The Fuiji Climb

Sometimes my enthusiasm to engage in uniquely Japanese activities overrides my usual aversion to intense outdoor pursuits. Climbing Mt Fuji involves approximately 6 hours walking time up to the summit (not including rest breaks etc) and 3 hours to get back down. I naively thought doing a few stair climbs in my building and hitting the gym a bit more frequently than usual would prepare me for the Mt Fuji climb. Um, not so much.

Chris also briefly questioned my sanity as we packed up our ski jackets & thermals on a 34 degree day in Tokyo. My stirring rendition of 'Climb every mountain' only resulted in a grimace in response so I promised him there would be beers at the summit to cheer him up.

We did the climb with 45 people organized by Tokyo Snow Club. They provided us with 3 guides to climb up with us, oxygen cans, torches, water and snacks. The bus dropped us at Station 5 where we walked around to get used to the altitude, picked up some beers and snacks, got interviewed by Japanese TV and had the option to pick up souvenir walking stick from 1,500 yen.

I skipped the walking sticks but you could stop off at each station rest stop and have a stamp engraved into them for 300 yen a pop. Some of the sticks had bells attached. By the end of the hike I wanted to tell the owners of those sticks to shove those bells where the sun don't shine. Most irritating noise ever!!

From Station 5 we walked together as a giant group along the Yoshida trail to Station 6. We hung around there for an amazeballs sunset and to make sure we were all set with the altitude. Chris was a fan of the oxygen cans but I found it didn't really do a lot of me. Rest and snacks were more my life savers.

And then it was onto the real climbing. The trail is only listed as intermediate and you certainly see plenty of oldies and kids hiking up but it is not an easy climb. The altitude really takes your breath away and you need to scramble over rocks in a few of the steeper sections. We took it nice and slow and stopped plenty of times for snacks, water, toilet breaks and even attempted some sleep along the way. (You need lots of 100 yen coins for the toilets but being Japan, they have change machine in some of the rest stops).

The higher you climb the more crowded and colder it gets. Everyone is trying to get to the summit for sunrise and it bottlenecks to a slooooow crawl by early morning. Many people hike up to around Station 8 and then stay in a lodge to sleep for a few hours and start climbing again from 2am. We were advised against staying in the lodges as they charge around 8,000 yen and there are people constantly coming in and out so you don't get much sleep anyway.

 You can see the twinkle of the head lamps as people climb up for the sunrise.

Unfortunately we didn't allow enough time for the traffic jams to clear and we were about 400m from the summit as the sun rose.

 We heard later that it was actually clouded over at the summit at sunrise so it was probably good we were lagging behind.

Very happy to finally have a beer at the summit at 5am!

We didn't loiter too long at the top as the weather was blowing in and it was getting chilly bro!

 The crater at the top was worth checking out but we didn't bother hiking around to the post office. Sorry Mum, no postcard from the top of Mt Fuji this time.

Climbing back down sucked. I was exhausted and the loose gravel was causing havoc with my balance. I think I counted 5 times that I landed flat on my back. Even people with their walking sticks were stumbling right over. I attempted the half jog/half slide style for awhile and while it was quicker and felt a bit more stable underfoot it zapped my energy even faster than my stumbling walk. Eventually we made it back down and onto the bus & everyone slept all the way home.

(And kudos to the girl who completed the climb in her Doc Martens but I really wanted to shake some sense into the crazy ladies who changed back into their heels after the hike. Do you seriously need to wear high heels for the bus ride home after an overnight hike??)

Oh and when you pay the voluntary admission fee of 1,000 yen you get these fabulous portable toilets to use at the summit if you so require. No loos at the top.

Fortunately I didn't need to go at the summit, not sure I am willing to test out the human size kitty litter tray just yet.

Climbing Mt Fuji was amazing and we were very lucky having such clear weather, thanks to the typhoon that passed through a couple of days prior, but I would never do it again. Once is enough thank you very much. As the saying goes in Japan, “He who climbs Mt. Fuji is a wise man; he who climbs twice is a fool.”