Evening star., 1926-06-20

| thought. If others had climbed ii
| could try.
| Col. Lees was not so confident as
! / was His successful fight with Fuji
! had not been made without Il great
| deal of preparation, organization, hard
! work and preliminary reconnaissance
| of the mountain itself. and even then
| only on the third attempt. The sound
arguments against my attempt great
| lr overbalanced those in favor.
First of all, / would have to go
alone, for every one l approached on
the subject had the usual misconcep-
ton of the expedition and thought 1t
in the same class with going over
Niagara Falls in barrel. In the
second place, the date OF my eXpedi-
tion would be in the dark of the moon,
| while Col. Lees trips had been made
| in full Illuminating moonlight, with
out which," he said. II am sure the
ascent cannot be made. as the short
Winter daylight Is not sufficient"
In the third place, being vagabond
| carried only a knnpsack for my
worldly possessions. and among many
things ii did not contain We're the
necessary snowshoeS, ice-aXeS, rubber
boots blankets, helmets and fur coats.
And so. after long discussion, Col
Lees argued me out of the idea. 1t
seemed too barren of all hope, too
fraught with madness. AS a substi-
tute, i reluctantly turned my steps
with a herd OF tourists TO stereotyped
temples at Niliko.
But as the train left, III the early
morning. l happened to glance south.
and there. like the ghost OF Banquo.
rose the haunting siren, pale, proud,
majestic. l turned my head away;
raised the shade To shut her from
view. All in vain. She taunted me
even through the curtain.
| hated Nikko. | paced the platform
with impatience waiting for the train
to take me away. and. once more back
in Yokohama, hurried out TO Col. Lees
residence to announce that, Winter or
no Winter, / meant TO climb Futiyama.
Seeing that ! was not to be dissuaded.
he began to face realities with me.
Opposed to my many liabilities, my
assets seemed few indeed. stubborn
ness. a tough constitution and cam
era were all l had.
The first obstacle. lack of u compan-
ion, was not removed. II was simply
ignored Having no one to catch me
ii l started sliding, / solved the prob
lem by wearing three pairs OF pants.
The second obstacle, moonlight-that,
too. was ignored I'd pray for stars.
As for equipment, col. Lees very
generously made me the loan OF his
fur coat to sleep i'll the night before
the final dash. his ice-aX and snow
shoes l collected woolen contribu-
tions from ali my friends. and bought,
in fact, only one article-sharpened
iron ice-cr 'epers the forging OF which
| superinterded myself.
These cranAOonS are magic wings to
the Winter climber, With them lashed
to heavy boots j was prepared to chal-
lenge the old mountain. to trample up
and down her ice-2rmed sides and TO
throw rocks into the big hole in her
skull. Without them. any attempt
would be first degree suicide. though !
doubt if one could get far enough mp
even for that.
4 Nd so. alone | left for the battle
: field. not knowing one word of
japanese or whittier I was going ex-
cept to place called Gotemba, where
began the trail that led. sooner or
later--if one did not freeze or slip-to
the pinnacle of scenic Japan.
For "A hours | tried, without sue
cess. to get a guide to climb with me,
While there were scores of guides
willing enough i'll Summer. not one
OF CneIn ndCu ever fntLue a W inter as
cent-nor ever intended to, though he
We're offered all the money in Japan.
1t was with great difficulty that I
obtained d coolie to carry my bag
gage to the base of the mountain,
where ] was to spend the night before
the final dash. and even then l had
TO pay part Of his wages in advance.
He felt sure I'd meet my finish on
the icy slopes and default. Realizing
that he was no doubt right, | agreed.
This matter having been settled,
katsu and 1, amid pitying stares from
the villagers. at noon on this bitterly
cold January day set out upon the
long. steep. ice-covered trail that led
to the base station of Tarobo. from
which point the actual climb begins.