What Katie did next

(31 years ago that was what I called her but she was registered as Catriona later)

From her face book page: -

Well how did I spend my birthday...
After spending the entirety of yesterday hiking 7 hours up to a hut at the top of Mt Fuji , in glorious sunshine, I awoke at 1:30am this morning (after NO SLEEP) and continued the hike the remaining 900 meters up to the summit of Fuji... In freezing wind rain hell death. However...we made it , to the summit ... On birthday!! At 3:00am!

It was unfortunately too cloudy and windy and rainy and death-like to see the sunrise at 4:00am over japan, however, yesterday we did witness a full moon riding and a spectacular sunset.

Lesson learned from all this:
Don't ever climb Fuji again, she is one cruel and mean mountain.

However, reaching the summit of a 3776meters high volcano, before the sun rose, on my birthday, and a heaving something insanely difficult was worth every bit of altitude sickness, every headache and sore muscle, every curse word yelled at Fuji on both the ascent AND the grueling descent, every tear hysterically cried at the summit, every inch of water logged clothing, and every part of us that was freezing cold for hours and hours.

Thank you to Gerard, Lauren and my husband Steve for doing this with me and making this such an unforgettable experience. A birthday to remember!