchiko railway station which is located at the foot of the mountain. Apart from the usual climbing outfit (solid footwear, weatherproof garment, food, water, torch lights, you name it), we also had a Japanese mobile phone and a portable GPS navigation device. This was deemed enough to get us home safely and in stable mental condition. We determined that everybody should walk at their own pace, that we meet at the summit, and in any case, meet at the bus stop at 5th station.

Things started quite well, the weather was fine and after some 3 hours we had reached the first of several 8th stations. By this time, however, we had already separated. So there was me, alone, some 20 minutes after my two colleagues who carried the phone and the GPS thingie. The cottages at 6th/7th/8th station were firmly shut, but preparations for the season were ongoing on three huts further up the mountain. When I reached 9th station (at 3250m, with 500m remaining), the two were out of sight and my muscles said that this was enough. So, after having lunch break I turned around, climbed back down and reached 5th station at 6pm.

Surprise #1: 5th station was dead and closed. Nobody in sight, all shops closed, all shutters down (later I learned that 5th station would be abandoned right after the last bus had left, ie: shortly after 4pm).
Surprise #2: No public telephone. Not even an emergency (SOS) phone. Thus, there was no way to phone up my colleagues, nor was there a chance to call a taxi.

Time passed.

Nothing happened.

Nothing continued to happen.

7pm, darkness set in.

Occasionally, some other climbers came down the mountain. I asked them all about the whereabouts of my colleages. Some had seen them, one had met them on the summit, one group had seen them leave the summit on a different route, one said they ought to be here just about any time.

8pm, with more nothings happening in between.
Every once in a while, I saw some blinking lights in the dark distance. But every time, these turned out to be yet another Japanese or foreign tourist getting back to 5th station where they had left their cars.

9pm, and pondering.
Should anything have happened to my colleagues then it must have killed them both. Otherwise, at least one of them ought to show up, or I should be hearing the sounds of a helicopter, or seeing the torch lights of rescue teams working their way through the mountain slopes. None of these was the case.

10pm, still pondering.
As they hadn't arrived yet, they either didn't want or couldn't return to 5th station. In both cases, there was nothing I could do. Did they take cover in one of the huts above 7th station? Should I break a glass of one of the shops, to set off an alarm that would call in the police? Most likely, they would only speak Japanese, and which reason could I provide that would warrant starting a Search & Rescue endeavour? I determined that it was unlikely that they would show up before dawn, there was no way for me to leave the place, and the best thing to do would be to go to sleep.

This was easier said than done.

All buildings being firmly shut, all I could find was a couple of wooden benches, a plastic doormat and a 1m recess under the roof of a building. Arranging one bench as my bivouac and four others as a windshield, I put myself to rest. After all, I was certain that I was the only human being around the place, and I felt confident that the body odours emanating from my clothes would qualify me as 'non-food' for everything else.


[to be continued next week...]

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(23 replies, Latest reply: Dec 16, 2004)

Moving House (Apr 9, 2004)
Finally, after 9 (almost 10) years, I'm moving house. Something bigger, something off the basement, something quiter, something closer to the U-Bahn . Something more expensive, too

My current habitat was intended as a preliminary housing from the beginning, but there you see what being a procrastinator is all about

All that is left here for the moment is a table, a chair and the computer. This is necessary because the telephone&DSL line will be switched over sometime next week. What would I do without?

Credits for triggering the move and finding the new flat go out to h2g2 in general, and to Hell (U171578) in particular . He's living right next door (from the new flat, that is), which makes h2g2 Munich Mini Meets so much easier

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(15 replies, Latest reply: Apr 19, 2004)

Six degrees of e-mail (Aug 7, 2003)
A recent study tried to figure out how many intermediate people it would take to send an e-mail from a person A to some other person B, under the condition that each person in the chain would send the initial mail to somebody they knew by their first name.

The result turned out to be this: six 'hops' and the e-mail would be 'there'. Doing some maths (taking the 6th root of an estimated 6,000,000,000 people on this planet, and rounding to the next lower integer), this means that on average, everybody has got...




...






... the unsurprising number of ...







*42*





people in their e-mail address book
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(3 replies, Latest reply: Aug 8, 2003)

DHMO (Mar 3, 2003)
Never heard of that agent before, but it sounds like something *verrrrry* dangerous. For details, just google for 'DHMO' and you shall see.














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(7 replies, Latest reply: Mar 16, 2003)

Bossel's Adventures (Jan 26, 2003)
Bossel's Adventures

Back from the meet

Arrived very early at the bus stop of the A6 service from Golders Green to Stansted Airport. To be precise: arrived at 13:45 and began waiting for a bus. Brochure says there'll be busses every twenty minutes, next one will be there at 13:55. The tour takes about 60 minutes and the flight departure is at 17:35.

13:55 : no bus
14:15 : no bus. hmmm...
14:35 : no bus...
14:55 : no bus...
15:00 : went to the booking office, asked for a A6 service phone number. No such thing. Officer phoned up someone and replies: there'll be a bus in 10 minutes.

Background info:
The A6 busses start at Victoria station and pick up travellers at 9 stations before finally heading for Stansted. But, once a bus is full, it'll skip all remaining stations and drive through directly. Don't expect that this information was printed anywhere.

15:10 : someone else goes to the booking office and returns with the information that there'll be an empty bus in 10 minutes. A-haa.
15:15 : no bus. Adrenaline level rises.
15:30 : time to take a taxi
15:31 : a bus is coming. Empty, destination Stansted!
15:32 : luggage stowed, entered as the first passenger.
15:50 : finally, after loading luggage, selling tickets, answering questions etc, the bus leaves for Stansted
16:55 : arriving at S.
17:15 : after jumping queues (apologies to everyone) at the checkin and screening stations, yours truly arrives at the gate and is ready to board the plane. Phew!

smooth flight follows

20:55 (German time now) : entering MVV S-Bahn line 8 from Munich Airport to Munich Central Station (HBF).
21:40 : train enters HBF, after having spent a total of 15 surplus minutes just standing somewhere on and between stations. Adrenaline level reaches precarious levels.
21:45 : Due to repair works, there's no S-Bahn between HBF and Marienplatz on weekends. This is a known fact, has been announced long enough before (see also addendum to A506594), there are busses and trams provided to take over. Busses are announced as going at intervals of 10 minutes.
22:00 : bus leaves HBF after just another extra 5 minutes.
22:15 : at Marienplatz. Prior experience tells that walking from HBF to Marienplatz takes 10 minutes.
22:28 : Arriving down under at the U-Bahn platform. A train arrives (not the destination of yours truly)
22:32 : the train is still there.
22:35 : the train is still there, emitting a hissing noise from somewhere in the undercarriage. Driver leaves cabin and starts examinating.



22:38 : now let's see what taxi services are like today.

22:50 : at home! Need a !
22:51 : the craftsmen (who revamped the bathroom over the weekend) have taken out the fuse for the fridge too

ahem.

This much for today, and this much for the future of the relationship between Bossel and public transport in general, and the A6 bus line in particular.


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(18 replies, Latest reply: Mar 14, 2003)

Germany [42 members] (Jan 11, 2003)
That's what it says on the h2g2 Index page at <./>C45</.> right now. Does that mean it's against the law to write more entries about Germany?
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(3 replies, Latest reply: Jan 11, 2003)

I've been 'towered' ! (Jul 25, 2002)
That is to say, I've been given the honours to visit the holy grail aka the Towers aka the place where the Italics reside

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(10 replies, Latest reply: Nov 14, 2002)

Wooo-hoo !!! (May 12, 2002)
Just did a google search for 'range gate pull-off'. Listed *first* in the results page was .... A637535

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(2 replies, Latest reply: Jun 27, 2002)

rom-podom-ta-radada... (Nov 22, 2001)
... da tuffff, rom-podom-ta-radadadadadada-daddda-tom, ta-tommmmm, ping ping ping donnnnng hummmm ping ping donnnnng radadadada-daddda zooong


Err, excuse me. Just returned from a Kodo concert.


Ta domm domm dommmmmmmm ping domm doooooooooouuuuum rom podom podom tsssssh dommm ponnnnnng donng


No - it wasn't a concert. It was an experience!


paaaaoooiiiingggg!
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(3 replies, Latest reply: Nov 26, 2001)

The final Farewell (Oct 22, 2001)
There we are. The final day. Separation. Divorce.




The TÜV (car safety authority or whatever you call it in English) wouldn't want my car to participate in traffic any more. That is, I didn't give them a chance to say 'no' and gave it away for DM1.00 today, destination: shredder.

The statistics:
189955km in 11 years, mostly on Autobahns.

Accidents: 1
- bent a mudguard when driving straight on whilst having indicated to go left - and meeting someone who had not indicated but *did* change direction

Self-inflicted damages: 2
- slight scratch on the bumper when entering the road without paying attention
- severely bent right main girder, having parked beneath a boulder and taking a sharp right turn which pulled the car right over it. It was an early Saturday morning and I was on the road *before* having had breakfast. This will teach me something.

Foreign-inflicted damages: 2
- small hole in right front door, made by a screwdriver which a burglar used to crack open the car and take away the radio
- left door severely twisted when parking the car on the roadside in darkness. The door was open some 30cm which was enough for another driver to take it along with him

Wear and tear: lots
- a spark plug had left the engine block (with a loud /bang/) some weeks ago, and took its thread seat with it. A helicoil was inserted but lasted only 15 minutes into rush hour traffic. Another, bigger helicoil was inserted and made it until today. But I was advised that it could break *any* time
- audible proof that all the valves are still there and working
- exhaust system broken beyond repair (estimate: DM3000) but still not overly noisy
- rust on the underbelly: surely there, I didn't look.

Bye.

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(36 replies, Latest reply: Jan 8, 2002)

9 days left, and counting... (Oct 17, 2001)
for the Dutch h2g2 meeting
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(60 replies, Latest reply: Oct 17, 2002)

N.Y.C., Sept 11, 2001 (Sep 11, 2001)
My sister and her friend are okay.
She even saw the cloud of smoke emerging from one of the towers, then the explosion when the second plane hit the other tower. She thought of a fire.

This year in May I've been on top of the WTC, looking down those 400m and I even thought about 'what if I would have to jump down here'. How long would it take? What would be my last thoughts?

Today was the day when people were forced to find the answers. They didn't volunteer. They left their families for just another working day. They went to work and had plans for the evening. Little A. needs a new pair of shoes, daughter needs a book about some stuff for school, things like that.

The shoes and the book won't be there, nor will be Mum or Dad.

There's another question. Why?
It's the essence of terror to leave this question unanswered.


My sister and her friend are okay.

Thousands of others aren't.

My thoughts are with them, and with the families they left behind.
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( 1 reply, Latest reply: Oct 2, 2001)

Be My Guest :-) (Jul 14, 2001)
Hi! Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. I'll be around soon
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(1022 replies, Latest reply: Apr 24, 2003)

It's down, at the bottom! (Jun 29, 2001)
This journal entry may be cryptic, but Lucinda will know what it's about. I made it, right down to the very bottom
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(4 replies, Latest reply: Jul 10, 2001)

I'm a Scout! (Jun 13, 2001)
- - - - - - - -

The eMail was 'confidential' but the essence of is visible on the top right of this page! I'm an Official H2G2 Scout now and received a beautiful shiny badge.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to express all I want to say, I've got to go over to the PeerReview page now...
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(169 replies, Latest reply: Oct 30, 2002)

Back home again, with Jet Lag... (May 27, 2001)
and the theory has sooo many good advice to cope with it. I should have gone to sleep when the European clock was advancing to 'night' -- how could I, as there were lots of things to be missed?
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(No replies)

NYC (May 24, 2001)
Uff! Have been in NYC for 10 days now and didn't manage to write a journal entry. So at last, here it is!
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(11 replies, Latest reply: May 26, 2001)

mobiles (May 8, 2001)
Attended an evening about the dangers of mobile phones, sponsored by a local political party. Phew! The 'experts' were talking about intermittent signals copied from military applications in radar, sharply pointed pulses which penetrate your skin, and 'longitudinal energy' which has always been known to be bad. Well, I should have known from the beginning where everything was heading at... there was a brochure advertising some protection device against those deadly earth rays (you know them from the people carrying divining rods, but from nobody else), at the price of 530DM.

To sum up: lots of ranting, lots of emotions, very few facts. At least, the medical expert seemed to be knowing what he was talking about, and he even used 'power distribution' correctly with dimensions of 'watts per square meter'.
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(No replies)

Volunteered as a Scout (Apr 16, 2001)
It's fun to throw money away, and even more so if it's pieces of 2 pence each, and if you throw them into the Peer Review. I hope it's going to be rewarded by some happier faces around there
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(2 replies, Latest reply: Apr 21, 2001)

I take pride in the fact... (Dec 17, 2000)
...that Peer Review was featured under the '5 most busy conversations' on the h2g2 front page for two days in a row. After all, I was not un-involved, so to speak.
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(No replies)

Hardware Failure (Dec 11, 2000)
My computer won`t boot any more -- I`m writing this from an internet cafe. Could last a few days until I`ve got the system up and running again
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(No replies)

That Was Fine! (Dec 10, 2000)
Just returning from the South-German H2G2 Meeting, I'd want to thank all of you participients for this, err, gelungene Veranstaltung, and especially Engländer for arranging everything. Well Done!
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(No replies)

Questions on Progress, Technology, and Crap (Nov 12, 2000)
How long ago did Intel invent the 80386 processor with /hardware/ capability to keep bad tasks from hampering the operating systems?
Was it 10 years? 15 years?
How long did KleinWeich (aka Micro$oft) have the chance to make good use of that?
Any maker of kitchen knives is being held responsible for any damage resulting from the use of their product (if not today, then surely tomorrow), but software license agreements tell a different story
So how is it possible for some WeichWare (aka software) like Netscape to scramble hard disks and kill the whole system, and keep it from rebooting?
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(No replies)

Oktoberfest (Sep 9, 2000)
Uff! Never thought research for a Guide entry would be so arduous. The Munich public transportation system has soooo complicated a ticket fare scheme, how do they think Oktoberfest visitors from abroad come to terms with it, and not spend their nights in jail for being caught without a valid ticket?
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(23 replies, Latest reply: Jan 12, 2001)