Namaste🍁: August 2012

Climbing Mt Fuji （富士山登山）

Panoramic view from the top of Mt Fuji

Mt Fuji (富士山, 3776 m) is the Japan's highest peak formed by volcanic origin. It is one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Climbing Mt Fuji can make a life long experience. The official climbing season start from July to end of August. Climbing Mt Fuji in these two month is very popular in Japan so that trail in July and August is very crowded even in weekdays. We climbed Mt Fuji at night. The most most cheapest and convenient way of reaching 5th station from central Tokyo is by Highway Bus from Shinjuku. Number of highway buses are operated in morning and evening during the climbing season and it cost 2600 Yen.

Spending some hours in 5th station (2300 m) is good to reduce possibility of altitude sickness. We took Fujikyu bus from Shinjuku at 4:55 pm and reached 5th station around 7 pm.

Mt Fuji from 5th station (2300 m), 8 pm, July 26, 2012

We start climbing Mt Fuji at around 8 pm from 5th station. 6th and 7th station is easy to reach. From the 8th station, crowd of hikers appeared and we lost our pace due to traffic jam in the trail. The trail is slightly difficult and single lane and slow hikers may cause long crowd behind. There is some mountain huts which serve some foods overnight. Here is some information on huts in Mt Fuji hiking route (in Japanese).

Viewing sunrise from the top of Mt Fuji is popular and many hikers stayed in 7th or 8th station and start climbing at around 1am to 3 am. So Huts operators are very busy around that time and they may not serve food for those who don't stay in their huts. We took udon ( Japanese noodles) at mountain hut of 8th station at around 2 am. It costs 750 yen, which is nearly 3 times of the price in Tokyo but still acceptable in that altitude. Using toilet in 6th to 9th station is 200 Yen per use and there is no water flushing. At the summit, one time toilet use costs 300 Yen. Because of the crowded trail up to the top, it takes longer to reach at summit. We reached summit at around 4 am in the morning. The view from the summit is really unexplainable in the word. It was amazing. The crowd of people in the summit are waiting for the spectacular view of sunrise.

The day was very clear. We waited for sunrise with lots of other hikers. At around 4: 45 am, yolk like sun appeared in the horizon. Sunrise (御来光) from the top of Mt Fuji, was really amazing and one of unforgettable moments of life. After seeing sunrise we made a round around Fuji crater which took about a hour. Mt Fuji is snow-free on July and August, but there is some snow in crater and in west mountain slope.

Descending is easy and takes about three and half hours. Descending trail is wide but due to presence in peebles and rock fragments, knee pain is most likely to happen. Using hiking stick is best for the Mt Fuji. The central Tokyo can be reached from the 5th station by Fujikyuko (富士急行） bus. It takes about 2 hrs and 5 minutes to reach Shinjuku station. Sacrificing a night sleep worth well for the Mt Fuji hiking.