To the peak of Mt Fuji

Getting there

There are many ways to get to Mt Fuji.

From Osaka (大阪): Take the Shinkansen (新幹線) from Shin-osaka (新大阪) station to Mishima (三島) station and then take the Fujikyu (富士急) bus to Kawaguchiko (河口湖) where you can then take the public bus to Fuji 5th station (五 合目).  Starting from the 5th station is one of the popular ways to hike to the top of the mountain. The timetable for the Shinkansen is provided http://english.jr-central.co.jp/info/timetable/

From Tokyo (東京): There are numerous bus companies operating from Shinjuku (新宿) direct to Fuji 5th station or Kawaguchiko. Bus information can be obtained http://highway-buses.jp/fuji/

In the summer, there is also the Narita express than runs twice a day direct from Narita airport (成田航空) to Kawaguchiko station.

The fun begins!

I travelled with a good company of people from my lab in the Experimental Particle Physics department in Osaka University to Mt Fuji on the 13th August 2015.

Excited climbers who can't wait to reach the top of Japan!

We started of at the 5th station after a nice lunch and about an hour of attempted acclimatisation. The weather was good with few clouds that blocked out view of the peak. The 5th station is about 2350m above the sea level. The 5th station also connects to the popular Yoshida trail (吉田ルート) http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/basic/trails/yoshida.html

Guidebook, leaflet and badge provided by Yamanashi Fujisan management when we paid (donated) our climbing fee of 1000 yen.

At the 5th station, there were frequent announcements to climbers to pay the 1000 yen fee which is used for maintenance and building safety structures. You are definitely very much encouraged to pay it. Toilets are 200 yen for usage on the mountain.

From the 5th station, we took about 6 hours to reach the 8th station Tomoe-kan (トモエ館) which was about 3400m above sea level. There were sandy and rocky paths and places where you might need to do a bit of rock climbing with you hands :). We rested for a few hours there before starting our peak ascent at 3am.

View of the mountain from 5th station.

Markers to tell you that you are on the right track.

Onward to Yoshida trail.

Map with a hint of mistiness.

This is so cool.  One of the guesthouses had this firewood kettle.

Prices of items increases as we went up the mountain.

One of the rocky paths.

The inside of Tomoe-kan.

The crowded sleeping/resting area. Not particularly comfortable for a good night's sleep.

It was the last night of the Perseid meteor shower. I did manage to see one of them that night although I felt quite tired due to altitude sickness. Not a good feeling but I did manage to recover after a few hours of sleep. 

Not too sure where this is. Maybe between 7th and 8th station. We were above the clouds most of the time during our climb.

The mountain path to the peak was getting quite crowded with people in the early morning. It was very misty and rainy too. I was glad we stayed at the Tomoe-kan so we could start our peak ascent later.

At the mountain peak.

We managed to reach the peak in time for the sunrise. Really spectacular.

The sun rising from the sea of clouds.

I had tonjiru (豚汁) or pork soup for breakfast which costs just too much at 800 yen. It was terribly windy and cold at the top too so some of us went down the mountain at about 5:30am or 6:00am, I am not too sure about the time.

These people were blocking my way up the mountain...

It feels like walking on soft sand on the beach, but downhill. Really hurts the knee. I could run all the way down but I do risk rolling down the hill for kilometers x_x

The path downhill was different from the one up. For the most part, it was sandy and I felt like I needed to keep stopping myself from going to fast.

Group photo after the climb. Glad to see everyone came down in one piece :D.

I was quite hungry, dirty, sweaty, grumpy,  and [insert negative adjective here]. Haha, ok, not really. Mt Fuji was a very different experience of a mountain for me as it is very steep compared the the other mountains I have climbed. We headed back to the foot of the mountain to clean ourselves and relax at one of the onsen and I had a huge Tenpura meal. Yums...